Celebrating St. Alvin of Mansfield

All Saints’ Sunday

John 11:32-44

November 4, 2018

St. Matthias

Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Alvin of Mansfield.  If this is your first time to hear of St. Alvin – you are not alone – most people haven’t.  But to the people of Mansfield, Louisiana and everyone in my family – including me – my grandfather was and is a Saint.  It’s also the Feast of St. Marie of Mansfield – my grandmother - and the feast of so many saints who are known only to God and to you and me.  Today we celebrate everyone who does not have a day on the Church calendar, but who are the Saints of God in Glory.  These are the people who showed us by their word and deed that God is with us and Christ lives within us and who know with all certainty what we accept in faith.  There really is a Kingdom of Heaven.

I must admit that I like the whole idea of Saints.  There are those we all know about such as Peter, James, and John along with all the prophets, apostles, and martyrs.  Of course, we here regularly remember St. Matthias.  Then there are the great Saints of the Anglican tradition like Thomas Cranmer, Julian of Norwich, and St. Alban.  There are Saints who were Episcopalians like the Martyrs of Memphis.  They were the Sisters of St. Mary’s who cared for the victims of the Yellow Fever epidemic in 1878.  While many fled including more than a few priests, these brave nuns stayed and set up a hospital at St. Mary’s Cathedral to care for the sick of any faith.  Most of the nuns died, but none left.  Today we remember their faith and courage.

But it is on this day that we celebrate the lives of the hundreds of thousands of plain, every day, folks like you and me.  These are the Saints who made sure that we clearly see God at work in our world.  You won’t read about them in the Bible or a Church History book.  They were famous to the people in whatever church or town where they lived.   We don’t name Churches or buildings after them, but we do tell their stories.  They would be the last people who would ever want to be in the spotlight.  Yet these are people who spread the Word of God by the way they lived and loved their neighbors.  These Saints of ours would also be the first ones to tell us that it all begins here and now.  Nobody ever said you have to be dead to be a Saint.

I actually heard a real live Saint speak this week.  He’s a Super Hero who wears a red cape, red tights, blue shorts and a blue shirt that says #SHOW LOVE.  He stands all of 3 feet tall and has been on CNN and CBS.  He is known across Birmingham as President Austin and like the prophet Isaiah he has a message – Don’t forget to show Love – which he does with Burger King chicken sandwiches which he gives to the homeless in his community.  It all started when his Dad told him about people who don’t have a home or food.  He took his allowance and bought the first sandwiches.  He gave them out at the Firehouse Shelter because it was the right thing to do and that – according to Austin - is what a president is supposed to do.  Now Burger King gives him all the chicken sandwiches he needs.  President Austin believes that a Super Hero’s job is to help others.   He says it’s all about showing love.  I think that is what a Saint does.

Throughout the scriptures, we find story after story of the people of God who share the love of God.  Isaiah proclaims that those who have a pure heart and seek God are blessed.  John says in Revelation, “See the home of God is among mortals.  He will dwell with them as their God.”  In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – Jesus heals the sick, feeds 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish, raises Lazarus from the dead, and then gives his life on the cross for the life of the world.  And throughout the Gospels, the message is clear – When we love one another as Christ loves us - then we come to know that the Kingdom of Heaven is here and now.

It begins as simply as a bag of beans & rice we pack and share.  You will see Heaven in a Thanksgiving Box – with each card we send – and with each person, we welcome to St. Matthias.  When we pray – when we sing – when we gather at this altar rail for bread and wine – then the Kingdom of Heaven is here and now.  You don’t have to be holy – God makes us holy and we are made Saints in the simplest act offered in love and faith and hope.  Just like the Birmingham Police Officer who stopped this week and put a new net on a basketball goal in the West End.  There was the anonymous man who held a child in a doctor’s office for a mother trying to fill out her paperwork.  And the lunch lady who writes messages on bananas offering hope and love to the students at her elementary school. These and more are the Saints of God who we celebrate today.  You don’t have to wear red tights or a cape – but you can.  You don’t have to be on TV – but you might.  You do have to SHOW LOVE and who knows how many hungry people God can feed through a 4-year-old Super Hero Saint and some Chicken Sandwiches.  AMEN