All Saints Day: The Company of the Redeemed

Theme Verse:“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses…” — Hebrews 12:1 (KJV)

For All the Saints: Le Jour des Morts by William Bouguereau, 1859

When I think of saints, I don't think of those Rome has canonized.

• My idea of a saint was old Mrs Walko, who cleaned the church every week and slipped me a quarter after Sunday night service.

• Or Sister Charlotte, a Polish lady who spoke little English and littel at all but when the Spirit moved her would cry ogut, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!! HALLELUJAH!!" at the top of her voice.

• Then there was Brother George Holadnak who made BRRRRinngg sounds like an airplane and later dropped $5000 in the collection plate.

I hope to see them "when we all get to heaven and sing and shout the victory!"

The Great Cloud

On this first day of November, the Church pauses to remember the countless saints of God — those known and unknown — who have gone before us. They are not distant ghosts but living witnesses whose faith still speaks.

From Abel and Abraham to Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene, from Augustine to Tyndale to the praying grandmother whose name is written only in Heaven — all stand together as the Communion of Saints.

When we gather in worship, we do not stand alone. The veil between earth and heaven is thin. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is the Spirit that once stirred the martyrs, the missionaries, and the faithful in every generation.

The Ordinary Saints

We often imagine saints as marble statues or stained-glass heroes. But Scripture calls every believer a saint — “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” (1 Cor. 1:2) The saints are schoolteachers and mechanics, single mothers and ministers, quiet prayer-warriors who never sought attention. Holiness is not perfection but direction — a steady turning of the heart toward God.

The Communion of Hearts

Think for a moment of those who shaped your own faith: a Sunday-school teacher, a parent, a friend who prayed when you could not. Today is their day — and ours. Their witness becomes our encouragement. Their faith, our inheritance. The hymn says it best:

For all the saints who from their labors rest,Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest—Alleluia, Alleluia!

Application

All Saints Day calls us to live as today’s saints — imperfect yet persevering. The question is not whether we will be famous, but whether we will be faithful.

Each act of kindness, each prayer whispered for another, adds another thread to that great tapestry of grace.

Let us take courage: the same God who sustained them sustains us. The same Spirit who burned in their hearts burns in ours.

The story is not finished — and you and I are part of its next chapter.

Prayer

Almighty God,we thank Thee for all Thy saints,for those whose names are known to the worldand for those known only to Thee.Grant that we, strengthened by their witness,may run with patience the race set before usand, at last, join them in Thy eternal joy.Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Discussion Questions

1. Who are the “saints” that have most influenced your faith?

2. What does holiness look like in ordinary life today?

3. How can you carry forward the witness of those who have gone before you?

For all the saints,

Who from their la­bors rest,

Who Thee by faith

Before the world con­fessed,

Thy name, O Je­sus,

Be for­ev­er blessed.

Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia!

Thou wast their rock,

Their fort­ress and their might;

Thou, Lord, their cap­tain

In the well fought fight;

Thou, in the dark­ness drear,

Their one true Light.

Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia!

For the apos­tles’

Glorious com­pa­ny,

Who bear­ing forth

The cross o’er land and sea,

Shook all the migh­ty

World, we sing to Thee:

Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia!

For the ev­an­gel­ists,

By whose blest word,

Like four­fold streams,

The gar­den of the Lord,

Is fair and fruit­ful,

Be Thy name ad­ored.

Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia!

For mar­tyrs, who

With rap­ture kin­dled eye,

Saw the bright crown

Descending from the sky,

And see­ing, grasped it,

Thee we glo­ri­fy.

Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia!

O blest com­mun­ion,

Fellowship di­vine!

We feeb­ly strug­gle,

They in glo­ry shine;

All are one in Thee,

For all are Thine.

Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia!

O may Thy sol­diers,

Faithful, true and bold,

Fight as the saints

Who nob­ly fought of old,

And win with them

The vic­tor’s crown of gold.

Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia!

And when the strife

Is fierce, the war­fare long,

Steals on the ear

The dist­ant tri­umph song,

And hearts are brave,

Again, and arms are strong.

Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia!

The gold­en ev­en­ing

Brightens in the west;

Soon, soon to faith­ful

Warriors comes their rest;

Sweet is the calm

Of pa­ra­dise the blessed.

Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia!

But lo! there breaks

A yet more glo­ri­ous day;

The saints tri­umph­ant

Rise in bright ar­ray;

The King of glo­ry

Passes on His way.

Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia!

From earth’s wide bounds,

From ocean’s far­thest coast,

Through gates of pearl

Streams in the count­less host,

And sing­ing to Fa­ther,

Son and Ho­ly Ghost:

Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia!

Words: Will­iam W. How, 1864.