All Saints Day: The Saints Among Us

Based on 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12

Opening

Today we celebrate All Saints Day, and I want to start with a confession: I used to think saints were people in stained glass windows. You know the type—glowing halos, perfect posture, hands folded in perpetual prayer. They seemed so far removed from ordinary life that they might as well have been from another planet.

But then I started actually reading Scripture.

The Letter and Its Context

Our reading today comes from 2 Thessalonians, a letter that scholars debate about. While 1 Thessalonians is universally accepted as Paul's writing, most scholars believe 2 Thessalonians was written by a devoted follower of Paul after his death—someone standing in the Pauline tradition, asking "What would the apostle say if he were living today?"

In the ancient world, this wasn't plagiarism or fraud. It was a way of honoring a teacher and letting their wisdom speak to new situations. Think of it like the way we see countless adaptations of Shakespeare—West Side Story giving new voice to Romeo and Juliet, or how Lin-Manuel Miranda reimagined the Founding Fathers through hip-hop in Hamilton. The core truth remains, but it speaks with fresh relevance to a new generation.

What matters isn't so much who held the pen, but what the Spirit is saying through these words to us today.

2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12

From Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy: To the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God our Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to all of you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters, we must always thank God for you. This is only right because your faithfulness is growing by leaps and bounds, and the love that all of you have for each other is increasing. That's why we ourselves are bragging about you in God's churches. We tell about your endurance and faithfulness in all the harassments and trouble that you have put up with.

We are constantly praying for you for this: that our God will make you worthy of his calling and accomplish every good desire and faithful work by his power. Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored by you, and you will be honored by him, consistent with the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why Do We Honor Saints?

John Wesley once wrote in his journal, "Why do we neglect giving honor to the saints?"

Why indeed?

I think it's because we don't notice them. We're not tuned into the saintly. Sometimes we're even offended by them. "She's so saintly" becomes a dismissive slur, code for "too good to be true" or "holier than thou."

Yet we're also strangely drawn to saints—to people who seem to have some secret knowledge we lack, who appear grounded and confident and at peace. We're simultaneously in awe of them and a little afraid of them.

Here's the tension we live in: We want to be inspired by saints, but we don't want to feel inadequate next to them. We want heroes of faith, but not ones so heroic that we can't relate to them. We put them on pedestals, then resent them for being up there. We make excuses for why we're not like them, while secretly wishing we were.

But here's what we miss: A saint, according to the New Testament, is not someone who is flawless or a super-believer. 

(SLIDE) A saint is simply one who claims Christ and seeks to follow him according to the grace given.

In other words: all of us.

(SLIDE) The Greek word for saint is hagios, which literally means "set apart" or "holy." But holy doesn't mean perfect. It means belonging to God, dedicated to God's purposes. When Paul writes to the churches, he doesn't address his letters to "the perfect people" or "the spiritual elite." He writes to "the saints"—all the believers, with all their flaws and failures and ongoing struggles. If Paul's churches were full of saints, then sainthood must not require what we think it does.

The Saints Are Already Here

(SLIDE) Remember that scene in The Sixth Sense when the boy says, "I see dead people"? Well, I'm here to tell you: I see saints. They're everywhere. And unlike that movie, these saints are very much alive.

They're the person who sits next to you. The one who stands in line at the potluck. The person in your small group who always asks the hard questions. The one who quietly folds bulletins every week. The teenager who picked up the trash in the parking lot without being asked, and yes, even the one who walked right past it without noticing.

The saints are the ones who sing the hymns—sometimes off-key—who hear the words, who pray the prayers with you week by week.

They're also the ones who mess up regularly. The saint who lost their temper in the church parking lot last Tuesday. The saint who gossips and then feels guilty about it. The saint who doubts more than they'd like to admit. The saint who keeps making the same mistakes over and over, but keeps coming back to try again.

The saints are all around us. They are us.

We need All Saints Day not just to remember those who have died, though that's important. We need it to wake us up to the reality that sainthood is happening right now, in real time, in ordinary people who are surrendering their ordinary lives to an extraordinary God.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. "Pastor, you clearly haven't met me yet. If you knew what I did last week, what I said to my spouse, what I thought about that person who cut me off in traffic, you wouldn't be calling me a saint."

Perfect! You're exactly who I'm talking about.

A Saint Hunt: Three Marks

Paul gives us a roadmap for identifying saints—not saints in stained glass, but saints in sweatpants and work boots. Let me walk you through three marks he highlights:

(SLIDE) 1. Growing Faith

Paul writes, "Your faith is growing abundantly."

Notice he doesn't say "Your faith is perfect" or "You've arrived." He says growing. Saints are learners. They're the people who show up to Bible study even when they could sleep in or run errands. They're the ones who ask uncomfortable questions. They read books that challenge them. They're curious about God and hungry for more.

