The Church’s Remembrance Day
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
On November 11 we will join with many other nations to remember the brave men and women who sacrificed to serve their neighbour in various armed forces. Remembrance Day is taken very seriously in many corners of the world. Every municipality has some kind of ceremony to mark the day. Businesses, legions, churches, and private donors all donate for wreaths, or to support the local legion. Yet the Remembrance Day of the Church can sometimes be forgotten or left behind in the shuffle. On November 1 the Church has her own “Remembrance Day” called All Saints’ Day. In the Lutheran Church, we celebrate Reformation Sunday on the Sunday on or before October 31 so that on the next Sunday we can celebrate All Saints’ Day. This year we will be celebrating All Saints Day on November 7. It is the time that we gather to remember those who went before us in the faith and sometimes had to sacrifice their lives for that faith.
The Church’s celebration of All Saints Day is quite different from how the world commemorates Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day ceremonies hold a minute of silence. All Saints Day breaks forth in praise in thanksgiving to God for the blessing of the saints. Remembrance Day commemorates those men and women who have served and sacrificed for those at home. Their example of self-sacrifice is honoured and lifted up as one for each of us to emulate. All Saints Day remembers those men and women who have gone before us in faith whom we can remember and imitate for their steadfast faith. Remembrance Day especially remembers those who have died or been harmed either physically or mentally in this horrible thing called war. All Saints Day remembers those who have died, yet are now with Christ before the throne of God now. They rest from their labours and wait with us for the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. This means that All Saints Day has a very joyful tone as we remember those who have died in the faith and now see their Lord face-to-face. Now they sing praise to the one who was slain for their salvation: Jesus Christ. The hymn “For All the Saints” is a great example of the joyful praise and thanks that we render to God on this day.
But I think that my favourite part of All Saints Day is the news that all Christians, you and I are saints through Jesus Christ. A saint is someone who has been made holy or set apart by God to belong specially to Him. There may be days when you and I don’t feel very holy. We may be burdened by guilt over sin or so deep in the pit of suffering that we feel like God has disowned us. Yet the greatest blessing that God has given to us is that we will always belong to Him because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He died on the cross for our sins and has called each of us personally through His Word and through our baptism. We are Christ’s saints. His blood has made us holy. Nothing could ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (see Romans 8). Through Christ, we have the comfort and hope that we will one day be with all those saints again in heaven, praising God for the salvation that He has won for us through Jesus.
We don’t remember the saints so we can worship them. We remember the saints of God so we can remember God’s free gift of eternal life through Christ. We remember the saints so that we can learn from them and imitate their steadfast faith and their witness to that faith for their neighbour and the world. You and I are saints, so let us join with all God’s saints, giving thanks to Christ for our salvation and bringing that good news to our neighbour and to the world.
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Schneider