"By helping each other with your troubles, you truly obey the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2, NCV).

I wish I could claim credit for arranging this Sunday's emphasis on service to coincide with All Saints' Sunday. But rather than just call it a happy coincidence, I'm thinking that this is one of those God things that surprise us and cause us to give thanks anew for God's great goodness. Because when you look at the saints, what you're seeing are God's models for serving better together.

The church has all sorts of words for the saints, like holy, blessed, righteous, and faithful, but when I think of the saints, one of the first words that pops into my head is sneaky. Not underhanded or deceitful, but the saints are sneaky in that they are not people who call attention to themselves. They are not always the people who sit on the boards or stand in the pulpits, but they often work in the background. They are not afraid to take the low, humble jobs, because they know that greatness isn't about power or position. From their life in Christ they know that true greatness is all about love that is always ready to take the meeker, less assuming part.

Another quality of the saints is that they are available, or put better, they make themselves available to the people around them. The first things out their mouths aren't how busy, how tired, how completely overwhelmed they are. They may be extremely busy, totally exhausted, and just about to go under, but true saints have a way of making you feel like you're the most important person in the world. In the same way we proclaim the real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, the saints strive to be really present, heart, mind, and soul, to the people they meet and the persons they serve.

And in their service, saints are intentional. They look for ways to serve. They don't wait for people to come and ask them for help, and they don't go complaining to other people about how something ought to be done about this or that. For the saints, service is not a hat they occasionally wear or a coat they sometimes put on, but they've made service part of their DNA. It's who they are. When I was a pastor in San Antonio, our church had a lot Air Force people, including a high ranking officer who had held a variety of high profile national security posts. I didn't exactly know what he was doing at the time because of security issues, but I know he had commanded large groups of people working in programs with massive budgets. But when we were going to host a congregational tamale dinner, Tom said, "Sure, I'll do that. I'll take that on." Now, I have to admit, it was the most organized, highly regimented tamale dinner I had ever partaken of. I mean, those tamales were practically standing at attention, but I also saw a little glimpse of how the saints make service intentional.

As they go about serving, the saints are also notoriously non-judgmental, unlike me. I often find myself taking on a job with the best of intentions, really wanting to serve and willing to sacrifice, but I get a little ways into the work and pretty soon I'm saying stuff like, "How'd I get stuck with doing this? Why am I the only person working? Where are all the other people that are supposed to be helping?" True saints spend a whole lot less time complaining and finding fault with others, and instead, put their best energy into complimenting and affirming others. They don't stink the room up with criticizing and cranking on people, but they're generous with their support and they go out of their way to find that back to pat or that heart to lift.

That's probably a main reason why the saints are consistently team players. They know they can't do it all by themselves. They understand their limits, and they realize that there are no Lone Ranger Christians. Like everything else about Christian life, service is a team effort, and the greatest saints invited others into their call to serve, sometimes forming great orders and movements within the church. Benedict of Nursia, Francis of Assisi, and Ignatius Loyola undertook ministries of prayer, service, and teaching that continue to this day because they gathered other people to their vision. In each of their cases, what began as a small group turned into a worldwide cause. The same could be said of both Martin Luther and John Wesley. Except for the support of ardent colleagues, Luther would have been burnt at the stake and Wesley's holiness movement would have died on the vine.

So let's review: Sneaky, Available, Intentional, Non-judgment, Team-player. S-A-I-N-T, that's a saint, and here's where you might be thinking, "Well, that's not me. I'm no saint." But that's exactly where you're wrong, because a saint is what God has already named and claimed you to be in Jesus Christ. In the waters of baptism, you were clothed with Christ. You received everything that Christ has to give - his righteousness, his holiness, his faith, hope, and love. You got it all, and in all those blessings God made you a saint to serve here on earth now and in heaven forever. Do we sometimes fail that identity? Do we sometimes turn our back on what God has already called us? Of course we do, because while we are saints, we're also sinners. As long as we live in these mortal bodies, we're subject to all sorts of temptations, something which all the saints have always understood. But those same saints also knew something we constantly have to be reminded of: That no matter how we may fail or fall, we are Christ's, and in Christ's Body we are called to serve, gifted to serve, and forgiven to serve. Together.

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.