All Saints Day? Tell me more.

This weekend families join together in worship for a special service where we celebrate “All Saints Day.” (Which occurred on November 1st.)

What do you picture when you hear the word “saint?”

I like the definition of All Saints Day, given by Gertrud Mueller Nelson in her book To Dance With God: Family Ritual and Community Celebration…

To be a saint doesn’t imply we have to be perfect!
It just means we wear our faith on our sleeve!

In the worship service this weekend there will be a time where we remember saints who have died in the past year. As their names are read a bell is tolled.

This special time of the service is to remember — to thank God — for these saints who have shown others the Christian walk and faith.

They wore their faith on their sleeves!

 
Time Out. Talk about…

Prepare your children for this portion of the service by talking about remembering. (Don’t worry if you don’t have a chance to prepare ahead of time. Talking about it after the service works too!)

• Ask your kids what they remember about your last vacation, or a special birthday, or a visit with a friend or a relative. Invoke memories of good times! Why is it good to remember these occasions?
• How is the celebration of Communion a time to remember?
• Share with your kids, remembering whose example helped you on your faith journey. Didn’t grow up with these sorts of mentors? Talk about who is currently helping you build your faith. (We are allowed to stretch the definition of a saint to include those who are living!)
• Use this as an overture to talking about who are the current mentors in your child’s spiritual journey. Whom would they like to have as their advisers? (Research shows that kids are helped to succeed in life when they have multiple non-family adults in their “camp.”)

Are you wearing your faith on your sleeve?

Photo credits:
A church bell in a chapel on the Island of Corfu, Greece, from my archives.