The Fingerprints of Others on our souls

 

\ I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Ephesians 3:18-19

Yesterday we honored and named our saints, the people whose love has left a lasting and lingering impression upon our lives.  Who are the saints in your life?  Who are the people who inspired and infused your life in meaningful ways and helped shape you who you are?  Pause with me and name: the relative whose nurture created a safe space for you to show up as you are.  Name the teacher in school who awoke a passion for learning.  Name a mentor in your career and a co-worker.  Now, name people today, family and friends and fellow church members who embody and bring to life God’s love.  For me, it is easier to write, preach, talk about God’s love when I notice the angels around me.  For me, God’s love is never some abstract idea, but God’s love continually is taking on flesh and breath and bone in the people I meet.  Make a list today of people whose words, presence, and participation in the great art project of your life are collaborators and playmates.  We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, not just those of the past who were like waves of love raising the boats of our lives.  We are still surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses in the present moment who are alive and help us know and feel love.  And after you make your list, reach out to one person on that list today with a call or text or facetime.  I am not asking you to write them a love letter, although you could.  But connect with the saint today.  You can start by saying, “You were on my heart today and I wanted to see how you were doing?” 

Paul says to the Ephesians, “I pray you may have the power to comprehend with all the saints…”  Or I love talking about the communion of saints, the ties that bless and bind us in ways that remind us we are not alone.  The invitation to tend the list of your saints is not just a one and done exercise.  I pray you will continue to add names to the list in the days and weeks to come.  Don’t feel like you must write down every single name today, like it is some kind of quiz or test.  You have lots of time.  Maybe two names are enough for today and one more name three weeks from now and another in January.  I pray you will be awake and aware to the truth that we are surrounded by saints from our past and present who help us experience and encounter the wideness and deepness and fullness and diversity of God’s love that never lets us go. Amen.