Think of Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings. Sam isn't the chosen one. He's not the ring-bearer. He's just a gardener who keeps putting one foot in front of the other, learning courage he didn't know he had, growing in faithfulness throughout the journey. That's sainthood—not arriving, but traveling.

A saint is one who wants to learn more.

(SLIDE) 2. Increasing Love

Paul continues: "The love of everyone of you for one another is increasing."

They were acting out their faith in real ways—caring, including, inviting, tending, healing, comforting, lifting up. They made up a body that truly loved one another.

It is like that moment in The Chosen when Jesus sees Matthew—the despised tax collector everyone avoids—and simply says, "Follow me." Not "Clean yourself up first." Not "Prove you're worthy." Just "Follow me." Jesus sees him, includes him, invites him into community. That's love in action.

And it's messy and costly and inconvenient. It's not tolerance or simply occupying the same space—it's genuine love that sees every person who walks through our doors as someone worthy of being loved.

A saint is one who wants to love more.

(SLIDE) 3. Steadfast Endurance

Paul boasts of their "steadfastness and faith" even when things go wrong. Even through harassment and trouble, they stayed true.

This is perhaps the most countercultural mark of sainthood in our world today. We live in a culture of quitting. When things get hard, we bail. When relationships require work, we move on. When commitments become inconvenient, we ghost. We're conditioned to believe that if something is difficult, it must not be right for us.

But saints stick. They endure. Not because they're stubborn or masochistic, but because they've learned that transformation happens in the staying, not in the leaving. They know that the deepest growth often occurs in the valley, not on the mountaintop.

But here's the kicker—Paul immediately reminds them they're still works in progress. "God will make you worthy, and God will fulfill every work within you."

Saints are never finished products. They're under construction, renovation in progress, rough drafts being edited by the Holy Spirit.

In the movie Soul, Joe Gardner spends the whole film searching for his "purpose," thinking that once he achieves his dream, he'll be complete. But in the end, he discovers that life isn't about reaching a destination—it's about being fully present in each moment, growing and changing and experiencing.

Saints aren't people who have it all figured out. They're people who keep showing up, who stay faithful even when it's hard, who trust that God isn't finished with them yet.

A saint is one who wants to be more.

Saints Create Collaborative Ministry

Notice how this letter begins: "From Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy." Three names, not one.

We have this image of Paul as a lone ranger, gallivanting solo across the Mediterranean. But that's a myth. Paul worked in teams with other folks. The early Christian movement was collaborative—multiple evangelists nurturing communities together.

This matters. The fact that we work together here at Moyock UMC—that ministry happens through many hands, many gifts, many voices—that's part of being saints. We're not solo acts. We're an ensemble.

Like the Avengers—stay with me here—each person brings different gifts, different strengths. Alone, they're impressive. Together, they can save the world. Or at least fold bulletins and visit the sick and teach children and serve meals and pray for one another.

Saints create collaborative ministry because they know they can't do it alone. And they don't have to.

Living as Saints Today

So what does this mean for us on this All Saints Sunday? How do we live out this calling to be saints—not someday, not when we get our act together, but today?

This Week, Choose One:

Feed Your Growing Faith

• Pick up that book you've been meaning to read about faith

• Ask someone a question about their spiritual journey

• Attend a Bible study or small group

• Spend 10 minutes each morning in Scripture or prayer

• Listen to a podcast that challenges your thinking about God like Everything Happens or the Pray As You Go App/podcast or the Walking with the Bible podcast or the Jesus@2am podcast or The Bible for Normal People podcast

Practice Increasing Love

• Text someone who's been on your mind and actually follow through

• Invite someone new to coffee or lunch

• Volunteer for something that serves others

• Forgive someone who doesn't deserve it (because none of us do)

• Look for the person everyone else overlooks—and see them

Demonstrate Steadfast Endurance

• Show up for something even when you don't feel like it

• Keep a commitment when it would be easier to bail

• Pray for someone who's struggling, then check in on them

• Stay faithful in the small things—return the cart, hold the door, say thank you

• When you fail (and you will), get back up and try again tomorrow

Remember the Saints

Today we also remember those who have gone before us—the saints who are no longer physically present but whose influence shaped us. Light a candle for them. Tell their stories. Honor their memory.

But don't forget to honor the saints who are still here, just under the radar. The quiet faithful. The persistent pray-ers. The ones who show up week after week. The ones still learning, still loving, still growing.

Closing

The amazing thing is that saints are all around us. They are us. Some have gone on, and we miss them. But many are still here, sitting in these pews, singing these hymns, serving this community.

If we would just stand firm and hold fast with love increasing, we might find that there are saints abounding among us. We might discover we're surrounded by ordinary people doing extraordinary things in Jesus' name. We might even realize that we ourselves, broken and imperfect as we are, are being made into saints by a God who specializes in using cracked vessels to carry holy light.

So this week, look for the saints. Better yet, be one.

Because that's exactly what God is calling you to be. Amen.