All Saints’
This Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of All Saints’. It is the church’s annual opportunity to name and give thanks for those whose lives have been marked as holy. But let’s be clear about what we mean by holy. The Rev. Anna Matthews wrote, “The raw material of sanctity is humanity.” Meaning, it is not simply extraordinary humans we are asked to remember, but those among us who were completely ordinary, and yet, brought us into closer proximity with the divine.
It is that spirit that we will worship, sing, and play on Sunday. I hope you will make plans to join us after church in the parish hall for coffee hour. We will have cookies in the shape of people (think gingerbread people, without the gingerbread.) Everyone will be invited to decorate a cookie that reminds them of a favorite saint. This could be your mom, a teacher you’ve never forgotten, the theologian whose meditations have informed your spiritual life, a person of faith who taught you about God, a scientist who was instrumental in your understanding of the planet, or your favorite Biblical character. All will be invited to “introduce” us to the saint whom you want to include in our great cloud of witnesses.
At the end of the service, we will read a necrology, naming those who have died in the last year. It will include St. Michael’s parishioners, and may also include those whom you have loved and lost in the past year. To have the name of a loved one included on Sunday, please email The Rev. Beth Franklin with your loved one’s name.
Almighty God, by your Holy Spirit you have made us one with your saints in heaven and on earth: Grant that in our earthly pilgrimage we may always be supported by this fellowship of love and prayer, and know ourselves to be surrounded by their witness to your power and mercy. We ask all of this for the sake of Jesus Christ, in whom all our intercessions are acceptable through the Spirit, and who lives and reigns forever. Amen.