All Saints for All Time

Revelation 7:9-17; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12

Today is set aside annually as the Sunday on which we honor those whom we call saints, in other words, all who believe in Jesus.

First, a bit of explanation. In the Roman Catholic Church, November 1 is observed as All Saints, which honors martyrs and officially recognized saints, and November 2 is observed as All Souls, a day to pray for deceased believers to be released from purgatory.

After the Protestant Reformation, all believers are saints – whether in heaven or on earth – so all our deceased loved ones are remembered and honored on All Saints Day.  

… Today’s texts help us recognize and honor our deceased loved ones and share our grief with others who are also grieving.

The writer of 1 John calls us children of God. That makes us family, kin with each other for 2,000 years, kin with the ancient martyrs and believers, and kin with those who grew ill and died over the centuries from an assortment of plagues and wars. And we are kin with those who died too young, and kin with those who died of old age.

We join together as kin in sharing God’s love with each other, and we join together in sharing sadness and trouble with each other. Grief shared is easier to bear, and this day is set aside to help us grieve together the death of loved ones, and to be comforted by the caring hearts of others.

… I have heard people say the book of Revelation is “scary and impossible to understand and people shouldn’t ever read it.” Yes, it is a challenge to understand. But the Lutheran understanding of the book is that it is both a religious protest against the political situation under Roman rule, and an encouragement to stay faithful to Jesus in spite of the possibility of persecution. Yes, there are some fantastic, terrible beings and puzzling events in Revelation, and there are also lovely, glorious scenes like the one in our first reading.

The vision John of Patmos sees is of God seated on a throne surrounded by a multitude of believers. These believers have been through the “ordeal”: they have been arrested, tortured, and killed because they refused to worship Roman gods, and would only worship Jesus. 

I notice that the multitude is composed of people of all sorts, from every tribe and every nation and every language. By the end of the first century, when Revelation was written, the good news of the resurrection has traveled all around the Mediterranean, all the way to France and Spain, and along the north coast of Africa – the broad extent of the Roman Empire.

Many Christians in the Middle East and northern Africa are descendants of the very first generations of believers. So, today, we are kin with believers in Jesus in the US, in Europe, in Mexico and Brazil, in China and Korea, in Egypt and Ethiopia and Cameroon, and in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon. We are united in honoring our saints and sharing our grief on this All-Saints Sunday.

… The Gospel reading is the familiar passage we call the Beatitudes. Jesus teaches us that we are blessed when we are poor in spirit, when we are meek, when we strive for justice and mercy. Especially appropriate for today is the blessing for those who mourn.

Today, as we remember those we have loved and whom we now miss, we are comforted by our shared grief. Some of us experience fresh grief, for loved ones who died recently. Some of us experience old grief, for loved ones long gone but still missed. We light candles, wanting the light of our loved ones to shine again for a brief time.

… Some of us remember with joy those who have inspired us, who were living saints in our lives. One of those for me was Pam. She was a member of one of my first congregations. While most of the members were supportive and shared my vision, there were a few who were critical and constantly voiced their opinions.

Pam was ill from a medical accident and homebound. The first few times I visited, she welcomed me with hot water and a choice of tea bags, and a plate of homemade cookies. It was important to her to be the host. After a few more visits, she asked me to carry the snacks. I assured her that I would be happy to visit her even when the time came for her to be in bed with tubes and there were no snacks.

She is one of my saints because when I visited, she gave a brief update on her own health, then asked about the congregation. I usually just talked about the things that were going on, who was ill or recovered, etc. She often asked questions when she wanted to know more. One day when I visited, she guessed things had been rough for me. She knew the people well, and listened with compassion as I shared the struggles I was facing. Then she asked what she could do and did it.

She is one of my saints because she put the needs of others before her own failing health. She was a caring person just when I needed one, offering compassion and justice at the same time. She made me feel like family, like kin. I was blessed to be in her presence.

… We all have those for whom we give thanks, who have been saints for us. Some of them are birth-family relatives, and some of them are adopted family, but kin just the same. So, this week, I invite you to reflect on the saints in your lives. Give thanks for them, tell them they are important if they are still living, and seek to be a saint for those around you. Amen