“St Giles’ – what’s the point of saints ?”

St Giles’ Patronal Festival Sep 5th 2010

 
Can I say again, how very sorry I am that I am here and Bishop Stephen is not. He has fond memories of this church and many here have fond memories of him – and he had worked hard in preparation for his visit. We hope to be able to print his sermon in due course.

I am doubly sorry because Stephen was going to begin his sermon in a very politically incorrect way, by reminding us that St Giles is the patron saint of “cripples” – and of lepers we might add, equally politically incorrectly. More politely, Giles is now the patron saint of the disabled – or differently-abled – and of hospitals. As he was in the 12C when our church was founded. Along with over 160 other churches in England, many of whose origins lay in monastic hospitals, like our St Giles.

Giles is a good patron saint to have – not like some others I could name, even in this city, who have been abolished or turn out to be dodgy. It is good to be dedicated in memory of a saint who loved creation and who became associated with healing and with hospitals, especially for the most outcast in society.

But why do we honour saints ? According to one school of thought, all Christians are saints. When Paul wrote to his fellow Christians, he wrote to ‘all the saints’ – not just to the few really holy Christians. If Paul was writing to us here in Gilesgate today, he would call us all ‘saints’ – and expect us all to be holy !

But in the mainstream Western Church, the word saint came to be applied to people whose lives were marked by a special devotion to God. For a long time this was done informally and locally. Last time we were in Cornwall, I remember reading the story of one of the Cornish saints, who had arrived on a coracle from Ireland. This was thought by the locals to be so lunatic that he had to be holy, and they converted on the spot ! He later died, having fallen into a well slightly the worse for wear – but was still called a saint !

Later the Church began to set criteria for how someone is named as a saint. This has become increasingly formal, and in the Roman Catholic Church includes the requirement not just to have lived a holy life, but also to have healed someone by their prayers after their own death. (This is the process Pope Benedict is celebrating for John Henry Newman this September.) In other words, the saint must be in the presence of God for their prayers to have been heard – so they must by definition be holy, saintly.

But for us modern Anglicans, why do we remember our saints ? I want to suggest 2 reasons to you.

The first is that saints point us to Christ visible in human lives. Saints point us to Christ visible in human lives.

One of the versions of St Giles’ life, is that when the barbarian king Wamba (what a great name !) came chasing through the woods hunting down the deer, Giles put his hand up to stop the arrow hitting the deer. So some pictures and symbols of Giles show a hand pierced with an arrow. Who else had their hand pierced for the sake of another ? Christ of course.

The story of Giles, like the stories of so many of the saints, takes us back to Christ. This is what we believe God is like – that he will take the wound on our behalf. That is how much he loves us and all humankind. It can be hard to comprehend the scale of such love. But we can get a handle on it, when we imagine Giles, blocking the flight of an arrow with his bare hand. That is how much Christ loves each and every one of us.

The second reason why modern Anglicans remember our saints is that saints point us to Christ visible in human lives. Saints point us to Christ visible in human lives. And yes, for the observant, I have just repeated myself. Let me explain.

The cottage we stayed in this summer was blessed with many books, and when I was browsing for something to read, I came across an account of the sinking of the Titanic. Not cheerful reading but I couldn’t put it down. The catalogue of errors, caused by the arrogance of the ship builders and of the White Star Shipping Company almost defies belief. This was the “ship that could not sink”, that “God could not sink…”

But did you know that none of the clergy on the Titanic were saved ? Some were seen right at the end, still leading prayers on the deck of the sinking ship. But nor were any of the engine room crew saved, because they stayed below decks pumping the water out, thereby keeping the Titanic afloat for precious extra minutes so more could be saved. By the time they came up on deck, there were no lifeboats left. I don’t expect the engine room crew were all perfect, any more than all the clergy on the Titanic were perfect. And indeed I doubt if St Giles was perfect. But in these lives  - sometimes spectacularly holy, often very ordinary – we see Christ.

You don’t have to live as a hermit in the woods and love deer to be a saint – though Giles was doing all that because he loved Christ so much he didn’t want to be distracted. You can be a saint anywhere. You can be a saint anywhere. In school.  At home. In the workplace. And that doesn’t mean being pious and a bit other-worldly, it means being a door through which Christ comes into that school, or home, or workplace. And Christ was not pious or other-worldly. He was and is real.

So, on St Giles’ Day (though strictly speaking that is the 1st Sep) we are glad to remember our patron saint, whom we trust is still praying for us. We are glad to remember him because he shows us Christ. That tender love, not just for the deer but also for the hairy barbarian king, is Christ-like. And when we are struggling to see Christ, we can find him in the lives of those around us. Not just in the lives of the “spectacularly holy”, but in the ordinary lives of those around us – who love so patiently, who give generously, who pray faithfully.

So we honour our saints, both past and present; above all because they show us Christ, past and present. Amen.

Rev'd Dr. Alan Bartlett