We begin November with All Saints Day. In Lutheran congregations, I get the sense that we are often not exactly sure what to do with this day. Certainly it is a day to remember those who have died in the faith, and proclaim that they continue on in the church triumphant. That is an important part of the day, and so we will certainly take the time to remember Skip, Maureen, and Lois and proclaim the promise of the resurrection made to them. At the same time, this is but one aspect of All Saints Day.
For Lutherans, the Communion of Saints is first of all a living community of God’s people. God claims the people of the church not only as children of God, but in doing so sets them apart and makes them holy. In fact, it is even better to say that God sets us apart and makes us holy. To be a saint means to be one made holy by God, and all of us are made holy through our participation in the gathered community of the church. As we are a part of the church community, we are part of God’s holy ones on earth, the saints. Being saints does not mean we are morally perfect, but ra- ther that we have been called to follow Christ. To be saints means to share God’s work through our words and deeds, as we are giv- en power to do so by the Holy Spirit. To be saints means to live as friends of Christ, just as Jesus called his disciples “friends” in John
15. To be friends in this sense means to live in a way that match- es the spirit of Jesus’ life in its loving outreach to others. To be saints, then, means to be friends of Christ by reaching out into the world in a Christ-like way. This is the holiness that All Saints Day reminds us that we are called to live out.
In the Lutheran confessions, it tells us that we are to honor the saints who have died by being inspired by the ways that they shared Christ’s love in their lives. Martin Luther also insisted that we honor the saints by loving those saints who are with us today and are in need: those who are hungry, cold, dishonored, in pain.
In this way it is appropriate that our November schedule is full of service opportunities. We have opportunities to share Christ’s love through Global Mission, a service event through Farmers Against Hunger, Thanksgiving baskets to Bridge of Peace’s ministry, and other ways. Through our prayers and remembrances of those who have died along with these ways to engage in service to others, we have opportunities to live out our holy calling to be friends of Christ. May we be filled with the Holy Spirit to be such saints this month and always.