All Saints Day
Today is All Saints Day on the church calendar.
From Wikipedia: “Christian celebration of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day stems from a belief that there is a powerful spiritual bond between those in heaven (the “Church triumphant“), and the living (the “Church militant“). In Catholic theology, the day commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven. It is a national holiday in many historically Catholic countries. In Methodist theology, All Saints Day revolves around “giving God solemn thanks for the lives and deaths of his saints“, including those who are “famous or obscure”. As such, individuals throughout the Church Universal are honoured, such as Paul the Apostle, Augustine of Hippo and John Wesley, in addition to individuals who have personally led one to faith in Jesus, such as one’s grandmother or friend.“
From Anglican Pastor: “All Saints Day was focused on exemplary Christians. This doesn’t mean they were “perfect” Christians.  It means that some aspect of God’s grace shined brightly in their lives, and was seen and acclaimed by many others. We commemorate the Patriarchs, the Prophets, and Mary, Joseph, the Apostles and so many other biblical saints. We also commemorate the saints of the Christian Church including martyrs like Perpetua, teachers like Augustine, and mystics like St. Teresa of Avila. Later, All Souls Day was added on November 2nd, as a way to acknowledge all believers.
This focus on the past helps us gain wisdom for the present. By focusing on these saints, we can learn from them. And since there is only one Body of Christ in heaven and on earth, we also celebrate our communion with them. Of course, this is mystical communion, which means that its out of our control. But we know it is real. We are in fellowship with those who have gone before us, since we are all in Christ. This helps us satisfy our human longing for communion with those who have gone before.
And we also celebrate our hope for reunion on All Saints Day. All who die in Christ are alive in him, and we will be resurrected together. So we aren’t just pining for the past, we are looking forward to a grand reunion.”
One of the treasures of becoming an Anglican is the observance of days like this.
We remember and honor those who have spiritually impacted both ourselves personally and the church as a whole.
We remember, I hope, that they are more alive now than they have ever been.
We remember that our fellowship with them hasn’t been broken, just temporarily changed.
We look forward to a reunion after which there will be no more separation.
Of course, I believe some of these saints are praying for me now…
Who do you commemorate today?
“Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.”
Collects for the Christian Year,
Texts for Common Worship
amen
Major feast in my household. Married 37 years ago today in Kramer Chapel, Concordia, with, of course, a full eucharist (and incense…). Book of Common Prayer service, and our EO priest friend, Fr. Vladimir, giving the final blessing. Anglicans, Lutherans and EO… how times have changed.
Happy anniversary, Duane!
The idea of the altar against the wall is to give the picture of the whole church of eternity communing together. The altar extends beyond the wall to accommodate the entirety of the church triumphant and on our side the church militant.
Imagine if you could see through that wall, the whole church past seated … Adam & Eve, along with Moses and David — perhaps even some of the Ninevites
Happy Anniversary, Duane – 37 years is quite a milestone.
Who do you commemorate today?<<<
St. John of Kronstadt is commemorated today on the Orthodox calendar.
https://orthodoxwiki.org/John_of_Kronstadt
We celebrate All Saints Day on the first Sunday after Pentecost.
Congratulations, Duane!
“Who do you commemorate today?”
We commemorated All Saints’ Day as part of our Matins Service this morning.
saints gone before and now praying for us who are still on the pilgrim journey is a lovely thought… can anyone give me scripture that supports this? the only thing i can think of is our Lord’s parable of the rich man in hell asking that someone go tell his brother what’s coming….
i can celebrate the two grandparents in whose home i grew up – they honored my mother’s wishes that i not be indoctrinated with fundy Christianity… they didn’t have to, they just lived it and proved God’s grace and love by their living…
All
Many thanks! The number of roses grows every year…if it goes on like this I’ll have to take out a second mortgage!
or, in lieu of all those roses, you could take your dear wife out for a lovely dinner, Dr. Duane
add my congratulations and best wishes to all the above… doing life as God designed 🙂
“saints gone before and now praying for us who are still on the pilgrim journey is a lovely thought… can anyone give me scripture that supports this?”
I knew that question was coming… 🙂
There answer is … maybe.
The first thing we must acknowledge is that the dead are really alive in another location.
They are not disinterested in what’s happening here.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”
(Hebrews 12:1 ESV)
I do not think these witnesses are silent in heaven.
In the book of Revelation we see heavenly beings making intercession for the saints.
“And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”
(Revelation 5:7–8 ESV)
“When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.”
(Revelation 8:1–5 ESV)
Then there’s an odd statement from Jesus;
““See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”
(Matthew 18:10 ESV)
It was the belief of the church fathers and carried in tradition that they do intercede for us.
