Minor Festival: All Saints’ Day

             Lutheran worship is liturgical.  While that often refers to an order of worship, it can also refer to the calendar of the Church Year.  The Church Year includes major festivals, such as Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, etc...  On Sunday, November 3, we will observe a minor festival, All Saints’ Day, which is being transferred from its actual observance on November 1.

            It is on this day that we recall all those in faith who have gone before us – most notably those who have died in the last year.  But rather than focusing on people, what they did, and how faithful they were, our focus remains on Christ, what he did, and how faithful he was to them.  No matter how much fondness we may have for one of the saints triumphant, they (and we) are only saints through Jesus Christ.