November 1, 2026
23rd Sunday after Pentecost ~ All Saints Day
MINISTER
Rev. David J. Wood
SCRIPTURE
Hebrews 12: 1-2, Matthew 5: 1-12
“For All the Saints”
by Rev. David J. Wood
All Saints Day, November 1, 2026
First Congregational Church of Camden
Scripture Readings: Hebrews 12: 1-2; Matthew 5:1-12
On All Saints’ Sunday, I always like to begin with a brief primer on the meaning of “saints.” The Greek word for Saints is used some 62 times in the New Testament…and most often it is used not to speak of those who have belong to some elite class of holy people. It is an inclusive term usually addressed to early Christian communities as a whole. It is naming that is meant to remind us who we are and who we are, by God’s greace, called to be.
Jesus was not one to point to heroic figures to make his point about who was blessed by God…or who were among the ones in God’s favor.
When he was asked who was the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven he did not point to a Priest or a Prophet or even one of his Disciples who had left everything to follow him. Instead, on more than one occasion, he called for a child to stand with him and said, “unless you become as a little child, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Everywhere he went, he pointed to ones who were dismissed, cast-out or otherwise bypassed by the crowds clamoring for his attention…to be the ones who had and held God’s attention…God was for them. This is why the Lectionary always assigns the reading of the Beatitudes on All Saints. The Saints are to be found among the ranks of….
The poor in spirit
The meek
Those who mourn
The pure of heart
Those who hunger and thirst for what is right
the merciful
the makers of peace
Even those who suffer for what is right….
The writer Frederick Buechner reminds us that Saints are real people who make a real difference in our lives and the life of the world:
There come moments, I think, even in the midst of all our cynicism and worldliness and childishness, maybe especially then, when there is something about the saints of the earth that bowls us over a little.
I mean real saints.
I mean saints as men and women who are made not out of plaster and platitude and moral perfection but out of human flesh. I mean saints who have their rough edges and their blind spots like everybody else but whose lives are transparent to something so extraordinary that every so often it stops us dead in our tracks. Light-bearers. Life-bearers.
We need light bearers these days. Especially in these days.
Living in the midst of this time, I have to confess, that my trust in the cause of goodness and truth and justice wanes. My hope flags.
It feels, if I can be honest, that so often evil triumphs while goodness, truth, and justice limps along with minor, short lived victories here and there. It feels that goodness forever being struck down while evil seems to continually reinvent itself.
Have you felt that way in these trying days?
Have you felt that your hope is running on fumes…that you are having trouble catching your breath…
Well, I can’t think of a better time to turn our attention to the word that the writer of the Book of Hebrews has for us…
The Writer reminds us that we are in a race…
and that race is bigger and longer and more overarching any race that we may find ourselves in this world from time to time…
This race stretches back to the earliest days…
to the beginning of time…
it has all kinds of twists and turns…and no matter what we may think at any point along the way…it’s far from over.
Indeed, as is the case with any good race, there will be times when we will feel stretched to the limit…especially when the lead changes and it feels like the race is lost…that’s the time to dig deeper, to cast aside anything that might be slowing us down…
You see, this race, marked out for us by God—in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, is set by nothing less than Resurrection. And Resurrection speaks of a triumph of life over death, of goodness over evil, of love over hate…
If the truth be told, evil does resuscitate itself from time to time…and there will be plenty of reason along this way to feel that the race is lost…
But resuscitation is not Resurrection…evil exhausts itself, it always bears within itself the seeds of its own destruction…history is littered with its lifeless remains
Berlin Walls are built…but they Fall.
Apartheid states rule…but they do not last.
Resuscitation is not Resurrection.
Across all these centuries…there is a love that does not die, a truth that does not fail to endure, a justice that remains trustworthy and true…there is a love that never ends and, in the end, it is this love that what will prevail…
Bishop Desmond Tutu, surely one of our saints, is known for his ability to stand in the midst of a time of great injustice. One of his best known prayers speaks to his unflagging hope even in the darkest of days:
Goodness is stronger than evil;
Love is stronger than hate;
Light is stronger than darkness;
Life is stronger than death;
Victory is ours through Him who loves us.
Bishop Tutu was a light bearer, a life bearer…a Saint…and among those the Writer of Hebrews identifies as “the cloud of witnesses”…the company of those who have gone before us who have finished their race…but who now surround us in this Resurrection charged race cheering us on…encouraging our perseverance.
It is on All Saints Day that we pay special attention to that “cloud of witnesses” who call us on…and that’s what gives whatever present we may find ourselves in reason for hope and courage and determination to stay the course…to give ourselves fully and faithfully to whatever is required of us…in whatever time we find ourselves…to catch our breath, and to persevere.
Today is the day we call into the foreground those we remember who have finished their race and now rest from their labors…and who now cheer us onward.
On All Saints, I like to recall the tradition in Central American Congregations to remember those who were no longer with them, to have their names read…and after every name, someone would say, “Presenté” which means present, here, with us.
This act of remembrance became for them an act of resistance against the trying times they found themselves in when fellow members were “disappeared” by government forces. To name them, to declare “presenté,” was a way they made visible the Communion of Saints that no power in this world could disrupt or overthrow. It’s how they bore witness to a love that is stronger than death.
In a few minutes, I want you to write down, on the cards we have place in the pews, the name of someone you are remembering today…one who has gone on before…who is among the cloud of witnesses that is calling you on…it may be a person you knew firsthand who had a direct hand in shaping your life and faith…it maybe someone you know of…whose legacy has been a source of encouragement to your faith. Who has been a light bearer for you? A life bearer?
We will collect the cards, and as we prepare to receive Communion, I will read the names your have written…when you hear the name you have written read aloud, call out “PRESENT” or “PRESENTÉ”…and together, we will bear witness to the cloud of witnesses that accompany us…and call us onward. Amen.