APOSTLE’S CREED - WEEK FIVE

Reflection #25 – Communion of Saints

Friday, 14 March 08

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything

that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race

marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Hebrews 12:1-2b

We Americans love the lonely hero, the person who needs no one else to get the job done.  Democracy is good when it keeps a cruel dictator from power, but American Christianity has had an overdose of democracy.  Too many opinions and not enough agreement means we lose sight of “the holy catholic Church.”  People are convinced they can worship God without connecting with other God worshipers.  “I believe in God but I don’t go to church.”

That idea wouldn’t make sense to the biblical writers and it’s not what God wants.  In the Creed we confess the “communion of saints.”  We admit that there is a community of Jesus followers who have run this race before us.  We’re part of that household, God’s family, stuck together by God’s Holy Spirit who is making us holy together.

Hebrews spends a full chapter (ch. 12) listing names of saints who’ve run the race before us.  It grabs us by the shirt collar and says, “Look around!  Look at all these Christians who have followed Jesus our pioneer!  Look at all the people walking this trail with you!”  It’s a great cloud of witnesses.  There are two pictures at play here.  One is this idea of following the pioneer, Jesus, who has blazed the trail for us.  But we’re also given an athletic image.  Imagine being in a great arena, maybe the Roman Coliseum, surrounded by thousands of screaming fans, all encouraging you for the contest ahead.  They’ve all run this race before.  They’ve discovered by watching Jesus that this race can be won!

Christian Tradition calls these witnesses saints, holy heroes who show us that the holy life is possible.  We might look at Jesus and think, “Oh, I can’t do that.  He could do it because he’s Jesus!”  But that excuse evaporates when we look at the saints.  These are sinners and fools like us.  They kept their eyes on Jesus.  They watched him training for the race.  They tried out his exercises.  They felt awkward and unnatural, but they learned them.  Slowly, ever so slowly, others recognized that these athletes in training were running more like the pioneer runner.  These ordinary people, set aside by God for something special, became holy. 

James Howell says, “If you want to be a friend of God, get to know the friends of God.”  Saints like St. Francis, Billy Graham, Mother Theresa or maybe your grandparent show us friendship with God.  They encourage us from the stands, even if their earthly race is over.  Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians have a much better sense of the communion of saints than we do.  Icons saturate Orthodox worship.  Dead saints are not really dead, they say, but live on in God’s presence.  Why not ask for their prayers, too?

Whether we invite “dead” saints to pray for us or not, the fact is that God’s family stretches out across race, space, sex, nations, and time.  When we celebrate Holy Communion, we lift up our song of thanksgiving to God with all the heavenly angels and the full communion of saints.  When confess the communion of saints in the Creed, we let down our guard and thank God that we’re not in this Christian life alone.

Prayer

Almighty God, your Son Jesus blazed the salvation trail before us, showing us how to run the race.  Help me to train for this race of faith with the example of saints who’ve gone before, and with the help of your saints around the world.  AMEN.

Casey Taylor
Youth Pastor, Mt Zion UMC - Garner, NC
irregularchristian.blogspot.com