This is a great article on All Saints from Relevant.com.
I want to start by sharing a little about All Saints and what it is.
Since the 16th century for Christians all over the world All Hallows’ Eve or Halloween—has been notable for what it anticipates. The “eve” in the name isn’t just for show, just as the “eve” in Christmas Eve suggests something else is just over the horizon. That something is All Hallows or All Saints’ Day (fun fact: it’s also known as Hallowmas, which sounds like the greatest Christmas-Halloween mash-up ever, where kids wear costumes, gorge themselves on candy and get gifts. Like that wouldn’t take off immediately).
The point of All Saints’ Day is to remember and celebrate the depth and breadth of Christians. We’re accustomed to hearing certain people labeled as saints—the Gospel writers, the Twelve Disciples or any number of Church fathers and mothers who have done amazing things for the Kingdom of God. And today (normally the first Sunday after Halloween) those people are rightly remembered and honored.
But All Saints is about more than that. It’s about remembering we’re in a “great cloud of witnesses.” And that cloud is bigger than you might think.
Whenever you hear that verse about the “great cloud of witnesses”, who do you think about? Do you think about “faith heroes” of the past, like C.S. Lewis, Mother Teresa, John Calvin and St. Paul? Do you think about contemporary Christian icons like Francis Chan, Rob Bell, John Piper, Max Lucado, Beth Moore, and N.T. Wright? Or do you look at the list in Hebrews 11 and remember the faithfulness of Moses, Rahab, Abraham and Sarah?
As Christians, our answer ought to be “all of the above,” for these are our lineage.
All Saints’ Day reminds us that there are Christians who came before us who have run the race well, not perfect but well. We should also be reminded of the current Christians around the world. The depth of Christian saints ought to make any believer thankful. There are saints who have walked the road of faith before us, and their stumbles, joys and hard-fought victories give us both hope and encouragement.
In addition to the historical depth of the Christian saints, there is also the modern breadth. Think of all the people—very, very different people—who gather under the banner of Christ. You’ve got saints of every nation, every language, every job, every walk of life ... all worshipping the same God.
And yes, those differences sometimes cause painful and tragic division. But All Saints’ Day reminds us it doesn’t have to be that way. The saints all over the world are part of one, universal Church trying to worship the same God. That includes rich people and poor people, people of all ethnicities, men and women, the 99 percent and the 1 percent, Democrats and Republicans, creationists and evolutionists, and everyone else you can imagine.
Those differences mean this: You are not alone.
If you find yourself thinking, “This sounds like a naive utopia,” that's OK. Because it is a utopia. It's just not naive; it’s hopeful. All Saints’ Day is a time to remember—to embrace—what the Kingdom of God looks like (and what it will look like forever).
It’s easy to get cynical about all the Christian infighting among the people who call themselves followers of Christ, but All Saints’ Day can remind Christians what it looks like when those divisions don’t overpower the communion of the Saints. It’s a reason to celebrate what God has done through people, and how the “great cloud of witnesses” is both wider and deeper than we might think.
And on that I would like to share a story from one of the great cloud of witnesses.
Laura had given me her story to look over back in May with the intention of sharing her testimony a week or two later. Since that time I have been asked to share what she had written, so with the family’s permission I share that with you now. In light of what you now know of All Saints, I thought it fitting to share it with you when we celebrate All Saints. These are her words, not mine.
Ephesians 1: 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Something that stood out to me is that “when I believed I was marked in him with a seal.: I am God’s possession to the praise of his glory. I am his-and he will not carelessly cast me off like an old pair of shoes. He is everything good, true & right that we are not. My life is in your hands and I am confident in the safety of your wings. I am so thankful for the blessings I have.
Resurrection is the coming back to life form the dead. I wasn’t dead I just wasn’t receiving the gifts that were given to me at the time when I asked Jesus into my heart. In Ephesians 1: 18-20 Paul says, I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. It tells us as believers, all of us, that we have resurrection power! I wasn’t thinking like that. I knew so many dynamic Christian women that were doing “something” and I always wondered, “what’s my purpose?” I almost felt unworthy. I was a chronic comparer. I felt no power of any kind, and what were some of the other promises I could be claiming?
See chart or list title our true identity in Christ in my life application Bible 2133 Ephesians Chpt 2
On the outside I looked like I had it all together, most of us do, I didn’t. I had anger, resentment, guilt, shame, unforgiveness, all living in my Christ filled heart. I loved the Lord and was not nice to myself, and now I know that broke God’s heart. I was angry and resentful at my parents for getting divorce, I couldn’t forgive myself for some things in my past, and I let the devil take my guilt and shame and play it over and over again in my head like a tape recorder.
No matter how hard I thought I was trying and praying, some of that freedom that Christ died to give me was not occurring. I was an adult, a wife and mother. I was teaching my children that no matter what they did or didn’t do God would always love them and forgive them and want them. I just wouldn’t live it out for myself. Then I got diagnosed with cancer. My years of bible study had prepared me to automatically have faith that God knows best and there must be some reason.
I think that is the only place my heart could go without completely falling apart. One of the verses we go to in times of difficulty is Romans 8:28. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose, so, that’s where I went.
As time went on I had nowhere to turn but the bible and prayer. It has really been between me and God, a relationship resurrected and made so beautifully alive.
That is how I needed it to be and still need it. I feel the safest and loved and protected when I am with him. The resurrection part is, the made new is, as I have given my whole heart to him through this awful cancer I have given him the anger and insecurity and the whole rest of it. I have been living a freedom that I could have had 23 years ago. God’s gift to us in his son Jesus assures us not only of eternal life but extreme forgiveness. He promises power and wisdom and healing and so much more. I was looking back at a bible study by Beth Moore on the Psalms that I was working on last summer and I saw in the margin a note I had written.
“Why couldn’t I get that like I wanted before cancer” so I had to read her words. The verse was Matthew 5: 5. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. This is what she said. Blessedness describes the condition of a person who reveres God, steeps her life in Him, and follows His ways. She doesn’t just look to God in spiritual or religious matters. She looks to Him in every matter. He’s not just the most important part of her life. He is her life. The result of this divine invasion is that the life operates overall at optimum earth satisfaction, joy and purpose and without the crushing burdens of self-glory and sin. In other word, her life actually works. That is the resurrection story of my life so far. I want only to steep my life in him.
Close in prayer
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