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From the Pastor’s Desk:

All Saints Day: Remembering the Communion of Saints

Each year on November 1st, Christians around the world pause to celebrate All Saints Day—a festival of remembrance, thanksgiving, and hope. In most churches this day is celebrated on the first Sunday in November as All Saints Sunday. In the Lutheran tradition, this day holds deep meaning as we give thanks for all those who have gone before us in faith, who now rest from their labors and live eternally with God.

The word saint in Scripture does not refer only to the especially holy or heroic. St. Paul wrote to the “saints in Corinth” and the “saints in Ephesus,” meaning all believers who had been made holy through baptism and faith in Christ. We, too, are numbered among the saints—not because of our own deeds or moral perfection, but because Christ has claimed us as his own, washed us clean, and called us into his holy people. As Luther reminds us, ‘We are at the same time saint and sinner (simul justus et peccator)’—forgiven and freed, yet still in need of grace each day.

All Saints Day invites us to look both backward and forward. We look back with gratitude for those who have shaped our faith: parents who prayed for us, teachers who opened the Scriptures, friends who encouraged us in hard times, and all those who have witnessed to Christ’s love in word and deed. We also look forward with hope to that great day when we will join them in the company of heaven, gathered around the throne of the Lamb, where death and mourning will be no more.

During All Saints Sunday, we will name those who have died in the past year, light candles in memory of people who were instrumental in our faith journey, and to hear once more the promise of resurrection. These acts are not just gestures of nostalgia—they are confessions of faith. In lighting a candle, we proclaim that the light of Christ shines even in the darkness of death. In reading the names of those we love, we affirm that they are still part of the body of Christ, joined with us in what Luther called the ‘communion of saints,’ the fellowship that unites the church on earth with the church in heaven.

For those who grieve, All Saints Day can bring both tears and comfort. It reminds us that grief is not a sign of weak faith—it is the cost of love. But even as we mourn, we hear again Jesus’ promise: ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’ (Matthew 5:4)

This year, as we gather for All Saints Sunday, let us give thanks for the cloud of witnesses who have gone before us and for the grace that makes us part of that same communion. And let us live as saints today—imperfect, forgiven, and shining with the light of Christ in our world.