By: Rev. Craig A. Phillips, Ph.D.
On All Saint’s Day, November 1, the Church commemorates all the saints of God, both the living and the dead. We give thanks both for those who have passed on to a greater shore and to a greater light—the Faithful Departed—and those of us who, though still alive today, are called by God to be saints in this life. All Christians are called to become saints, that is, holy people.
St. Paul often began his letters to the churches to whom he ministered with a greeting to the “saints” who were in those churches. In the opening sentences of St. Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, he makes it abundantly clear that all Christians are called to be saints:
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus [having been made holy], called to be saints [called to be holy ones], together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 1:1–3 NRSV)
And in the opening words of Paul’s letter to the Philippian church, he similarly writes,
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints [holy ones] in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Phil. 1:1–2 NRSV)
Paul is not addressing saints who have lived in ages past but rather he is addressing the living, those living in Corinth and Philippi at the time of his writing. These words, by extension, are addressed to you and to me today.
God is always in the process of transforming us. We live our lives in the community of the Church so that God, in the words of St. Paul from his letter to the Romans, “can transform us into the likeness of God’s son,” that is, that we might be transformed into the likeness of Christ. In his letter to the Roman church Paul exhorts them with the following words:
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom 12:2 NRSV).
That is what church is about —transformed lives. God is always already in the process of transforming you so that you might grow increasingly into your calling — your vocation — to become a holy person, a saint. [Some of us just need a little more transformation than others!]
On All Saint’s Day, we also remember the lives of those who lived exemplary lives in the past.
In the book of Sirach there is a wonderful passage that speaks to the fact that only a few of the many people who have lived lives faithful to God are still remembered. Most have been forgotten. But that does not mean that they lived their lives in vain. They also were saints, holy people, who lived their lives for God and in the service of God’s reign and rule. In the 44th chapter, we read:
1 Let us now sing the praises of famous men [and women],
our ancestors in their generations.
2 The Lord apportioned to them great glory,
his majesty from the beginning.
3 There were those who ruled in their kingdoms,
and made a name for themselves by their valor;
those who gave counsel because they were intelligent;
those who spoke in prophetic oracles;
4 Those who led the people by their counsels
and by their knowledge of the people’s lore;
they were wise in their words of instruction;
5 Those who composed musical tunes,
or put verses in writing;
6 Rich men endowed with resources,
living peacefully in their homes—
7 All these were honored in their generations,
and were the pride of their times.
8 Some of them have left behind a name,
so that others declare their praise.
9 But of others there is no memory;
they have perished as though they had never existed;
they have become as though they had never been born, they and their children after them.
10 But these also were godly men [and women],
whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten;
11 Their wealth will remain with their descendants,
and their inheritance with their children’s children.
On October 14, the Episcopal Church commemorated Simon Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky, Bishop and Missionary, 1831-1906. It is likely that you may never have heard of him. He may not be well known, but he is not forgotten.
Schereschewsky who went by the name of Joseph, was one such “saint” who after his death was recognized by the Episcopal Church as a person of an exemplary life lived in faithfulness to the Gospel. Today the task of adding people to be commemorated falls to the Standing Liturgical Commission of the Episcopal Church who receives petitions from churches and people within the church to add suitable candidates to the list of people whom we wish to commemorate. Often, when we read the biographies of the saints, we find ourselves asking, would I have done that? Would my faithfulness in response to the gospel go as far as he or she took it?
The following short biography from the Episcopal book of commemorations for the saints of the church, Lesser Feasts and. Fasts, tells of the extraordinary life that Bishop Joseph lived.
Joseph was born on May 6, 1831, of Jewish parents, in the Lithuanian town of Tauroggen. His early education was directed toward the rabbinate but, during graduate studies in Germany, he became interested in Christianity, both through contact with missionaries and through his own reading of a Hebrew translation of the New Testament. In 1854, Schereschewsky immigrated to America and entered the Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh to train for the ministry of the Presbyterian Church. After two years, he decided to become an Episcopalian and to finish his theological studies at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, from which he graduated in 1859. After ordination, and in response to Bishop Boone’s call for helpers in China, Schereschewsky left for Shanghai. Being a talented linguist, he learned to write Chinese during the voyage. From 1862 to 1875, he lived in Peking and translated the Bible and parts of the Prayer Book into Mandarin. Schereschewsky was elected Bishop of Shanghai in 1877 and was consecrated in Grace Church, New York City. He established St. John’s University in Shanghai and began his translation of the Bible and other works into classical Chinese. After some years, however, he became seriously ill. Stricken with paralysis, he resigned his see in 1883.
Schereschewsky was determined to continue his translation work, however, and after many difficulties in finding support, he was able to return to Shanghai in 1895. Two years later, he moved to Tokyo, where he died on October 15, 1906. With heroic perseverance, Schereschewsky completed his translation of the Bible, typing some 2,000 pages with the middle finger of his partially crippled hand. Four years before his death, he said, “I have sat in this chair for over twenty years. It seemed very hard at first. But God knew best. He kept me for the work for which I am best fitted.” He is buried in the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo, next to his wife Susan Mary Waring, who supported him constantly during his labors and illness.
His words speak powerfully to me:
“I have sat in this chair for over twenty years. It seemed very hard at first. But God knew best. He kept me for the work for which I am best fitted.”
He kept me for the work for which I am best fitted.”
What would it mean for you to offer to God “the work for which [you are] best fitted?
The prayer for his commemoration offers a vision of what it would mean for each of us to commit our lives to God and to the call of God to each of us that we become holy people —saints.
O God, who in your providence called Joseph Schereschewsky to the ministry of this church and gave him the gifts and the perseverance to translate the Holy Scriptures: Inspire us, by his example and prayers, to commit our talents to your service, confident that you uphold those whom you call; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The words that stand out to me are words that apply to each one of us
Inspire us, by his example and prayers, to commit our talents to your service, confident that you uphold those whom you call.
Reading the lives of the saints, like Bishop Joseph, we can easily be inspired by the example of the exemplary lives lived by people who lived holy lives in the past. They are an inspiration to us today.
You have our own, peculiar (in the best sense of the word) talents that you can offer God. You most likely are already offering those talents to God and to the service of God’s reign and rule. So, what can you do to grow in your commitment to offer more of your talents, your abilities, your gifts, to God? God, who is always faithful, is in the process of transforming you so that you might become more of the saint that you already are and the saint that you are called to be.
What would it mean for you to offer to God “the work for which [you are] best fitted?