Dear Friends,
As we approach the end of October, I’ve begun thinking about All Saints’ Day. This is such a devastating year to be thinking about those who now partake of the eternal feast, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, and yet all of this loss makes it that much more important, even as we remain apart. And I am reminded by this week’s Gospel reading from Matthew, in which the Pharisees ask Jesus which commandment is the greatest, to which he replies,
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
We hear Jesus’s words echoed again later in 1 Corinthians 13, those verses that almost everyone knows, characterizing love. By the time I was in my teens, I wasn’t really a fan of these verses. Like many others that have entered into the common discourse, it all felt trite - until I heard this setting by The Corner Room. Entitled “Love Never Ends,” their setting is actually a three part suite (which my wife has to listen to me sing along to constantly now as I work in the kitchen or feed the cats), the third part concludes the passage. “The Greatest of these is Love.”
The idea that Love Never Ends is an extraordinary point of entry for talking about death and loss with children. In fact, during the Family Mass in our home congregation, we say a symbolic/manipulatives-based version of the Prayers of the People adapted from one I learned from one of my original Children’s Ministry mentors, Christen Erskine, in Atlanta. Adding different items to the offering basket with each petition, when we pray for those we love who have died, our chosen symbol is the heart. We know that life ends, but love doesn’t - which brings me back to All Saints.
While the Feast of All Saints gives us an opportunity to recall those close to us who have died, to light candles and tell stories, one thing I love about it from a formation perspective is the opportunity it creates to explore larger community histories. Saints are fascinating, and they connect wonderfully with the kinds of questions children like to ask. Just think about it. We celebrate traditional saints’ days year round, and saints represent so many of our identities, the issues we care about, even downright funny things. In our house, we always laugh because we have a cat named Gertrude, who unintentionally shares a name with the Patron Saint of Cats.
Older children may recognize St. Francis’s story from the recent feast day, or may know historical figures like Joan of Arc, but may not know she is a saint. In the Episcopal Church, we also take a broader view of the saints. One of my favorites named in “Holy Women, Holy Men” is the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, who was the first African-American woman to be ordained as an Episcopal Priest.
Want to explore the Saints at home? Here are a few questions that could help your family uncover new or unexpected figures in the history of Christianity:
What Saint’s feast day falls on your birthday?
What Patron Saint represents your family pet? Your career?
What Saints come from the same countries as your family?
What would you be the Patron Saint of?
Don’t worry if the questions get silly. Saints stand in for some oddly specific things, which is part of what’s so wonderful about them. As the hymn “I Sing A Song Of The Saints Of God” reminds us, the people we call Saints lived widely varied lives. They were just like us.
Another one of my favorite resources for All Saints? The art of Tomie DePaola. I’ve included DePaola’s saint illustrations here several times before, and he’s drawn many of them, which can be found in his blog archives, as well as writing children’s books on several saints.
DePaola’s simple representations of the Saints are an excellent starting point for children/families to create their own portraits as a way of reflecting on those who have gone before us. They may be formally recognized saints, or members of your family or broader community. They are all holy and worthy of remembrance.
My hope in writing about All Saints this week is that it will give you some time to reflect and prepare in this strange, moment by moment world. May we breathe deep and may we all be together across times and planes and generations, in the eternal bond of love.
Amen,
A. Bird