For All The Saints
On some
Sundays when one of us is not feeling well or I am starting a new medicine, my
wife Vicky and I worship at home instead of at Clear Lake Presbyterian Church. This past Sunday, as my doctor had just put
me on something new, we did just that. When we worship at home, one of the
things we like the most is singing hymns together. We sang many hymns, but only
one of them brought tears to both our eyes. It is the hymn, “For All the
Saints.”
The hymn was
written by an Anglican priest and was first printed in 1864. It was a processional hymn, meaning
it was the first hymn that would be sung at a Sunday worship as the choir and pastors marched
in. The song was in a collection of hymns which could be used on All Saints Day, the Day when many
Christians remember all “the dead in Christ,” those who have died united to
Christ and are now in His blessed presence. I believe the letter to the Hebrews
speaks of those faithful departed when
it says we are “surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.” (Hebrews 12:1) When
we are united to Christ by faith, we know that in we cannot be
separated from those who, although having died, are still united to the source of all life“ because
they are in Christ” ! (I Thessalonians 4:16).
I believe
all Christians (living and dead) are saints, not just the extra good ones. One
reason I believe it is I Corinthians 1:2. The best translation of the Greek is:
“To the church (called-out ones) of God in Corinth, to those sanctified (set
apart) in Christ Jesus and called holy (saints), together with all those
everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.”
For those churches whose worshipers say
the Apostles Creed when they gather in worship of God, when we say the words, “I
believe in the communion of the saints,” we are saying that in Christ we are
united with all Christians of all nations, tongues, circumstances, and
cultures—whether living or dead!
The song, "For All the Saints," has particularly to do with our communion (our close unity) with those saints
(or Christians) who have died and are with Christ! I am pretty sure these are
the verses that Vicky and I sang:
For all the
saints, who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by
faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O
Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia,
Alleluia!
Thou wast
their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord,
their Captain in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the
darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia,
Alleluia!
O blest
communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly
struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are
one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia,
Alleluia!
And when the strife is fierce, the
warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph
song,
And hearts are brave, again, and arms
are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
I am
particularly moved by the last two verses printed above. The last verse brought
to Vicky’s mind the scene in Lord of the Rings where the forces of Theoden the
King of Rohan (with his niece Eowyn disguised as a male warrior) are coming to
the rescue of the city of Gondor which is besieged by an overwhelming force of
evil. As the battle is going very badly
for Gondor, the horn of Rohan sounds (it is like a mixture of a trumpet and a shophar).
It announces that the forces of good are about to rescue their besieged
comrades at the last moment—when there had seemed to be no hope.
“And hearts
are brave, again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia,
Alleluia!”
Winfield Casey Jones is a retired
pastor and can be reached at wrjones2002@gmail.com.
The column first appears in the Pearland and Friendswood Reporter News.
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