Saints

Colossians 1:12 Give thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

A young boy went with his parents touring around Europe one summer. Part of their tour included visits to the great old cathedrals of the past. As he visited cathedral after cathedral he was impressed the massive stained glass portraits of the disciples and of other saints as he stood in their great empty halls looking through the beautiful stained glass windows.

Upon returning home, he was asked by his Sunday School teacher about holiday on the continent, and what he liked the most. He thought for a moment of those great churches and their grand windows and he said, “I loved the sense of awe and the hugeness of who God must be, and I loved the stained glass windows with their images of the saints.”

“And what is a saint?” his teacher asked. His mind went back to those beautiful windows and he said, “A saint is a person the light shines through.”

That is a good definition of what a saint of God is supposed to be. We have no light of our own, but like the moon, we are to reflect the light of Jesus to a lost and dying world.

Thank you, Father

for the selfless giving of time.

For those often quiet saints

who do not argue their theology loudly

engage in lengthy debates

over complex doctrinal issues

or make their presence felt

within the hallowed space

of Church Council meetings

but simply get on with doing

the business

visiting the sick, the aged

and the lonely

a shoulder to cry on

a listening ear

and the reassurance

of one who cares.

Thank you, Father

for all those quiet saints

who live their faith through their lives

in a world that often forgets

that you were never too busy to listen

never too busy to minister to needs

never too engrossed in work

to bring hope and wholeness into lives.

Thank you, Father,

for your quiet saints. Amen