Disciples, Apostles, and Saints!
This week we remember one of the principal feasts of the church: All Saints’ Day. It is a day of remembrance for all the people the church lifts up as deserving of special honor, often because of their contributions, works of miracles, or for having died in the service of the church as martyrs. We tend to think of the saints as the best of us. The people who have done stuff we probably could never do.
There are all kinds of saints and each gets their own feast day to honor them. But this day is the time we choose to honor them all together, like a team. And we don’t spend the day picking our favorites or complaining about the starter who needs to ride the pine for a while to get his swing back. It is about the whole host of saints who show us the grace of God in their lives.
Common practice in many places, including here at St. Stephen’s, is to also remember loved ones who have died. This is a practice that follows the tradition of All Souls’ Day, which is the next day (November 2) and is essentially about remembering everyone else. Many today will blur the lines between these days, to elevate their loved ones to sainthood.
The point of our celebration is not to obsess about the rules of sainthood, however, but to see the examples of people who embodied the gospel and how we might too. We lift them up, not for their inhuman specialness, but for their human commonness — and how alike we all actually are.
With love,
Drew+
