Over the years I have grown to love this time of the Christian Year when we remember the departed; those we love but see no longer and miss terribly; those we never knew but whom we respect the memory of and those called ‘saints’ by the Church. When we sing; ‘For all the saints ...’ saints for me means not just those ‘official’ saints but those hidden saints as well.

In the ‘official’ lists of saints we have those remembered for their pious lives our courage in the face of adversity and they are listed as; saints, martyrs, teachers and writers, doctors of the faith, virgins and holy women, apostles and evangelists, religious (nuns and monks), bishops and pastors, missionaries, Christian rulers and workers with the poor. You can then also divide them into Celtic saints, Scottish, Welsh, Irish and English saints, saints of the Roman Church and saints of the Orthodox Church. Quite how many ‘official’ saints there are is hard to discover and probably as many as we might know today a similar number will

have been forgotten or demoted as perhaps never existing! And, their memorial days can change as well for example St.Thomas the apostle is remembered on 3rd July in the revised calendar and on 21st December in the Scottish Prayer Book! You can take your pick! Others like St.Christopher, beloved of many motorists and travellers now officially don’t have memorial days. That’s where All Saints Day comes into play as a day when all saints remembered and forgotten are celebrated if not by specific name but in spirit.

Coming on close to All Saints Day is All Souls Day as this day I love more than All Saints because it is the day we remember and pray for, with love and thanksgiving, our own particular saints who may not be called such but to us as saints anyway. Our loved ones departed are as precious to us in death as they were in life and having a celebratory day to remember them by name I think is very important. It is important as we can feel them close to us as we call them to mind and speak their names. Reading the names on the list of the departed always moves me to tears of both sadness and joy. Joy in that

I may have known them and sadness in that I can no longer speak face to face with them, at least not in this world. For me this year is particularly poignant as I remember both my sister Jane and father David. As I read their names I am assured that they may be gone but in no way are they forgotten. Although they may now be part of that ‘great cloud of witnesses’ they are still close to me and no more so as we gather around the altar to celebrate the Eucharist.

In our Eucharistic liturgy, and remember it is in liturgy that we express the beliefs of our church we pray:

Help us, who are baptised into the fellowship of Christ’s Body to live and work to your (God’s) praise and glory; may we grow together in unity and love until at last, in your new creation, we enter into our heritage in the company of the Virgin Mary, the apostles and prophets (the saints) and OF ALL OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS LIVING AND DEPARTED.

What those final few words mean is that as we gather around the altar and pray the Eucharistic prayer we do as a truly corporate and encompassing act with those around us in church this morning and all those who have died and gone before us and who now stand and worship in the presence of God. The boundary between Heaven and Earth at this point in the Eucharist is very minimal and we living and departed can almost ‘touch each other’. I reflect on this very often as I stand at the altar as under it are the ashes of many of our departed members, who I believe are still worshipping with us but in Heaven.

‘Eucharist’ - means ‘thanksgiving’ and it is what Christ instructed us to do in his memory and in gifting us this Sacrament not only do we give thanks to God for Christ but we do it with all who have shared in the Eucharist at anytime both the departed and the living. The Eucharist is continual and everlasting, there is never a minute of the day or year when somewhere in the world the Eucharist is not being prayed. It is on that continuum that our departed loved

ones still pray with us as we celebrate together Christ’s wonderful gift and instruction.

For all the saints ... days to celebrate with joy and thanks for all the departed known and unknown to us now and always.