Are you encircled by an uplifting, nurturing, cloud of saints?

This weekend during worship at FUMC, we celebrated All Saints Day.

As always happens during this day of remembrance, we think about the “saints” – those who have contributed to the spiritual journeys of people whose lives they have touched.

On All Saints Day we recognize those from our church who have died over the last year; a bell tolls with the name of each saint that is read.

 
But people don’t have to be dead to be called a saint! Anyone who personifies God’s extravagant love, or serves others tirelessly, or who nurtures and inspires us, is a saint!

They represent the face of God in our lives.

So to remember all of these saints in our lives, we wrote their names on a tablecloth. Since it was a Communion Sunday, we were invited to make note of our saints as we came up to share bread and juice in community.

I like how after Communion had been served, the pastors took the tablecloth and laid it over the Communion elements. It sort of looked like a cloud.

We call our saints “a cloud of witnesses.” Isn’t that a wonderful metaphor? Can you picture yourself protected and supported by a puffy cloud?

I hope we see more of this tablecloth in the future.

Photo credits: Photos are from my archives.