All Saints’ Day

Revelation 7:9-17 Matthew 5:1-12

Today is All Saints’ Day. This is when we hold before God all of the people who have been venerated or honoured by the Church as having an exceptional degree of holiness, or likeness, or closeness to God. However, much depends upon the denomination involved. Some denominations happily apply the title to any holy Christian. In truth, the number of saints and martyrs cannot be counted. People from every country, every race, every language spoken here on earth, all will have their own martyrs and saints and them without number.

In the normal cycle of worship that we have within the Church there are a few saints which we remember on their special day. However, if we look through the English Missal, a prayer book used in High Church worship, there are a considerable number of saints spread throughout the year. Leaving behind the ones listed, day by day, there are probably countless others, known to God alone.

We do not need to have a calendar to bring a particular saint to our attention. If we look about us, and using the one definition, we can see plenty of people who show a degree of holiness. Such people have a love of God which is so strong that it a very present driving force in their life. We are surrounded by them.

When we refer to all saints on this special day, I like to think that we are not only holding before God all those who have been venerated and canonised, whichever calendar we are using, but all those unnamed people who we see about us, and those who have lived before us.

The Book of Revelation describes to us a vision of the heavenly kingdom. The heavenly host is gathered in great circles singing their praises of God. They give to him blessing, they give to him glory, they praise him for his wisdom and source of all truth. Thus is a continuation of their life of sainthood here on earth.

About them they will have seen the glory of God in creation. They would have shared God’s teaching as given to us through his Son Jesus Christ, they would have gone to the aid of their neighbour when in trouble. All of this would have been done in the name of the Lord. His love would have been the driving force. There would have been an acceptance that God is the Creator of the world and that he is the sustainer of all that we have. It is up to us not to forget all of his gifts.

This is what has been the way of the world for countless ages. Men and women have come forward and worked in the name of the Lord. Today this work continues all around us in people living their lives following the Commandments given to us, living in the love of the Lord. In the years to come there will be many more stepping forward in that love, ready to mix with the people and to go on spreading the Good News. Yes, today we remember all of the saints who laid down their life in the beginning days of the Church. We remember too those who gave their life in the years that followed, a host without number for we cannot even attempt to record them individually. We remember too those of today who strive to do God’s work in every land, often facing danger, sometimes without any recognition, but who do what they do in God’s love. Finally, we pray that in the years to come that work will continue, that more saints will spread throughout the world.

Collect for All Saints’ Day

God of holiness,

your glory is proclaimed in every age:

as we rejoice in the faith of your saints,

inspire us to follow their example

with boldness and joy;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.