October 29, 1995	How Shall We Pray?	Joel 2:23-32

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

Luke 18:9-14

Many folks may not be aware of the fact that Halloween is closely associated with a Christian holy day, falling on November first, known as All Saint's Day. All Saint's Day is the day upon which the Christian Church has traditionally celebrated the lives of those who had died for the Christian faith, persons who didn't have a special day set aside to honor them. With time, those who had lived exemplary Christian lives were included among those who were to be remembered on that day. And that's why it is called "All Saint's Day." It is also interesting to note that on the day following "All Saint's Day," the Roman Catholic Church celebrates a day called "All Soul's Day," when the lives of all Christians of the past may be remembered with memorial services and the like. But, we Protestants don't usually celebrate "All Soul's Day," simply because we Protestants believe that the celebration of "All Saint's Day" include the memorializing of any person who has died with a faith in Christ. For we believe that by faith in Christ we are made holy. And if we are all made holy through faith in Christ, then we are all saints.

Now, it is good for us to remember that the Church put "All Saint's Day" on November first for one reason important reason. It was because of Halloween, otherwise known as All Hallows Even, a celebration with deep roots in the pagan worship of pre- Christian Europe. Amazing as it may seem, about fourteen hundred years or so, many of our ancestors were not Christian, at all, but believed, nevertheless, in spirits and goblins and good and evil fairies and gods and goddesses. Indeed, some of our ancestors would probably have made Conan the Barbarian look pretty civilized. And, it was they who believed that on the last night of October the god of the underworld allowed the spirits of the dead to return to earth to visit their families. And, the people hollowed out gourds and made them into little lamps, believing these would be the temporary dwelling places for these spirits as they paid their visits. And we do this, today, at Halloween, but hopefully not for the same reason.

But, the Church put "All Saint's Day" on the next day, hoping to get people to forget about Halloween, hoping to get the faithful out for worship services, that night, instead. But, nevertheless, Halloween continues to be ever more popular than going to church.

But, this morning, being the Sunday before All Saints Day, I want us to remember what I said about the Protestant emphasis given to "All Saint's Day." Rather than only remembering only a list of persons who the church has arbitrarily named "saints," the Protestant emphasis to memorialize all who have died in Christ. For when we put our faith in Jesus we are given his righteousness, or as the scriptures say, "We are clothed in the righteousness of Christ." And it doesn't matter how good we may think we have lived our lives; and it doesn't matter how badly we may think we have lived our lives. For when we are truly in Christ, by faith, we are all the same in the eyes of God.

All too often, however, in the past and in the present well meaning groups of Christians have tried to justify themselves by comparing themselves with other groups of Christians, or even non-Christians. And, sometimes we do this when we get criticized by an outside group. For instance, several weeks ago they had that million man march. And during that meeting Louis Farakhan's and his associates told the crowd of 850,000 men standing there that the people of the Islamic religion are more moral, more ethical, and more righteous than white Christians and Jews. And he pointed out all the bad things Christians and Jews had ever done to Black people from the time they were captured, and put on ships, brought to America as slaves, and right up to this very day. He did his best to make us look pretty evil and to make anyone wonder why they would want to be a Christian or a Jew or white. And, what's worse, is that some of the things he said about us were even true!

But, there is a terrible danger in doing what he did. For any time we start to judge ourselves and each other strictly by what we may do right or what we do wrong, or upon what is good or evil in our past, is when we all are forced to realize that we have all failed in the eyes of God. None of us is perfect. All of us makes mistakes. None of us are always guided by the altruism and ideals we want people to think guide our lives. For we all fall into selfishness. We all get too caught up our personal lives to care about each other the way we ought to. I don't care whether you're Louis Farakhan or Billy Graham, Bill Clinton or Robert Dole, rich or poor, good looking or pretty ugly – we're all sinners in the eyes of God. We all need God's grace and forgiveness. We all need the righteousness of Christ. And it is that understanding of God's grace through Jesus Christ that makes the Christian faith different and special – set apart from all the others. – Instead of bragging about our righteousness before the world, like Minister Farakhan, we Christians confess our sins before God, receive God's forgiveness, and once more and again set our feet onto the Way that leads to eternal life.

Now, I can say this with some confidence because of our gospel lesson for today where we have Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector who both went into the temple to pray. The Pharisee stood up so that everyone could see him. Looking around, he even noticed the tax collector standing off to the side. In spite of the fact that he hated tax collectors, he was glad that the tax collector was there because now he had someone bad to compare himself with. He cleared his throat and even waited for a moment so that everyone around him would hear his prayer. And he prayed, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get."

But the tax collector didn't pray that way. He couldn't even look up as he prayed, but beat his breast and said, "God have mercy on me, a sinner."

Our gospel lesson from Luke tells us that Jesus said, "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

But, this is not an easy thing for us to do. Many of us have grown up with a sports mentality that preaches the gospel of perfection. As we watch the World Series we know that only the winning of that series will be remembered. Only the winners will celebrate their accomplishment. The team that comes in second place among all the other baseball teams in North America will go back to their locker rooms holding crying towels to their eyes as though they had accomplished nothing. Indeed, it is so hard for us to accept anything but perfection. And so we pick on each other, and we're so hard on ourselves, and we're always looking over our shoulders to see if anyone saw the mistake we made. And all the while our Lord is telling us that God loves us in spite of our mistakes; that God deeply cares for us even when we have lost the battle. No, Christians aren't perfect. Rather, Christians are those who are willing to admit their imperfections before each other and before Almighty God and receive the righteousness of Christ.

I was listening to a couple of fairly pious people talking the other day. One of them asked the other, "Who do you think the next saint will be?" And the other one said, "Oh, I suppose Mother Theresa will be named a saint after she dies." And then they talked about other persons who ought to be named to sainthood. And I chuckled to myself: "If only they knew," I thought. "Sainthood is the gift God gives to each of us." Look around this room, today. Has anyone here suffered in behalf of our Lord? Does anyone here love Jesus? Do you want to serve the Lord? Do you deny yourself to give to God? Do you want to please the Lord? But, most importantly, do you come before God humbly with your sins? If you do these things, you don't need to be nominated to sainthood. For you already have made it! It's just a natural part of our being in an ongoing relationship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So:

How shall we pray in the house of God?

Shall we in pride profess

All of our deeds done for righteous show

And all our worthiness?

How shall we pray in the house of God?

Shall we in truth confess?

We are the ones who need Mercy's peace

For all our sinfulness!

How shall we pray in the house of God?

Shall we be justified?

Through humble faith comes our righteousness,

And not through selfish pride.

Amen.