Wholly Saints
All Saints Sunday - November 2, 2025
Who are the saints, and what do they have to say to us? Rather than being perfect Christians, the saints are people who have been made whole by the grace of God, through baptism into Christ. The communion of saints is a diverse array of witnesses who remind us of God’s continuing faithfulness, past, present, and future. In the picture painted by the gospel reading from Luke, the saints challenge us to embody the surprising, world-reversing ways of the reign of God.
In holy baptism God makes saints out of sinners. In holy communion God forgives the sins of all the saints. In worship today we give thanks for all the saints “who from their labors rest.” In the same breath we petition our God for the strength to hear and to heed the admonitions of Jesus in today’s gospel. Sealed by the Spirit and sustained by the Savior’s body and blood, we live with joy as God gives us breath, to the praise of God’s glory.
God has made into saints all who have been baptized into Christ, and on the festival of All Saints Day we honor especially those saints who have died in the faith. Their names may be unknown and their lives generally forgotten, but we sing our thanks that they are now held in God.
©2025, Sundays and Seasons, a div. of Augsburg Fortress.
