Recovering a Holiday

This Sunday, November 1, is All Saints’ Day. All Saints’ Day is a lost holiday for most of us, partially because its purpose and theology it is far less clear than most Christian holidays, partially because of the Protestant rejection of the particular Roman Catholic doctrine of the saints, and partially because it is overshadowed by Halloween in American culture.

But All Saints’ Day is a holiday that should be recovered! It would serve the church well to set aside a day each year to remember those who have gone before us in the faith.

First, we need to remember when we are tempted and discouraged that we are actually surrounded by a “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1). It is easy to think that our struggles are unique, but we can be strengthened when we remember that those who have gone before have faced similar trials and been strengthened by the grace of God in the midst of those trials. Second, we need to remember the specific people God has used in past generations to bring us to a point of salvation. Paul reminds Timothy of the faith of his grandmother and mother, a faith that is now alive in Timothy (II Tim. 1:5). Each of us has spiritual ancestors—mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers—who have lived with faith, and given the faith to us. We are heirs of the inheritance that these saints have left for our families. Third, we need to remember that there is only one body of Christ and one Church (Eph. 4:4-6), and those who have gone before are our brothers and sisters, equal members of the body of Christ with us. We are united with them just as we are with those who are still alive on this earth. And last, remembering the saints reminds us of the resurrection. Our hope is grounded in the fact that, one day, “we shall be changed…and raised imperishable” (I Cor. 15:50-58). Our hope is not in perfecting this body, this life, this world—it is instead in the resurrection and new creation.

Use this Sunday to remember the saints who have gone before you. Tell your children the stories of your grandparents. Read a biography of a great missionary. Thank God for the faithful who have brought you to a place of salvation. And rest assured that, just as God has preserved them for the resurrection, you also will be brought in splendor into the new creation.

Steven+