FOR ALL THE SAINTS

As Christians, the task for us is to first both expect and look for Christ in those around us — in everyone– not just those who claim Christianity, but all people of faith, all of God’s creation.  We spend so much energy criticizing, judging, and alienating those around us that we often fail to realize that we are, in fact, in the presence of a saint, a child of God, a bearer of God's image and a carrier of God's grace.  Trevor Huddleston, CR, one of the great Twentieth Century missionaries to Africa (and priest and mentor to a young Desmond Tutu), said:

My responsibility is always and everywhere the same: to see in my brothers and sisters more even than the personality and humanity that are theirs.  My task is always and everywhere the same: to see Christ himself in them.

            --- Naught for Your Comfort

That is the responsibility of every one of us – to see God in our brothers and sisters, to rejoice with them in our common heritage, and to celebrate that we are living together in the grace of the Holy Spirit.  Within this Christian fellowship of ours is where we begin but we cannot end there nor set limits or boundaries to our love and respect anymore than God’s love is limited or qualified.  Among us are the poor and the rich, those who mourn and those who rejoice, the meek and the proud, the hungry and the satisfied, the merciful and the not so nice, the pure and the not so pure, the peacemakers and the troublemakers, but at the core we are all a part of the family of God.