Revelation 7:9-17
Matthew 5:1-12
When I was growing up in a Presbyterian church, I don’t remember celebrating “All Saints’ Day.” It’s only in recent years that I have noticed it in the Church Calendar and begun to think about what it means. Even Presbyterian churches that follow the lectionary quite strictly could miss “All Saints’ Day” because it’s not really a Sunday celebration. “All Saints’ Day” is November 1st – whatever day of the week that happens to fall on, and so most of the time it passes by without any mention of it. Unless, of course, a minister decides to put aside the Sunday readings and choose to celebrate “All Saints’ Day” instead. And that is what we have done.
You probably know that many of the well-known saints have a feast day. It’s a day when Christians celebrate and remember the life and witness of a particular saint. The feast days of the saints are not held on their birthdays, but on the day they died. Often they were martyred – put to death for witnessing to their faith in Jesus Christ – so they are memorialized on that day.
St. Francis was a holy man who lived in the late 12th … Read more »