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All Saints Sunday
Next weekend, at all four worship services, we will celebrate The Lord's Supper. It is also All Saints Sunday as we celebrate the belief that all of God's people, on earth and in heaven, are connected in 'the communion of saints'. Our tradition at Faith is that the Clerk of Session will read the names of each person in our faith community (and their immediately family) who have been 'born to the church triumphant' in the preceding year. As each name is read, a bell is rung, and we remember them.
Jesus teaches us in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16.19-31) that the boundary between heaven and earth is fixed. Yet, that boundary line - the 'limen' between heaven and earth, has always been a mystery. Many believe, as do I, that at no time in our lives is that limen ever thinner, almost transparent, than when we celebrate Holy Communion. It is then that heaven and earth seem to touch - and we indeed are in the presence of that 'great cloud of witnesses'. Please join me at one of our services this weekend as we remember the faithful who have gone before us and have enriched our lives in so many ways.
For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed,
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shrine;
All are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
In Faith,
Pastor Tim
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