kneel in wonder at heaven touching earth

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

That we may live each day

I’m a worrier. Now that wouldn’t be so bad, but, I know, there are times when my worrying will have an adverse effect on my life. But I also know, that that is very definitely not how God wants me, or us, to live our lives each day. No, God wants us to live our lives full of love and joy and happiness. He calls us to a “fullness of life“.

Now I’m not for one minute saying that I don’t have any love, joy and happiness in my life; I most certainly do. But I think, sometimes, I manage to take the edge of those things by fretting and worrying about other things.

I have, in the past, experienced a time when I became extremely ill (mentally) because of anxiety. But that turned out to be mostly down to a rare side-effect from some medication I was taking. However, it certainly wasn’t helped by my natural tendency to worry.

Jesus tells us that we shouldn’t worry about the future in that great block of his teaching, the Sermon on the Mount:

“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today” Matthew 6.34.

And I’m a great one for telling others not to worry. I even suggested in a sermon once that people should give up worrying for Lent. But I always think that the first person who needs to hear my sermons is me.

I’m sure there are many things we should be doing to truly live the lives that God wants us to. But one thing we shouldn’t be doing is worrying.

Are you listening to yourself Paul? Yes! Will it stop you worrying? To be honest, probably not. It’s a part of what makes me, me.

God, our judge and saviour,
teach us to be open to your truth
and to trust in your love,
that we may live each day
with confidence in the salvation which is given
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Additional Collect for The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council