For All the Saints

I’m not much of a Halloween gal. And, dressing up doesn’t thrill me unless I can be something or someone beautiful — whatever that means at my age. I’m thinking: a princess, queen or empress.

What Halloween does is remind me of is the coming of All Saints Day — November 1st. Born and raised Lutheran, we observed it every year. This celebration is designed to show honor and 

Janet Starkey

reverence to saints canonized and those unknown or known in our own lives and their contributions and sacrifices.

It’s an opportunity for us to give thanks for all those who have gone before us in faith, those famous or obscure, including our loved ones who have passed and who are now part of the ‘communion of saints’ who have gone before us.

One of my favorite hymns is “For All the Saints” written by William Walsham How, an Anglican Bishop living in the latter part of the 1800s. The text of the hymn was published in 1864 and the music most of us are likely familiar with was thought to be added around 1906.

Singing this hymn brings back memories of my beloved grandmother, Ruth Erickson Haas. We sang it at her funeral. Tears in my eyes, I could remember nothing but the love I had for that amazing woman and the saint she was in my life.

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!

​Enjoy this beautiful versions of this lovely hymn:

"For All the Saints" - Fernando Ortega

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You’ll have no more need of the sun by day nor the brightest of the moon at night. God will be your eternal light, your God will bathe you in splendor. Your sun will never go down, your moon will never fade. I will be your eternal light. Your days of grieving are over. Isaiah 60:19

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In His Name, Janet