I think the membrane that separates us is thinner than we think…
#12 Michael
And perhaps their intercession for is is part of their continuing work… “Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.” 2 Cor.5:9
well, while it seems there is a bit of extrapolating in the scriptures given, i won’t deny, nor am i academic qualified to do so, that they can be read that way…
i confess that i’d rather think that having run the race, those saints are now resting and waiting…
i always thought of the great cloud of witnesses as heavenly (for want of a better term) beings who are watching the genius of God’s design playing out here on earth…
and the present or absent reference? i thought that was geographical and referred to members of the Church here and now…
the Revelation references are another matter as i think that the accumulated prayers of the Saints are culminating the what i’d call the Church age, their total being offered before the tribulation period begins… almost didn’t include this interpretation as i know it goes against what most here believe and opens a door for months of discussions on the book – so consider me “just sayin” again 🙂
that said, i must agree that the separation between us here in time and the real reality of eternity is thin – a barrier called ‘sin’ perhaps? we only see, hear, smell, taste what our flesh can respond to… so who knows?
thank you, Michael and Dr. Duane…
i know one thing for certain and that is that we are blessed with millenniums of witnesses that enforce what we now believe and hold dear and vital
For me I can’t really seem to narrow down who to commemorate. Some brought us so much with their wisdom and precision in expounding scripture, some who toiled in obscurity then, and some who suffered the loss of spouses, children, freedoms, and their homes and occupations for the sake of the Gospel of the Kingdom.
What I desire though as I read the words of so many great men and women, is someone older in my life. I so desire some older living saint, a father figure, or a grandfather type, to counsel, share his wisdom, someone I can serve, share some bacon and eggs on a cold Minnesota morning with.
I come from a family that I can trace living or dead for decades who never found Christ worthy to be served and I confess it pains me so at times, not to have a sermon of theirs delivered, or a poem, or letter admonishing me to pursue Him. It may sound arrogant, I hope that I have lived in such a manner, that my wife, or son, or grandchild will find a journal, or find something I have written in general, or to them, that produces a zeal for the things of God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Ron,
Well said.
I submit that mentors are as valuable as pastors…I thank God for having had some of the best to this very day.
I never thought I’d live to see the day that Michael is defending the veneration of the Saints.
Who says miracles have ceased?
God bless. 🙂
Em,
We all extrapolate.
Some extrapolations are better than others. 🙂
Em, “and opens a door for months of discussions on the book.”
It is my intention, the good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise to begin a study of the book of Revelation when the Weekend Word Matthew study is complete towards the end of this month.
We have covered Hebrews, Daniel and Matthew here so we should be fairly well prepped to advance to Revelation.
Xenia,
My training in other places makes me slightly uneasy about these things…but I find the exploration exhilarating as well.
Revelation will be a barn burner… 🙂
Michael
When we’re younger, theology is a bit of a blunt instrument (and often used as such). When were older, theology is a finely honed scalpel we use in a delicate and thoughtful way… keep exploring. It’s all good.
Duane,
I’ve reached a place in life where everything is so uncertain that certainty has become suspicious…
I’m enjoying the company on this leg of the journey…
MLD, years ago i found myself with some time on my hands and, for some reason all those charts and graphs that interpreters of the book have put together i found annoying, rather lame and designed to prove their theories
with my background in writing computer programs (business applications), knowing that whatever code language one was using, the logic should flow, and therefore could be charted, so i thought to myself, “let’s see what happens when you take verse by verse, chapter by chapter the book of Revelation – can the contents be flow charted, does the logic flow (literally) or does one hit brick walls and snags that require speculation?” After the instructions to the churches in this fallen world and some preliminaries, i began at chapter 6 (not being super-bright, it took me a couple days to chart it) and i found the “processes” described in the chapters flow and graph with no snags
whatever one’s interpretation of the book, the flow doesn’t need any tweeking whatsoever …
today, i’m pretty sure that the Church goes part way thru the tribulation period and then gets called away, coming back with Christ at the end… am i right? only God knows, and time will tell if i got it right – or not … 🙂
i’ll stay out of the study promised as i know there are areas (trumpets) where we’d agree, but critical ones where we wouldn’t – i am not a theologian and don’t need to muddy the waters simply for argument’s sake
that said, the book can be shown to flow in a logical pattern, however one interprets the processes described… it isn’t a mish-mash of random thots revealed only to a chosen few
em – the studies I put up are for open discussion.
You may want to re chart before we start. Ch 4 & 5 are anything but preliminaries – I will make the case that the scenes in heaven are key to understanding the book.
It will be fun 🙂
#3 Addendum
My dear wife reminded me that my old friend, John Michael Talbot, sang at our wedding, so…
Lutheran, Anglican, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox… pretty well sums up my life.
MLD, i was charting the FLOW of the book, not INTERPRETING it and i made a covenant with God that i would not touch what i’d charted – it was done very soberly and prayerfully with my main concern that i would not do any interpreting…. and, yes, the preceeding chapters – one thru five are rich with vital information… 🙂
believe it or not, i have very little interest in the book… the one thing exception is Revelation 15:8 – it seems to indicate the plight of the souls on earth when the wrath of God is poured out upon it… (before that Jesus is told to harvest and then an angel is told to gather earth’s ripe grapes for the winepress of God’s wrath) hence my conclusion that the Church won’t be here thru the tribulation
and, MLD and Michael, i hope that the study of the book is rewarding for all and when the barn is burned down what is left is pure gold
and now my rabbit trail off of all saints day is ended with apologies to Dr. Duane’s reason for this thread in the first place