When the Saints Go Marching In

Our junior high basketball team played the tune When the Saints Go Marching In as they came onto the floor. We were the Cardinals, so it was easy to sing about the Cards marching in. Recently, at the church's Jazz and Jambalaya fundraiser for Katrina rebuilding, the wonderful band play this great song and we enjoyed prancing around the Parish Hall with our beads and bangles.

For many centuries, Christians read about the lives of the saints and were called to emulate them. Sure, many of the stories were undoubtedly fabricated--but still the saints' life stories had power.

So who are saints for us? Who are people who have lived their lives with grace and courage, with humor and hope, so that we feel challenged and blessed and encouraged?

The film Coach Carter was on TV last night. Samuel L.Jackson portrayed the coachand former basketball star who fought despair in a tough and worn down inner city high school in Richmond, California. His leadership and decisions revolutionized the lives of his basketball players and through them of the community. Here we have an inspiring true story.

How are we helping ourselves and our children to know the true stories of flesh and blood saints. I once asked our confirmation class that question and they had few answers. Heroes and saints--o, you mean Batman or Superman or Dirty Harry or Hulk Hogan.

No, I mean Oscar Romero and Roberto Clemente and Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Fannie Lou Hamer and Mother Teresa and some incredible people in our neighborhood. I love the Batman movies--but real saints need to have some flesh and blood, so that you and i can feel truly blessed and deeply challenged by their life, word, and witness.