Meditation on All Saints Day

A Meditation on All Saints Day

In the earliest years of the church, way back when it was illegal to be Christian, the faithful had their property and livelihood taken from them. This was to discourage worshipping any God but Caesar. In extreme circumstances, people were killed because of their Christian religious practices. These deaths were remembered once a year. Later on, this day became All Saints Day. This day, or All Saints Sunday, is still recognized in many church traditions. While martyrs are no longer the main focus, we do remember the faithful people we know who have died within the past year.

We remember people who have affected us with their attitude about life, those who overcame great obstacles during their lifespan, or those who inspired us at one time or another.

I encourage you today to remember people in your life who stood for something positive and hopeful, someone who believed in offering life more than death and destruction, hope more than retaliation. I encourage you to recall and claim for yourself the strength and power that comes from those around you who have overcome tremendous obstacles just to survive. Baseball player Kirby Puckett died last year. His quoted comment on life was simple: “It’s not where you came from that’s important. It’s how you play the game.”

Living legend Archbishop Desmond Tutu said recently in Omaha at a Girls, Inc luncheon that forgiveness is the only thing that matters. That’s how he plays the game of life—with forgiveness. “Forgiveness is not for sissies,” he said. In past decades he helped lead the overcoming of the effects of apartheid through the institutionalizing a forgiveness process across South Africa. Victims on all sides had an opportunity to tell their story and be offered or offer forgiveness. He was right about how much courage it takes to forgive because it takes confrontation, courage and a view of life larger than retribution to make forgiveness (not forgetfulness) a reality.

Today is a good day to think about your values and how you got them. And it’s a good day to put them into practice. It’s a good day to remember yourself. Think large.

Matthew 16
21From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 23But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”




Rev. William Sloane Coffin -- Peace activist who was a leader of the antiwar movement as the chaplain of the Yale University in the 1960.

"Oh God may we think for peace, struggle for peace, suffer for peace. And may we live as if the life of all mankind were at stake, as indeed it is. Amen."