All Saints

A short, and hopefully thought provoking post about All Saints Day which we observed on November 4 at St. Andrew's. I've posted previously (click here or here) about some of the things I found as I was going through the music filing cabinets last winter.  Well, there was another bulletin tucked away in one of those drawers dated October 30, 1977 and I've been waiting to write about it until now.

The congregation was actually observing Reformation Sunday (hymn 86 - A mighty fortress is our God) and celebrating the baptism of 4 children (hymn 338 - A little child the Saviour came). The service ended with hymn 307 - The church's one foundation, a fitting close to a service with a reformation emphasis.  They were using The Book of Praise, 1972 edition.

The reason I've been saving this post is that the bulletin also announced to the congregation the deaths of 2 parishioners.  Their names and addresses were given followed by this sentence:  "They now strengthen our ties with the Community of Saints."

That one little sentence has been echoing in my mind ever since. What a wonderful way to remember those believers who have gone on before us into eternity.

One of my favourite hymns is "For all the saints" - sung to SINE NOMINE.  Here is a video link to a performance of Canadian Denis Bedard's variations on that tune.

Through gates of pearl...

We sometimes hear the expression "the pearly gates", often in connection with a joke that mentions Peter and someone seeking entrance to heaven. Today, for All Saints' Day, we sang the hymn For all the saints (words by William W. How) and the line that grabbed my attention this year was in the 8th verse: "...through gates of pearl streams in the countless host..." I think the reason this line stood out to me today is connected to what I witnessed at the women's conference I attended in May. You can read about that here. At the end of the message this morning, each one in the congregation was invited to come forward and light a candle representing someone (a saint = Christian believer) who had influenced them in their spiritual walk in the past. The candle would also represent someone that we hope to influence for Christ. Although we are a small group, it was moving to see each flickering flame and realize that those candles represented a miniscule portion of 'the countless host' - some of whom have gone before and some who will come after us.

"we feebly struggle..."

Please don't misunderstand, dear reader, I'm not feeling feeble today, nor am I having a day of struggles. The above is part of a line in the hymn, For All the Saints, one of my all-time favourite hymns. (One of about 500 or more, you understand!) Today, All Saints' day, I am thinking of my Dad. November 1st falls about mid-way between the date in October 1995 that he died and his birthday near the end of November.

There are many wonderful lines in this hymn, but I seem to choke up on this one, and more so as the years go on. The whole line is:

We feebly struggle, they in glory shine.

The Christian walk can be a struggle at times - maybe even all the time. We could be grappling with the right thing to do in a situation. We could be fighting against the pull of the world with its alluring glories, shortlived though they be. But those who have gone on ahead of us to glory have left those struggles behind forever. Wow!

So on this All Saints' Day let us remember those who, from all their labours, rest.