Today is All Souls’ Day, a day for remembering the faithfully departed. Lutherans in the U.S. aren’t familiar with the day since we have tended to merge All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day and observe it on the first Sunday in November. Lutherans don’t think of saints as being super-Christians who lived especially worthy lives. Rather the whole people of God in Christ Jesus are saints. That’s the sense of the word in the New Testament. It’s the waters of baptism that make a person a saint, not some Committee on the Appointment of Saints.

I personally think it’s a good thing to recall the saints we knew personally. I have mentioned Miss Mildred Olson, a member of Ascension Lutheran Church Chicago, where I grew up. There was also Russell Anderson who often taught us teenagers, Mr. Booze, the church treasurer from time before memory, my mom and dad, Aunt Martha and Uncle Herb, and, oh, yes, Eleanor Knoblock and Ruth Roeske who were organists and choir directors.

Are there people you remember among the faithfully departed? Could you do something special to remember them today? Jewish people often burn a yahrzeit (Yiddish for anniversary) candle on the anniversary of a person’s death, a practice followed by some Christians also. Maybe you could look at a picture of someone you remember. Whatever you do, remember the faithful before you who helped you to love and serve Christ.

Read Psalm 67 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne