This week’s Lectionary texts can be found here.
There is SO MUCH more in the “Deep Dive” version of these notes. If you are looking for more in-depth research, subscribe to our “Deep Dive” here. This week may be especially helpful if you are new to observing All Saints or would like to lead your congregation through it for the first time.
All Saints Day is not about individual saints. It is about God. God uses people: flawed and also faithful people, giving them the courage, tenacity, virtue, and mercy that they (and we) need to be the people of God in each particular time and place.
But it is God who prepares the meal for us. It is God who gathers us together. In Christ, Isaiah’s prophecy (Isaiah 25:6-9) has come true and we will one day see it in fullness. The kingdom has been inaugurated and will be realized. This table and meal that we taste at communion will be set and served. In Jesus, the shroud of death has been destroyed, and with it the shroud of shame.
This crazy and often frustrating world is headed somewhere. Our God draws near and there will come a day when the dwelling of God will be fully realized (Revelation 21:1-6a). All will be made right. Death, which has been conquered in Jesus will finally be undone, and with it there will also be no more mourning, or crying, or pain. There will be a day when the Lord will wipe all tears from faces, and we get to live that day here and now.
We remember the saints today, not because they are perfect. It is easy idealize certain saints in ways that are not helpful. All of our great heroes had flaws.
Peter was often impulsive. Paul was often stubborn. Augustine wrestled with lust through much of his life. Francis may have been over-zealous at times. John Wesley wasn’t a great husband. Martin Luther King, Jr. had family issues. Billy Graham had a Nixon problem. Teresa wrestled her whole life with doubt.
We don’t look to the saints because they are perfect. We look to them because God used their brokenness, their struggles, their pain. He sat with them in the midst of it. He weeps with us, when we grieve, when we doubt, and even when we protest Him.
And, there are some who, through lives, we saw God shine through in a specific way. By following Jesus, by the power of the Spirit, hearts tuned by grace, they embody the gospel as they stand in solidarity and as they point the world towards our true hope (John 11:32-44).
He is the God of resurrection. In our struggles he reminds us to not forget the promise of resurrection. In Him is life beyond any expectations. Death does not have the final word. What we are taught to believe about ourselves and the world does not have the final word. Worldly power doesn’t have the final say. Those things are not the truth, even when they appear to be.
The final word is this: “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
*Our Deep Dive this week features a more in-depth look at the background of Halloween, All Saints, and All Souls. We include quotes from Rowan Williams, N.T. Wright, Walter Brueggemann, John Oswalt, and Cyril of Alexandria. We also include more pastoral applications and ways to engage this feast with your congregation. You can sign up for this in-depth (this week, 13 pages) here.