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Editor's Note: United Methodists and other Protestants do not believe in Saints in the same way that the Catholic Church does. But we can learn from the lives of saints ... they have many gifts to give us. Following is an article about John Wesley's -- Methodism's founder's -- understanding of saints and what that might say to us today.
In the Sunday Service, John Wesley's 1784 abridgement of the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, he omitted the entire "saints (sanctorial) cycle" of saints' days. Wesley sensed that, 'most of the holy days" (so called) were "at present answering no valuable end."
Wesley's writing, preaching and prayer were strongly focused on Christ, his birth, teaching, cross and resurrection. For that reason, he emphasized the saving and sanctifying grace of the Lord.
This does not mean that Wesley did not know of -- or believe in -- these great heroes of the faith as manifestations of the power of God's grace at work in real people. Note the above quotation from Wesley. He saw focusing on the saints as "at present answering no valuable end."
Wesley, we could say then, was open to the fact that, at one time attention to the saints did serve a valuable goal in forming and sustaining faith, hope and love. And he was, presumably, open to a future when attention to and recognition of their lives in worship and prayer could again have a significant impact on the holiness of Christians.
Indeed, the notion of saints in the biblical sense -- ones made holy by the sanctifying work of the Spirit of Jesus was powerful to John Wesley. He makes numerous notes in his journal, hailing Nov. 1, All Saints Day, as a day of comfort and joy. On Nov. 1, 1756, he wrote:
Monday, Nov. 1, was a day of triumphant joy, as All Saints Day generally is. How superstitious are they who scruple giving God solemn thanks for the lives and death of his saints!
Note here Wesley's balance. He does not go so far as to praise the saints; he gives thanks to God for them. So, he avoids the extremes of cults developing around some figure other than God. On the other hand, he thinks it is the height of superstition to avoid any mention of saints in the context of prayer and worship.
Do contemporary United Methodists believe in saints? If our United Methodist Hymnal is a statement to our theology, then I would say we believe in the saints and pattern our belief along the lines of Wesley's thought.
Under the theme "All Saints," on page 938 of the Hymnal, 12 hymns are listed. If you read the words of those hymns, you will see that we commemorate the saints as a community of those who, living and dead, are exemplars of Christian holiness of heart and life.
Many of our churches are named after biblical persons in the New Testament, such as St. Mark, St. Matthew, St. John, St. Luke and St. Paul.
As a rule, United Methodists do not knowingly exhibit devotion to persons called saints. Again, this is probably due to our strong focus on the triune God and our belief in the "one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human who gave himself a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:5-6a).
We tend to have scruples about creating cult figures that would interfere with this sense of the sufficiency of Christ to redeem and sustain us by the power of the Spirit to the glory of God.
Another reason we move this way is that Methodism was born in the beginnings of the modern period, whereas Roman Catholic faith was born in the pre-modern period with a stronger sense of communion with those who have died.
United Methodists, along with most Protestants, do not canonize persons by particular criteria, as does the Roman Catholic Church. We would call some people "saints" because they are exemplars, people who have done much good for the world. Our approach to saints is, if you will, casual and ad hoc.
Finally, United Methodists are open to ways of prayer and thinking that include "saints." The Order of St. Luke (a United Methodist organization dedicated to sacramental, liturgical scholarship, education, practice and spiritual formation, affiliated with the General Board of Discipleship) publishes For All the Saints: A Calendar of Commemorations for United Methodists, edited by Clifton F. Guthrie (available from Cokesbury or online at: http://www.Saint-Luke.org).
By reading the lives of these "holy ones" from over the centuries we are encouraged in our discipleship and more fully understand that we are "surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1).
Do we look down on those who believe in saints? No. We only urge that we not worship them, but give thanks to God for them and learn from their example.
-- Daniel T. Benedict
Director of Worship Resources
General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church
Tennessee, U.S.A.
Reprinted with permission from Interpreter magazine, November-December 2001 issue. Copyright © 2001 United Methodist Communications, Inc.
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