Today is the Feast of All Saints. It’s the day when the Church intentionally remembers all who’ve died, loving and bringing God’s kingdom come. It includes the saints I can name, and those that are spotlighted in book, Holy Women, Holy Men which I use in Morning Prayer. People such as Abraham and Sarah, Augustine, John Wesley, Martin Luther, Francis, Florence Nightingale, Bach, Sojourner Truth, Jonathan Daniels, Oscar Romero. The list could go on, and on, and includes people who aren’t famous to the world, but who lived doing God’s work – poets, architects, bureaucrats, mothers and fathers. On and on.
Hebrews 12, which is one of the readings for this morning, opens with “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses..” I like this idea. While they were on this planet, they worked their piece to bring God’s dream here. And in death, they remain God’s servants, doing God’s work. All Saints is a day when we who remain on Earth can acknowledge that in death, lives are “changed, not ended”, which is what we profess at burials. Imagine that. Surrounded by the great saints of the world, and surrounded by the great saints in our own lives.
And while today we remember that, it’s true always. We are always surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses. Whatever earthly drama or life I’m living, there is someone - known or unknown, famous or obscure – who’s been through it, and done it, shining God’s love around them. To me, that’s why it’s ok to pray to and for saints. It’s not in lieu of praying to Jesus. It’s to acknowledge that some humans have had lives or experiences to which I can relate, or which I want to follow, given my earthly experiences. Brother Lawrence, who wanted to do great things in his monastery, but was relegated to washing dishes. He wrote a great little book about how to do any job – even washing the dishes – for God. When I find myself grousing about parts of my life that are less than glorious, I can appeal to Brother Lawrence to show me how. He’s just the human model of how to do God’s work, but sometimes that human model is what I need to see God’s direction.
Following the saints – all of the saints – is a way for me to be closer to the reality of lives changed but not ended. To see what God’s call looks like in people throughout time and space and to model my life on theirs. And when I can follow them, I can experience the ‘ineffable joy’, or a joy which is too great to be described by words.
This morning, I’m thinking about that great cloud of witnesses that surrounds me, about the saints that the world knows, those known to me, and those known only to God. Today, I want to pause, greet them, thank them, and follow them.
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