Saturday recalls the Fellowship of the Saints

What is your perception of a Saint? Ian Fraser, a Christian Celtic writer says, “Saints are a rag-tag-and-bobtail army of those who look to God and fight alongside God to transform the world’s life to fulfil his creative intention for it. They may be prone to fail and fall, but they take hold of the grace of forgiveness and the promise of reinstatement. They can pick themselves up, dust themselves down and soldier on.”

‘Saints are not church-appointed but Spirit-anointed. Their lives may be prominent or quite obscure. They need not fit in with ecclesiastically preferred models. They need not be church-affiliated. They are Kingdom people, intent on Jesus Christ’s will that the whole world be transformed in justice, truth and peace.”

Celtic saints were referred to as "Pilgrims for Christ” and called their pilgrimage the "White Martyrdom". In many senses they were trail blazers, people who marked the way for others.

The New Testament sense use of the term Saint may help us understand a true sense of the Celtic Fellowship of Saints. Take the greeting in Colossians 1:2 “To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”

I think that the truth about this recalling of the “Fellowship of Saints”, is found within the word Fellow-ship. Fellowship is derived from the Greek word koinonia and can be defined as “holding something in common” and describes the unity of the Spirit that comes from Christians’ shared beliefs, convictions, and behaviours. 

In particular it is perhaps important to honour the testimony of those who have gone before us and value the foundation they have left upon which we can build. As we find in Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,.”

Perhaps there is wisdom in C S Lewis’ words, “The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.” 

God of the generations,

when we set our hands to labour6u,

thinking we work alone,

remind us that we carry

on our lips

the words of prophets,

in our veins

the blood of martyrs,

in our eyes

the mystics’ visions,

in our hands

the strength of thousands. Amen