Inspire us to follow their example

Inspire us to follow their example

Today, November 1st, is All Saints’ Day. Many Churches, who don’t have a daily celebration, will be transferring this major feast day to tomorrow, so that it can be celebrated on a Sunday. That’s what we do at Godmanchester.

When you look at the Common Worship lectionary you can tell how important this feast is. The lectionary allows for a celebration of All Saints’ Day on the actual day, today; or on the nearest Sunday, tomorrow; or even on both days.

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The clocks went back last weekend, which means the darkness closes in around us earlier, and the nights seem so much longer. November can be a time of despair; fallen leaves, rain, dampness and fog, with little else ahead but the dismal winter. But the festival of All Saints’ shines like a ray of sunshine at the beginning of these dark days.

All Saints’ Day brings to mind the ordinary people down the ages who were friends of God. The people who didn’t hold important positions in life. Their names don’t appear on the Church’s official role of honour. They’re not canonized saints. But God remembers them.

They’re the common people from all walks of life, who in their day tried to live the Christian life to the full. They’re our family, and our friends. And, like us, they experienced the trials of growing up, the tensions of living with others, and all the normal difficulties and uncertainties of life. They had to cope with their own personal problems and weaknesses. However great their difficulties and faults, they accepted that God loved them and relied on the strength of that love more than anything else.

As we follow in the steps of our friends and family, saints, who have gone before us; we also get a glimpse into our own glorious future, our eternal destiny. As we honour the vast army of God’s friends, we also ask God’s favour, that where they are now, so we too may be in the future. We pray that one day this will be our feast as well.

God of holiness,
your glory is proclaimed in every age:
as we rejoice in the faith of your saints,
inspire us to follow their example
with boldness and joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

All Saints’ Day
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council