Today, the Sunday on or after November 1, we observe All Saints’ Day in our churches. This is interesting, because when the Reformed modified the church calendar they wrote our all the named saints’ days. Yet we still have a day set aside for the remembrance of all saints. The Biblical definition of saint has been restored, focussing on who is/was sanctified by the Word, in other words a Christian.
On this day, not only do we remember saints whose names we know such as the Apostle Paul, Cyprian, Athanasius, the Cappadocian Fathers, Monica, Augustine, Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, Martin and Katie Luther, John Calvin, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Abraham Malpan, Jonathan Edwards, Herman Bavinck, Cornelius Van Til among others, we also remember saints whose names have been lost to history and are now known only to God possibly including a first-century Roman solider who was converted under the teaching of Paul and was later martyred, a second-century Levant farmer who worked the earth and travelled quite a distance to attend church, a third-century builder who despite his imperfect understanding of Christianity suffered for the faith, a fourth-century Persian scribe who translated the definition of Chalcedon, a fifth-century Indian outcast trying to navigate society now that he is casteless, a sixth century unsuccessful missionary to the barbarians, a seventh-century African blacksmith trying to adapt and keep the faith amongst the Muslim invasion, an eighth-century Greek washerwoman trusting God providing for her family, a ninth-century artist working out how Christianity speaks to art, a tenth-century clerk honouring God by keeping honest weights and measures, an eleventh-century German nun brewing beer to support the convent, a twelfth-century misguided crusader, a thirteenth-century French university professor employing faith seeking understanding through reason, a fourteenth-century Venetian merchant managing shipping and donating a tithe to the church, an itinerant fifteenth-century Lollard preacher, a sixteenth-century Swiss printer facilitating the spread of the Reformation, a seventeenth-century Scandinavian cobbler supporting his family while gratefully accepting charity, an eighteenth-century elderly woman struggling to keep the faith while age torments her mind, a nineteenth-century factory owner attempting to remain competitive while making work better for his employees, a twentieth-century American lay elder (presbyter) shepherding a small congregation, and a twenty-first-century Zimbabwean widow trusting in God amidst the ravages of war while raising her children in the faith.
But perhaps the retention of All Saints’ Day in the Reformed church calendar has more to do with the faithfulness of God in preserving his Church both using his people to his work and directing history to counteract the saints failing. Praise God that he safeguards and guides his Church.
