On this All Saints Day November 1, 2024 I invite you to consider ways to embrace the love God has for you as we remember that death does not have the last word. We get to remember those who have died; unafraid to speak their names. We get to choose faith over fear time and time again. When fear is being sold in every form especially in the days leading up to the presidential election take to heart that faith is like a muscle we exercise. We all have been given the gift of this muscle; by exercising it we can draw upon its strength.
This Sunday we will faithfully and unafraid speak the names of those who have died. Please be sure to email any names you want added to the Roll Call of the Saints. We will name those who have been baptized since All Saints Sunday 2023. We make clear the bridge between death and life and death and life. We get to be people who take to heart that remembering can be a holy endeavor. When Jesus instructed his followers on how to live after his death he told them, “Do this in remembrance of me”.
All Saints is a time we give God thanks for those who have modeled for us how to live as faith-filled people. We give God thanks for those saints who have been in our lives. This All Saints Day in a time that seems to me particularly challenging in light of political divisions it is helpful to remember we are all beloved children of God. There have been many a time in the past that it seemed like the end of the world was imminent. We do not get to know the future, we only get to live in this day, time, moment. We get to, by faith, love one another with the love God has for us.
For me personally, it is the gift of faith that has allowed me to move forward even in the face of events that seem like they could incapacitate or overwhelm me. Part of our remembering is to be able to look back without staring trusting that even as we miss those we have loved who have died we will one day be reunited in a new way, in a new life.
On this All Saints Day who are you missing? What legacy did that person leave for you? If there is any unresolved hurt and grief ask for God’s healing. Healer of our every ill, source of our salvation -Jesus knows grief. Today I hope you will remember that you are beloved. Beloved child of God is your truest name. Be unafraid.
On this day, together, we can look at death face first trusting Jesus knows our pain and the Spirit accompanies us. Unlike Memorial Day which focuses on remembering and honoring those who have died in military service, All Saints Day invites us to focus on all who have died, all who have gone before us. We entrust our memories of them into God’s tender loving care. May we also entrust ourselves into this Love that will not let us god. Together we remember that the Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words to express. And that is enough.
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