There are two different things that I’m going to talk to you about this morning and the most significant one that I’m going to focus on is St. Christopher himself. Now we know that our church is called St. Christopher but there was a saint whose name was St. Christopher, who also is for whom we have named our church.

And there is a beautiful painting there. That’s called an icon that’s going to be given to our church today and blessed and it is St. Christopher and so we are going to talk about that and we are also going to pull in a little bit from our Gospel story today.

I’m sure for those of you who were listening to the Gospel story. It was a little disturbing. Don’t know if you heard it or not, but you heard there was a woman asking for healing for her daughter and there was some words used about should we give the children’s bread to dogs. And yet the woman said well even the puppies eat the scraps that fall from the master’s table and in that moment, Jesus said to hear, “You have spoken truth.”

Now we don’t know if Jesus changed his mind of if he was simply declaring so that every one around could hear and know that God’s love is bigger than all the lines that we draw. When we say those people are outside, they are outside God’s grace, they are at the edge. This woman was a Canaanite and it just so happens so was Christopher.

So I’m going to pass around some pictures and I want you to look at those Christopher and tell me what you see. What do you see in that picture? What is odd Giovanni? … You see a kid on top of St. Christopher and I’m going to explain who that kid in just a second. Do you see that ya’ll pictures have a dog’s head?

Many icons of St. Christopher actually have a dog’s head for St. Christopher and the reason is because he was a Canaanite and the reason is because it was believed that the Canaanites were beyond, they were outside. They were those people that we really can’t accept. And one of those reason that those icon are painted to help all of us see that God sees it different, that when God looks at people he doesn’t see the other, the outsider, those dog headed people. God sees beloved people who belong to him.

St. Christopher was a Canaanite. He was one of those people. He was huge. He was seven and half tall. He was a massive man. And they say he didn’t look too attractive. He was kind off scary, the big strong warrior and he was working for the Canaanite king and one day he thought I notice that the king trembles when he hears Satan or the devil mentioned so the devil must be more powerful than this king so I’m going to go looking for the devil and serve him. So off St. Christopher to find the devil.

Well, he ran into a group of thieves that called themselves the devil and he says, “I think I found them” so he started working with them and they would rob people. Remember he’s big and he’s strong. Well, one day he noticed that when they passed a cross on the side of the road that the thieves went away from them. They kind of were scared of it. And he went hmmm, well who is this that even the devil is afraid of and so he began a journey to figure out who this cross person was, who this Christ person was.

He found an old hermit who was a Christian and the hermit began to teach him and tell him about the love of God. And in that learning, he became a Christian. He realized that the love God had for him was bigger than all of that outsider business that everyone else talked about it. It was bigger than all of the evil and the darkness. So here is St. Christoher, he’s a big strong tall man and you know they actually called him Reprobus because Reprobus means a reprobate, a reject that’s how he was known. But he said to the hermit, “What must I do to serve Christ?” and the hermit thought, “Well, I fast and I pray every day. Maybe you do that.”

I don’t know if any of you have had big strong tall men in your life but big, strong tall men generally like to eat a little big. And Reprobus said, “I don’t know if I can do that fasting thing.” So the hermit thought with him and I have another idea, There is a river that passes here and back in that time they didn’t have bridges over every river. They didn’t have easy ways to get across the river.  And so people would have to walk through the river and sometimes the river would get high and they would get washed down the river and so the hermit told Reprobus, he said, “You’re big and you’re strong and so when those waters come and they rush you can stand firm.”

And so Reprobus took his place on the side of the river. And when a visitor would come he would hold on to them and hold them steadily across even when the waters got rough and lead them to the other side. And that became his service for Christ.

So here’s where the child comes in. One day Reprobus was standing at his place on the side of the River and a very small child came to him and the child said I need help crossing the river. Reprobus, said No problem. He picks him up puts him on his shoulder and begins to cross through the river and he gets into he river, all of the sudden the child becomes so heavy like lead, like he’s not going to be make it and he struggles and he finally gets all the way across and he sets the child down and he says, “Child, who are you? Why did you become so heavy when I was trying to cross the river” and the child said, “I am the Christ child and I carry the weight of the world.” Christopher said, “How do I know it’s you?” and he said, “Put your staff in the ground and come back tomorrow” and the next day when he came back his staff had sprouted into a palm tree and oftentimes on icons you’ll see and ours has it, too, there are palm fronds at the top. Reprobus knew that that had been the Christ child and from that day forward, he was known as Christopher. The word Christopher means Christ bearer or carrier. Just like the crucifer is the cross carrier.

So that’s where Christoher got his new name. He became a saint in the church and people said I want to be like him because he took all of who he was with his giant stature and strength and he gave it in service to Christ. He became the patron saint of travelers and outsiders and we’ve been called to walk in his footsteps.

I challenge all of us to reflect on who Christopher is and how that affects our call. Who in our community are the dog-headed people that we need to remember that God says my love goes beyond any barriers we draw. And who are the people who are travelers that need help getting the waters of life and the difficulties that might knock that them over and how we can be a Christopher and carry Christ with them out into the world.

Amen.