All Saints Day: Surrounded by the Cloud of Witnesses

Today's Scripture Verses


Hebrews 12:1-2 (NRSV)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Blog Reflection

This year there will be two blog reflections written on All Saints.   Today's entry and the one this coming Sunday, which can also be called All Saints Sunday.  Today's meditation comes from the Lectionary used at Matins (or Morning Prayer).  This amazing reading from Hebrews 12:1-2 talks about being surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.  The symbolic imagery created by those words cannot be overstated.

Many modern theologians have given over the idea of Heaven being above us, and Hell being below us, to the idea that the Communion of Saints surrounds us, and that God's Holy Spirit communicates for us and with us.  The great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us is made up of Saints who are both visible and living, and others who have passed beyond our sight and share in the Beatific vision of God in all glory.  The Anglican World-Wide Communion of Saints invites all of us to throw off the sins that keep us from freely loving God, neighbor and ourselves with a total abandonment to the will of God.  The Saints have looked to Jesus who is the "pioneer and perfecter of our faith."   The faith to know God, and live by the words and actions of Jesus, who has given the Holy Spirit to the whole Church in it's history and even now at this moment.  

If the Saints who make up the cloud of witnesses are calling us to live and imitate Jesus, so we too are Saints cooperating with the Spirit in our own lives and communities.  In our common Baptism and sharing in the one Bread and one Cup of the Lord's Supper, we are united to the Saints of all ages, as they are united to us in the One Body of Christ which is the Church.  This is such good news.  It means that all of us are included and no one has been excluded from the opportunity to serve God in faith, hope and love.  The Saints who include many individuals, women and men, LGBT and straight, of one religion or another, some who struggled greatly with who they were and how they love others, help us in the midst of our struggles to put Jesus Christ in the center of our lives and serve others in His Name.

It is important to note that each of the Saints understood the Christian Faith in unique ways.  Nothing said they had to agree, all that was important was their faith in God and desire to live holy lives.   Given that they are among our great cloud of witnesses, can we even in 2013 do any different?


Prayer

Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one
communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son
Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints
in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those
ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love
you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy
Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.  (Collect for All Saints, Book of Common Prayer, p.245)