All Saints Day

We stand in a stream of Christianity that marks occasions and seasons with prayer, thanksgiving, and hope. These rhythms turn our focus on eternal matters that we might otherwise neglect.

This Sunday is All Saints Day and our attention is turned toward those of our church family who have passed away. We pray for comfort. We give thanks for the goodness we experience of our dearly departed, and we ask God's great hand to uphold our hope as we continue our pilgrimage through this life.

We live in a society that abhors talk of death. However, Christians face life and death with hope. Our liturgy continually points out the fact that we are not God, we are not Everlasting, and are not finite.

We have hopes, dreams, ambitions, and futures we would like to live out. Some of this will come to pass, but some will not. There will be an end even when we wish to go on.

Jesus' point about dying to oneself is not a one time thing. No, it is a perpetual giving over to God our everything. When life changes or a season in life turns to the next we name it, acknowledge it, and bury that life and entrust it to God. We go forward in the next season realizing that in Christ we have permanence. We die in this way so we can have true life.

Might you see something in this truth? Is there a season in your life you need to let go of at the moment so you can grow into the next? What do you need to bury and entrust to God? New life comes when the old is adequately put to rest.

Come to Christ and have life abundant and life eternal.