Amateur sainthood

Last updated on: November 1, 2016 at 12:43 pm by Brad Roth

Amateur sainthood 2016-11-01T12:43:08-05:00 Brad Roth

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’m an amateur gardener. I’m always figuring things out again for the first time, like that you can’t pack the tomato plants into the garden (so small and nonthreatening in spring, such monsters in August).

This year, I tried growing corn and pole beans in my front yard. It was my play on the Native-American “three sisters” technique where the corn supports the beans, and the beans fix nitrogen for the corn. The third sister–squash–is supposed to trail along at the bottom and provide weed cover, but I leave squash for the backyard. The corn did alright, but I lack the agricultural skills of the Iroquois, so the beans had a hard go of it. They ran out of stalk to climb when the sweet corn matured and died before the beans had finished growing.

Beans need to lean. They can’t stand on their own. Beans ravel round stalk and twine. They climb and cling. All those tender blossoms–pollen scoops, bee funnels–swell. They dangle pods. The sun hoists them up on tendrils vining and looping, thin strong filaments lashed fast against the elements.

It turns out that saints need to lean too. They need those before them and those around them. They need God to hoist them up, lives raveled round God’s mercy, prayers like filaments, reaching. The truest saints are those who recognize their own flimsiness, their own indebtedness to others and to God. They’ve discovered that they can’t stand on their own. “Blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up,” sings the psalmist (Psalm 68:19). Saints lean on God and others. They’re borne up.

Anyone can learn to lean. That’s why the Apostle Paul addressed all of God’s people as “the saints in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:1). It’s why Peter spoke of God’s people as the “saintly nation” (1 Peter 2:9). All God’s people are saints, inasmuch as they’re learning to lean on God’s merit working through them. Their sainthood is found in their dependence on God.

We do well to keep this in mind, especially this week. November 1 is All Saints Day, the day we remember all who have died in the hope of the resurrection. They’re those who have upheld us by their example and prayers. They leaned mightily on God. Now here we are, vining and looping our lives around them, now learning the ways they taught, now lashed fast to Christ’s cross.

I like icons, those two-dimensional sacred paintings used in some Christian traditions for worship and devotion. I had the good fortune of stumbling across a palm-sized icon of Peter and Paul lovingly cradling the church in soft folds of pastel cloth. It’s the church in Rome–the place where Christian tradition records that both men were martyred. My little icon was stashed in a box at an estate sale, the scraps after the university paraphernalia had all been scooped up. It was just us and a Catholic man left bidding. He won, but he kindly let us buy a few icons from his box. I got Peter and Paul and the church, gold leaf peeling from their halos after too many rough years in the basement.

I keep the icon in my church study. It reminds me of the “great cloud of witnesses” who preceded me–not just Peter and Paul, but Alfred and Shirley and Pat and Harold and all the saints whose names are known only to God. I like to think that it’s us in that church they’re holding. It’s us cradled lovingly by sisters and brothers who came before us. It’s us held by Christ whose mercy bears us all. We’re right there with our peeling halos, leaning into amateur sainthood.

IMG_3354-001

Previous Post

October 27, 2016

4 reasons I'm not endorsing a candidate from the pulpit

Next Post

November 18, 2016 I'm no better

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month January 2023 November 2022 May 2022 April 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 December 2020 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A bronze door An incense altar A curtain (veil) A stone wall

Books by This Author Books by Brad Roth

See All Titles »