Together on the Journey:
A Weekly Blog
This past Sunday was All Saints day, a day when we remember all of the saints who have come before us. Saints are regular people who often did extraordinary things to show their love for God. In their own ways, they loved God by helping the poor, working for justice, and supporting those going through difficult times. In other words, they loved God by loving their neighbour.
When I tell a Godly Play story to kids about a saint, I always stress that there is nothing extraordinary about who these people were. Most of them came from modest backgrounds and lived rather boring and ordinary lives. What’s different is that their love of God compelled them to do more, to fill a need, and to reach out a hand. Saints can be anyone. Even you could become a saint someday.
The Anglican book For All the Saints, which provides churches with biographies and special readings and prayers for saints days, says the following about the saints:
“The Church also believes that our life on earth has eternal consequences; and so our remembrance of what the saints were is directed to what they are. It is the Church’s conviction — a conviction often expressed in the Anglican tradition — that the saints continue to be our partners and fellow-servants before the face of God’s glory. We pray for our present needs, and the saints pray with us — not as if their prayers were better than our own, but because they are still bound to us in mutual service as members of the one body of Christ.”
The saints pray with us. I don’t know about you, but I find that rather comforting. When I pray, the thought of having one of these amazing yet ordinary people standing beside me, praying with me, means that I don’t always have to have the perfect words. I can just be before God and let the presence of the saints remind me prayer is opening myself to God and to others.
And maybe this week you can ponder which saint you’d like to stand beside and pray, and imagine the presence of that person as you open yourself up to God. Maybe then the experience of prayer might feel different for you, and give new meaning to All Saints day. Amen.
– Jess