What are saints?

What are saints? The lessons tell us they are:

• the righteous
• those who trust in him
• the faithful
• his holy ones
• the elect – chosen, called, set apart.

Saints are those people
who respond to the call of God
to do his work in the world
and to be faithful to his service.

They embody
the reign of God:
the establishment of God’s peaceable kingdom.

They begin to experience life eternal—
life lived in the knowledge of the love of God—
not hereafter but here and now.

Life eternal begins in the present,
secure in the knowledge that nothing
can take away from you
the love of God.

Indeed, the love of God is assured
from the beginning to the end of life—
he is the Alpha and the Omega—
because ‘the home of God is among mortals’.

Emmanuel – God with us – present in Christ.

He dwells with us, among us.
He is present with us in love, joy, suffering, hope.

Here he is with Lazarus—
anticipating and moving forward toward his own similar fate—
a tomb, a cave, a stone across the mouth,
‘he cries with a loud voice’ to one bound
with grave clothes and a wrapping around his head—
all too, too familiar.

No wonder he is anguished.

The God who is present with us,
who calls us to follow him:
Christ before us, behind us, around us,
at our beginning and at our ending;

This is God in Christ as he dwelt among us,
as he came to Bethany, into the home town of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus,
his friends, who not too much later would be mourning him—
even anticipating the grief as his death drew near,
(Mary wiping his feet with her hair, anointing him with burial oils).

And this is the One who raised Lazarus, and was himself raised, from the dead.

This hope of the resurrection,
this hope of life in Christ,
draws us out of our own track
into a larger world.

We can take a broader view
of the legacy we have inherited—
of the gifts in faith we have received from those who have come before us;
of the blessings we enjoy, and of the gifts we have to pass on to the future.

For the church we see around us
is an outpost of a great assembly;
through time and across the world
it spreads out behind and before us.

Today – All Saints’ Day – we remember those
who have come before us as God’s faithful people—
and we call to mind those yet to come—
and those around us and far away,
keeping the faith in the glory of God.

What do we do?
What do we do to live in faith?
What is our mission as a people of God?

Our mission is stated,
as Bishop Greg reminded everyone at convention,
right in the Book of Common Prayer,
and that is where we are going to look for our Mission Statement—
the Baptismal Covenant.

We as a parish have a vision to flesh that out — but we state it first, up front, in the affirmations and pledges we make in the vows we now renew…

We as a parish have a vision to flesh that out—but we state it first, up front, in the affirmations and pledges we make in the vows we now renew…


We are buried with Christ by Baptism into his death, and raised with him to newness of life. I call upon you, therefore, to renew the solemn promises and vows of Holy Baptism, by which we once renounced Satan and all his works, and promised to serve God faithfully in his holy Catholic Church....


The Renewal of Baptismal Vows (Book of Common Prayer, 292)

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Holy Lord, take us and make us holy,
make us yours and make us obedient,
make us faithful, make us joyful and
make us to be numbered with your saints,
in that glory which is everlasting;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever. Amen.

THE PEACE

God give you the peace of the blessed, the peace that the world cannot give, the peace that passes all understanding. The peace of the Lord be always with you…

THE BLESSING

The Lord give you his grace and make you to be numbered with his saints in that glory which is everlasting; and the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.






Feast of All Saints
Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9
or Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm 24
Revelation 21:1-6a
John 11:32-44

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David Adam, Traces of Glory (SPCK, 1999) 139-141.

Barbara Crafton, GeraniumFarm.org (October 30, 2009).

JRL+