As All Saints is celebrated among us, I want to turn our attention to this blessed celebration. All Saints day is more than a time to remember those who have gone on to share life eternal in Christ. All Saints is about just that: All Saints. We rejoice as Christians in a “Communion of Saints.” We have fellowship with one another and all Christians through a shared faith and a shared salvation in Jesus Christ. Christ joins us together in an unbroken fellowship with saints both living and dead, across every time and in every place. Through his salvation, death is transcended and we are saved. This is a deep truth and a profound source of hope.
The communion of saints is not just a spiritual truth, it is practical truth; and this too is a source of hope. By the faith we share in Christ we have already been drawn together. Trinity is a part of the communion of saints. God has been blessing us with newly baptized brothers and sisters in Christ, new members and new staff members to share in the Gospel mission. All of these are part of the communion of saints.
In fact it is this first piece, the communion we share now as saints, that teaches us to appreciate the fellowship to come. When we lose a loved one, family member, or friend, the loss we feel comes from the knowledge of how blessed we have been to share this life together. What a great gift it is to share this life with each other! God of course knows this better than anyone. Which is why he preserves this fellowship for eternity, saving us through death into eternal life with him and the communion of saints.
In Christ,
