"What Makes A Saint?"

That was the first Bible that I really, really read…that was the Bible I was using when I had my born again experience.

While in college, Bob paid for me to fly out to St. Louis in order to attend a conference for young people who might be thinking about entering the ministry.

Bob used to tell me: “I look forward to the day when I can attend your ordination.”

Well, Bob passed away several years ago.

So, when I was finally fully ordained an Elder, Bob wasn't there physically…but he was there...

Bob and many others like him have put their full trust in the Lord, given their complete lives to Him in service and dedication and have experienced more out of life than they ever could have imagined.

And because of this, they have also passed this fullness of life to others.

These people are saints…saints of God.

They are the people through whom God's light shines through.

Who are the saints that have touched your life with the incredible love of Christ?

Maybe they are still alive.

Maybe they are members of this very congregation.

Maybe they have passed on, and you lit a candle in memory of them this morning.

We are to let Christ’s light shine, like the light shining through the figures in the stained glass windows that the four year old boy saw.

We are all ‘called to be saints’--people dedicated to God-- so

that the light of Christ may shine through our words, and our actions.

A saint is someone through whom we catch a glimpse of what God is like –

and of what we are called to be.

A saint is not perfect.

But nevertheless, we thank God for them because a saint is someone through whom God tells God's story.

Praise God.

Amen.