All Saints' Day
Saints' days began as a way to mark the anniversaries of the deaths of martyrs - their birthdays as saints through the completion of their baptism. By the middle of the church's first millennium, there were so many martyrs that it was hard to give them all their due. All Saints' Day was established as an opportunity to honor all the saints, remembered and forgotten, known and unknown. It has been celebrated on or around November 1 since the ninth century.
In the Reformed tradition, the emphasis of this festival is on the ongoing sanctification of the whole people of God. While we may give thanks for the lives of particular luminaries of ages past, we also give glory to God for the ordinary, holy lives of believers in this and every age. This is an appropriate time to give thanks for members of the community of faith who have died in the past year, and to pray that we may be counted among the company of the faithful in God's eternal realm.
COLOR: white
- from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship (2018)
In the Reformed tradition, the emphasis of this festival is on the ongoing sanctification of the whole people of God. While we may give thanks for the lives of particular luminaries of ages past, we also give glory to God for the ordinary, holy lives of believers in this and every age. This is an appropriate time to give thanks for members of the community of faith who have died in the past year, and to pray that we may be counted among the company of the faithful in God's eternal realm.
COLOR: white
- from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship (2018)