One of my favorite lines in the Apostle’s Creed affirms our belief in “the communion of saints.”
On All Saints’ Sunday we remember the saints of our own congregation and our own lives. We thank God for the ways that they formed and informed our faith, whether by explicit teaching or simply by the ways that they lived. We remember the best parts about them, and we honor them with our laughter and our tears.
And as we come to the table to receive Jesus’s gift of Holy Communion, we believe that they are there with us.
This Sunday as we gather for worship I hope that you’ll bring photos of the saints in your lives. When you come into the sanctuary, please place those photos in the windowsills, and we will remember that those we love are never far away.
The scripture for this Sunday is from Romans 8. At the end of the text Paul tells us that
“the Spirit comes to help us in our weakness. We don’t know what we should pray, but the Spirit himself pleads our case with unexpressed groans.” (Romans 8:26)
I have found myself praying these words over and over again this week, taking refuge in the promise than when we don’t know what to pray or how to pray, the Spirit intercedes for us “with sighs too deep for words.”
Sometimes the tragedy is so overwhelming and the grief is so raw that we can only sit in silence. We can only let the Holy Spirit pray on our behalf. We can only trust that God hears our deepest longings and fears, and that God comes to tend to our brokenness even when we don’t know how to ask.
Friends, on All Saints’ Sunday we remember that life is fragile and beautiful and precious, and that the gift of sharing life together is more than we could ever deserve.
I will pray for you until we worship together again,
Mary Beth