Friday's thoughts

What does it mean to be a saint? a royal priesthood? God's own people?
Two things:
1. It means we know we haven't arrived. We are in the process of arriving. We are moving on to perfection but we are not perfect. We know we have work to do but we are encouraged to do the work that needs to be done. We know who we are and we are aware of whom we can become. So much religion is a put down. I think the intent of Christian nurture is to lift up; to cause to move forward.
2. It means we have developed the tenacity to persevere. We keep on keeping on and we never quit. We work hard and when we are discouraged that just means we work a little harder. We know that we're in it for the long haul. It's a marathon; not a sprint.

We are a royal priesthood. The saints who have gone before us have paved the way for us. They have made our path a little easier to travel. They have taken on some of the battles we won't have to face.

We are a royal priesthood; we are probationary saints. Sometimes it seems others have made footprints in the contreet ; while we see ourselves as running barefoot through wet cement.

Out my window is the columbarium where the ashes of some of the saints are interred. On the other side of my office is the church sanctuary where hundreds of probationary saints meet every week trying to determine what can be learned from the people who have gone before us; trying to be patient with ourselves and working to persevere to the end what we had started in the beginning.

If you have thoughts on this subject I'd be pleased to hear from you. Contact me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster