All Saints Day

Today is All Saints Day, one of my favorite festivals of the church. Two aspects make it especially meaningful to me.

First, I consider it a time to celebrate the “great cloud of witnesses” mentioned in Hebrews 12:1—all who persevere in the faith and pass it along to those who come after them. The “saints” we commemorate are not just people who have lived exceptional lives, but all of God’s people who have “fought the good fight…finished the race…kept the faith” (1 Timothy 4:7).

Second, All Saints Day is a time to lay claim to God’s greatest promises, and to bask in their glow. Revelation 21 is a favorite of mine: “See, the home of God is among mortals….he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” God gives us sure and certain hope that death, painful as it is now, will not have the final word!

Thanks be to God for the great promises in which we stand, and for all who have nurtured our faith in these promises. And thanks be to God for you--my own cloud of witnesses!


P.S. This is (more or less) the column I wrote for my internship churches' November newsletters. Apologies to those who get to enjoy it twice, but I did mean it both times. :-)