Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
All Saints Day is upon us yet again. It is a time when we remember those that have passed away in the faith. Feelings for and memories of our loved ones, flood our thoughts again. We remember those that have gone before us to see Jesus face to face this past year.
We look back even further than the year. Many loved ones now dwell in the presence of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
When celebrating the Service of the Sacrament, Pastor prays “It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times…Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying.”
The company that is referred to are those Saints that have departed from this earth. We join in their everlasting song of praise to God. We sing with them:
“Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth adored; heav’n and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He, blessed is He, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest.”
When we approach the Table of the Lord for Communion, the communion railing doesn’t end but extends to heaven. Our loved ones, who have been brought home by Christ, are in heaven with Christ. At the communion table, we are as close as we can be to our loved ones as we dwell on this side of eternity; we join hands with those in heaven, those in eternity.
And so, as we look back on the past year, we remember all the saints that have gone before to see their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We rejoice that as Christ lives, they too will be raised on the last day.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when e appears we shall be like him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure. ~1 John 3:1-3
In Christ’s Name,
Vicar Wolfgram