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I believe an event like death has a way of providing a moment of clarity if it is seized. Not only does death provide clarity, but so do positive events like births, baptisms, and weddings. They each remind us that life is special, is a miracle, can change instantly, and is powerfully shaped by relationships with those we love and, specifically and importantly, by our faith. If you have the chance to attend a funeral, baptism, wedding, or to hold a newborn baby, take the opportunity. I guarantee that it will be meaningful and add rich texture to the tapestry of your life.
Recently, my son Benjamin and I had the opportunity to attend a long-time family friend’s funeral in Colorado. Most of our family was busy with important commitments that couldn’t be changed, but we made a quick trip there and back to attend. John was a humble farmer who Benjamin worked with farming during some summers growing up. It was nice to celebrate his life with his family and listen to many neighbors who were farming and ranching friends, sharing about John’s life, character, sense of humor, humble spirit, kindness, and helping hands. The reverend from the Cowboy At The Cross Church delivered a wonderful graveside message of salvation by God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ. Glad we went.
I have a few thoughts about why I find All Saints’ Day encouraging. One of the obvious reasons is to remember those who have died in the Christian faith in the past year by name during worship and silently in our hearts, thanking God for their witness and life of faith. “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7).
Another dynamic at work in Christians as we celebrate the saints who have gone before us is our self-examination and reflection, seeing our own frailty and mortality. In recognizing death, we must negotiate the earthly tension of our existence, vacillating between faith and doubt and uncertainty, between saint and sinner, between the sacred and profane, between earth and heaven. It's that moment when one ponders what friends and family might write in an obituary about one’s life, a moral and spiritual accounting. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
The celebration of the saints on All Saints’ Day also brings hope as we eagerly and earnestly seek Jesus Christ to calm and quiet our fears, comfort our souls, and seek forgiveness of our sins. Plainly said, I think death helps the living realize the need to get right with God, which should scare the hell right out of us. Only with the help of the Holy Spirit, through faith in Jesus Christ, can we begin to imagine and understand being unbound from our sinful, stuck-in-a-rut state and hopeless situation to what the Lord may hold in store for us next. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2).
Yes, by God’s grace, we are propelled forward toward the hope of our eternal home as our souls are fortified by God’s Word and Sacrament. In the midst of our daily, constant struggle as believers, we need to be blessed. Through the lens of All Saints Day we see through the gloom and tomb. We can see that Christ conquered sin, death, and the power of the devil and the unbelieving world (John 16:33). The Apostle Paul says it this way, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:18-21).
Saints, disguised in All Saints’ Day is a rich perspective and hope in Jesus Christ through celebrating those faithful saints who have gone before us as we are assured and remember, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10). Enjoy the blessings of Jesus Christ as you celebrate All Saints’ Day Saints! Amen!
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