Dear Siblings in Christ,
Today’s online service is available here. Andrew Sankey is the preacher for this online worship service for All Saints Day with his message Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.
Sadly, there will be no in-person Sunday worship for at least the next four Sundays – our online worship will continue as planned. Yesterday, the Prime Minister announced that we will be returning to a limited lockdown from Thursday this week (5th November) for four weeks. The details that we have at the moment are on the government website here.
I am sure that you are all disappointed to receive the lockdown news. With God’s help we will get through this time. Please increase the frequency of your phone calls and check in with one another on a regular basis. And join us on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. for our virtual Zoom coffee morning (contact me for details).
The 1st November is All Saints’ Day. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, enjoyed and celebrated All Saints Day. In a journal entry in 1767, he called it “a festival I truly love.”
Back in 2017, Pope Francis marked All Saints Day saying the saints are honored not because they were perfect or did everything right, but because they allowed God to touch their lives and fought hard against sin. Saints, he said, “are not perfect models, but are people whose lives God has crossed,” and can be compared with the stained glass windows of a church, “which allow light to enter in different shades of color.”
Methodists believe in saints, but not in the same manner as the Catholic Church. We do not elect people to sainthood. We do not pray to saints. We do not believe that saints are mediators to God. We do recognize Matthew, Peter, Thomas, John, Paul, and other early followers of Jesus as saints.
From the early days of Christianity, there was a sense that the Church consisted not just of the living, but of all who have gone before us. In Hebrews 12:1 the author encourages Christians to remember that a “great cloud of witnesses” surrounds us, encourages us, and cheers us on.
Methodists call people “saints” because they exemplified the Christian life. In this sense, every Christian can be considered a saint. So, All Saints’ Day is a time to remember Christians of every time and place, honoring those who lived faithfully and shared their faith with us. We remember all those—famous or obscure—who are part of the “communion of saints.” We tell the stories of the saints “to glory gone.” Alongside the likes of Paul, Augustine, John Wesley, Mother Teresa, we remember and tell the ordinary stories of ordinary folk. Overleaf is a prayer litany that you might use as you remember and give thanks for the saints in your life.
- Who first took you to church or brought you to faith?
- Who prayed with you or visited when you were sick or going through a crisis?
- Who told you Jesus loved you?
- Who helped you out practically when you were struggling?
- Who challenged you to go deeper in faith?
- How have you been a saint in these ways to others?
As others have shared the gospel with us, may we add our voices so someone else may hear about the grace and love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Thanks be to God for the lives of his saints.
I am keeping you in my prayers. May God’s peace be with you all,
In Christ
–Pastor Joan
Joan’s Jottings are written to the churches at Museum Street, Landseer Road and Chantry where Joan is the minister, and shared here for all to read.