Part of the great chain of faith...

I led two reflections on All Saints day yesterday - using a cut down version of the text that I posted here.

I found it a powerful reminder of how we are part of the great unfolding story of God calling a people who will bear his image. For me that means two things:

• living in way that embraces community, justice, mercy, love; and
• telling/showing/demonstrating/conversing to tell other.

The community of the saints - living and dead

It was a reminder to me how I am only here as a christian because for 4,000 years people have faithfully done those two things as they live out their ordinary lives, in times of persecution, doubt, tiredness, worry, tears as well as times of celebration, joy and laughter.

As the people of God our calling is personal, God seeks us out, loves us and invites us individuals but All Saints day reminds me that my faith cannot become private or individualistic. We are called to be part of the community of the Saints, those past, present and future and it is this context with joining together with other christians to declare our faith and share the pain and the celebration that I think we are called to live out this story. In a way it is like breathing, we breathe in, we gather together and then we breathe out, go out into the world to love it and bless it.

Chain of faith...

At the end of both services we had a huge paper chain which we had made, each person writing a name of someone who inspires their faith from the past or present on each link - for me this was an incredibly powerful visual reminder of what it means to be in the community of the Saints and to live as a faithful link in that chain, to pass on our faith to the next generation.

I was also struck how at the end of time, in the biggest family reunion/home coming the earth has ever seen we'll have conversations with Saints past who have been cheering us on, we'll find Saints that have inspired us and thank them but also people will come to us, maybe who we know maybe from hundreds of years in the future to say thank to us for how living out our faith in our everyday ordinary lives in ways blessed them...

Inspired prayer...

I was on the scrounge for a prayer to bring the reflection to a close and Sonja put me on to this prayer which we used (with a couple of slight changes):

With saints of all ages we come to God this day

With those who were, who are, and who will come

With saints of all ages

We believe and trust in God the creator

The one who is, who always was, and who is still to come;

The one who calls us to be salt in a world that has lost its flavour

With saints of all ages

We believe and trust in Christ our Saviour

The first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the nations of the world.

The one who calls us to be light in a world that is mired by darkness

With saints of all ages

We believe and trust in the life giving Spirit

The seal of our inheritance the guarantee of what is to come

Who calls us to glorify God through our thoughts, words and actions

With saints of all ages

We believe and trust in God’s kingdom coming

A new world breaking onto ours, eternal world of wholeness and joy

Where the poor will be fed and the prisoners set free

With saints of all ages

We believe and trust in God’s kingdom coming

Where justice and righteousness will have no end

Where the sick will be healed, the blind see and the deaf hear

With saints of all ages we join to give glory to the Father, the Son and the Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and forever shall be, world without end, Amen

HT to Christine Sine

Which leave me wondering, what does celebrating/thinking about all saints mean for you?

Comments

[Jonathan Brink]

Paul, I really love the chain of faith idea. Great visual.

[Paul]

Thanks Jonathan, i think the kinetic learners in church were the most overjoyed but i think most people caught on to the chain idea, oneway or t'other and that helped them connect with one of the key themeseof what all saints day is about :)