Devotional from Pastor Dave November 1, 2023

Today, November 1, is All Saints’ Day. It’s the church’s version of Memorial Day. It’s the day in the church year when we remember those who have died during the past year and have joined the church triumphant. This year, one of the saints I’m remembering is my mom, who passed away this past March at the age of 91½.

I remember learning in seminary that the word in the New Testament for “saint” refers not so much to extraordinary Christians as to rather ordinary ones. Saint in the New Testament is essentially a synonym for disciple of Jesus or member of the church. This became a point of discussion and some disagreement with my mom when I shared this with her. She still clung to the popular notion of a saint as a really special, unusually holy person, like the officially recognized saints of the church like the Apostle Paul and Mother Teresa. Even when I told her that by the Apostle Paul’s own definition of sainthood she would qualify as a saint, she persistently demurred. Which made her seem all the more a saint in my book.

My mom gave me my first Bible. She read and memorized scripture with me. She prayed with me. She encouraged my discernment of a call into ministry, and she has encouraged me every step of the way. By her own admission, she wasn’t perfect. She had her faults; we all do. But she modeled for me what a genuine and authentic life of faith in Christ could look like.

One of the things we say we believe in every time we recite the Apostles’ Creed is “the communion of saints.” This refers to Christians of every time and place, across the span of history and all around the world. And one of the most beautiful and memorable images of the communion of saints comes to us from the New Testament letter to the Hebrews. After a long chapter of extolling the faith of our ancestors like Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Joseph, Moses, Rahab, and so many more, the writer concludes,

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

The imagery here is of a Roman colosseum, and the saints are those who have finished their events and are now seated in the stands. But we are still in the arena. We still are running our own races. We have yet to finish our event. But the saints are there and they’re cheering us on.

So who are the saints in your stands? Who is among your great cloud of witnesses? Who has reflected the love and grace of God to you in your life? Who has been a model for you of what a life of discipleship of Jesus can look like?

And as much as you (like my mom) might resist such a thought, who might consider you a saint? Who might be looking at your life to see what trusting in Jesus and following him might look like?

Thanks be to God for all the saints in Christ, those who now rest from their labors as well as those who labor on.