All Saints' Day

Tuesday greetings!  Hope you are all doing wonderful on this amazing fall afternoon. 

As we near the end of October a very important day is on the horizon.  Many simply refer to this as Halloween; however, there is a very important tradition that surrounds this secular tradition.  The day immediately following Halloween is known as All Saints’ Day, day where we honor and celebrate all the saints, known and unknown.

The Episcopal Church does not canonize people because in our tradition we believe that all baptized Christians are saints of God and have the potential to be examples of faith to others.

Who have been the examples in your life and how do you honor them?

One thing I was blessed with growing up was having great role models.  Naturally, there was my mother.  A strong independent woman, who as a single mother worked her tail off while raising three children,  I know for a fact that dealing with some of my sisters’ and my antics were not always easy.  But I say we turned alright. 

But outside of that I also had great role models who modeled what it meant to be a good Christian, a good person, and how to deal with certain situations. 

My sisters who convinced me that all the cool kids were going to youth group and kept me engaged in the church by always being a living advertisement for the church and what youth group meant.  Paul Canady, my first Youth Minister who got me to stay involved and showed me what the church could be.  Trone Sawyer, who showed me another side to the church and how living out your beliefs said a lot more about you than the words you say.  John Burruss, who taught me to ask questions and pursue answers instead of just believing everything I heard.  Trip Gintz, who always has another angle to look at something that opens your eyes to things you may have never thought of before.  My grandfather, who was the greatest man I knew and can have you laughing so hard you could barely breathe.  Rick Brubaker, who treated my like a son and help me to see that family doesn’t always mean you connected by blood.  My Uncle Steve, who teaches me all the time that just because you are growing up doesn’t mean you have to take life too seriously. 

These are all people, who for me, are examples of faith to me and therefore are my saints.  They may never have an official feast day for them but that doesn’t mean you can’t honor them.

That is what All Saints’ is meant for.  A chance to honor all of those Saints…known and unknown. 

Take some time today and think who your saints are.  Who are your examples of faith?

What have they taught you?

Now, that normally would be a perfect place to stop, but I am going to go even further.

This week, as we celebrate All Saints’ Day and remember and recognize all of the examples of faith that you have had in your life, ask yourself, who are you an example for?

Some of you may laugh that off and think. “There is no one someone is looking up to me!”

Yes, they are.  You may not know it.  But you are a role model to someone.  Whether it is at school, at work, at soccer or football practice…you are an example to someone else.

How are you being an example of faith to others?