11-01-24

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 1, 2024
Who are some of the saints in your life? Who are the people, now finding rest among the great cloud of witnesses, that in one way or another immeasurably blessed your life? Some of these saints might be people who walked alongside you in life, while others might be people who had died long ago, but you read something about their life story or were inspired by some of their personal writings. I have my list, though sadly there are names that I have certainly forgotten. There have been people who blessed me beyond words, yet I never knew the work they had quietly done behind the scenes. And there are those who were the inspiration for someone else who then inspired me. The network, or maybe better described as the complex matrix of saints, is really quite breath-taking and beyond any person’s capacity to perceive or understand.

Today is officially All Saints’ Day, though we as a church will be celebrating this Sunday. In Ephesians 2, the Apostle Paul wrote of how we are not strangers to God but are citizens with the saints and members of God’s household. The gifts and goodness of the saints have drawn us to this web of grace, and suddenly we find what has forever been true—that we are loved by God and thus members of the divine family. Yet the saints have been that consistent reminder against everything that suggests otherwise. 

To offer a heartfelt thank you feels as if it falls short. O God, you understand better than anyone the tremendous impact the saints have had upon this world and upon my life. So despite it sounding insufficient, I offer my gratitude to all who have given witness to your love, but also saying to you, Lord God, a big thank you for being the inspiration behind it all. Amen.