Giving Thanks for All Saints

Posted on November 4, 2021 | Posted by Pastor Daniel

“Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” – Exodus 20:12

Honor your father and mother.
The commandment was not written with children in mind,
Children who must be molded and pressed into responsible adults,
Children who cannot determine their own fate, yet.

Honor your father and mother.
The commandment was written, like all others, for adults,
Adults who think themselves sovereign and responsible,
Adults who presume to determine their own fate.

Honor your father and mother.
The commandment forces humility upon adults,
Calls us back to the dependence of childhood,
Reminds us that our past fashions us still and always will.

Honor your father and mother.
So we light candles for our ancestors.
We give thanks for these no-longer-forgotten saints,
Whose light and shadows form our own.

Join us on Sunday as we give thanks for the many saints in our lives – for those who embolden our faith, for those whose memory fills us with hope, and for those saints of old through whom God formed us. You will be invited to light a candle for saints in your life.

We will also name and give thanks for those who have been committed to God’s care by the congregation in the last year: Tom George, Sara Petz, John Youngdahl, Bruce Hetzel, Lucille Walker, Richard Ingalls, Karen Moore, Ozzie Dunker, Arlene Schultz.