Saints Abound!

In the middle of this weekend that holds within it All Hallows’ Eve and All Saints’ Day, it is a good time to pause and reflect on those who have gone on before us, as well as to reflect on the here and now. In my mind’s eye, whenever I come to this season of the year, for just a moment, I think of the hall of fame, the cloud of witnesses, pausing to ponder what Hebrews 11 and 12 must be talking about, and what is referred to also in Revelations 7: 9-17.

As you recall, Hebrews 11 is the “Hall of Fame” of saints in the Scriptures, some quite famous, known for both their bold following after God and their gloriously huge failings in the midst of that struggle. There are the well-known ones like Noah and Abraham and Moses, and the ones who are unnamed and, often in our mind, not successful, for they were tortured, stoned, and persecuted. But in the end, all were commended for their faith.

Along with these in Scripture, there are others we recall down through the ages such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, David Livingstone, the Wesley brothers, John and Charles, Florence Nightingale, Dag Hammarskjold, C. S. Lewis, Mother Teresa, Amy Carmichael, and a myriad of others you can picture across the stage of history. Right this minute some other names come to mind, don’t they? Like me, you may be also thinking of someone who has died, someone you personally know, who followed long and joyously after Jesus, who is right now in His presence.

Indeed it is this gallery of saints, a spiritual pep rally of sorts, that is this “great cloud of witnesses” that Hebrews 12:1-2 refers to, who are cheering us on as we run the race towards and with Jesus that lies before us. And we are running, aren’t we? We are here and there, sometimes in circles, sometimes backwards, sometimes right up the steepest path available just to tumble straight down again in avalanche-style! Yet, even with all our antics, they, the saints of the past, the cloud of witnesses, are continually urging us ever upwards towards the Kingdom.

Most of the time, we tend to stop here and say “those” were the saints. But in 1 Corinthians 1: 2 it says it differently: “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.” (NASB) Other verses such as Acts 9:13, Ephesians 1:1, and Philippians 1:1 also call SAINTS all those who claim Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

So today, pause and ponder this: that you sit, walk, work, play, exercise, laugh among saints. Saint Janis, Saint Wally, Saint Loretta along with Saint Moses, Saint Paul, and Saint Peter, all who are Christ’s own through intimate relationship with Him as Lord and Savior. So as we approach this weekend of All Hallows’ Eve and All Saints’ Day, let us reflect not only on the saints that have gone before us who are cheering us on, but turn and look as you walk today and greet the faithful ones in Christ Jesus as saints, as Paul did in the start of his letter to the church at Ephesus and Philippi. Let’s sing and rejoice for we who have stood at the foot of the cross and at the empty tomb, we who have chosen Christ-following as our way of life, we indeed are the saints of God.

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