"The challenge of the saints of the twenty-first century is to begin again to comprehend the sacred in the ten thousand things of our world; to reverence what we have come to view as ordinary and devoid of spirit." – Edward Hays in "Secular Sanctity"
November 1st is All Saint's Day. All Saint's Day is not exactly a Presbyterian religious observance day in the church calendar, it is primarily observed within the Roman Catholic church and ended up serving as the backdrop for Halloween. All Saint's Day within the Roman Catholic church is a day to commemorate the lives of all the saints of the church who have no special calendar day of their own. While other traditions, celebrate the lives of all the communion of saints in the church who during the past year have passed on to claim their place in the Kingdom of Heaven.
As Presbyterians we don't designate individuals specifically as saints in the church, like the Roman Catholic tradition, but it does not mean it can not be important to our practices. In the Roman Catholic tradition, they tend to focus on saints in heaven? In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he writes, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints” (Ephesians 1:15). Whenever Paul speaks of saints, he is talking about members of the church, those chosen by God and set apart to do his work in the world. Saints are holy people, according to Paul, but their holiness doesn’t come from achieving some kind of moral perfection. Instead, they have a holiness that comes from being marked as God’s people.
When a person is proposed for Roman Catholic sainthood, evidence of that person’s virtue must be presented along with at least two postmortem miracles — miracles performed by the intercession of the person after his or her death. When you have a living saint during some stage of your life, you might come to believe you were the recipient of a miracle, even though no one will ask you to give evidence, you know this person has made a difference in your life. Who are the saints in your life, those simple people of faith who shared God's grace with devotion, sacredness, and compassion, who served as role models of the divine and the holy.
We all have individuals in our lives we might call saints. People who were important to helping us shape us into the people we have become. A teacher who gave us a love for learning and encouraged us to pursue science, math, history or the arts. A church elder or member who mentored our faith formation in the church and helped us to follow Jesus Christ as a disciple. A Sunday School teacher who guided us to understand the wonderful stories contained in scriptures about God's great love for us. A person who supported and encouraged us to go on a mission trip, serve in the church, or volunteer for a project that changed and/or strengthened our faith and commitment to the church.
Back in 1999, I read an article in Presbyterians Today written by Martha Hubbard and she tells how she has used All Saint's Day as a way to honor those individuals who were saints within her life.
She writes, “Each year I celebrate All Saints' Day by writing a letter to one of the 'saints' in my life, telling that person how he or she has helped me to be the person of faith that I am. . . The letters are written in thankful appreciation to God for the people who have been a part of my journey.”
One year she wrote to a religion professor from college about how they influenced her life to become a director of Christian Education. Another year, she wrote a letter to her sixth grade school teacher and how they encouraged, supported and showed love to a shy adolescent.
I started to do the same in my life and have encouraged others to do the same. If we think about it, we have many “saints” in our lives who have helped shape our lives. Individuals who helped us to choose a career, learn a trade, develop our faith, mentor our development in many different areas of our professional, family and personal life. We are not “self-made” men and women, we are the produce of many people who throughout our lives, thought us important enough to love and care about, who saw our potential for what we could do even when we might have not been able to see it.
An important part of my faith in Jesus Christ is about how I show gratitude for the abundance of grace I have received. The grace that comes through Christ and the love of God, but also for the grace I have received through God's people. We are called to be a grateful, thankful people, to share what we have graciously received by saying thank you and giving to the next generation what we have been graciously been given by the former generation. All Saint's Day is a good time for us to say thank you to those who have shared their lives with us and helped shape us. Even if the the individual is now deceased we can still share our gratitude with their families, spouse, their children or grandchildren.
Take some time now to write a letter to one of the saints of your life, so they will receive it on All Saint's Day and express your gratitude for their faithfulness and the grace you have received from them. Then go and do the same for others.
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