On Sunday, November 2, Northminster will add an extra element to our usual order of worship – a necrology. Names of church members who have died in the past 12 months will be read aloud and followed by a single chime. It’s a simple but meaningful ritual, a practice that reminds us of two important truths about our faith. But first, a bit of history.

In the Roman Catholic Church, All Saints Day is annually celebrated on November 1^st, while All Souls Day is November 2^nd. In many Protestant denominations, the first Sunday in November unites these celebrations on what we call All Saints Sunday.

While there are understandable differences between Catholic and Protestant traditions, a central theme in each is celebrating the transition of believers from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant, that is, recognizing and rejoicing with all those Christians who have finished their work on earth and now abide with God in heaven.

The first truth this celebration brings to our attention is that all Christians are saints. Both the Hebrew (OT) and Greek (NT) words translated “saint” come from a root that means “holy.” To be holy is to be set apart by God in order to serve God. Paul describes saints as “those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours” (1 Cor. 1:2).

Here Paul shows us that sainthood, which is also called sanctification, (being made holy), is both a position and a process. As God’s chosen people, we have been made holy through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. We are being made holy through our cooperation with the work of the Holy Spirit in and through us. And one day we will be made holy as we reunite with the saints who reached heaven before us.

As in our worship on All Saints Sunday we remember the saints of this congregation who now worship God in heaven, we are also reminded of a second truth – that our Christian faith is built on a firm historical foundation.

I affirm the observation made by church historian Bruce Shelley, who writes: “Many Christians today suffer from historical amnesia. The time between the apostles and their own day is one giant blank. That is hardly what God had in mind.”^[1]

I suspect not many of us could cite chapter and verse of the history of Northminster Evangelical Presbyterian Church. I’m quite sure vast numbers of Presbyterians have little knowledge about the ecclesiastical developments that followed Martin Luther’s 95 Theses. Even more know less about the first 1,500 years of Christian history and theology. Such knowledge gaps impede our growth as individual Christians and as a congregation. For if we don’t know how we got to where we are, where we go next is anybody’s guess.

This All Saints Sunday, let’s rejoice with the souls we have known who now rest from their labors. And in the year between this celebration and the next, let’s spend some time looking back so that we might more clearly see the way ahead.