All Saints’ Day Year A 11/1/2026
Revelation 7:9-17; Psalm 34:1-10, 22; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
It is All Saints Day…
It is believed by many scholars that the commemoration of All the Saints on November 1st originated in Ireland…
From there spreading to England… and then to the rest of Europe.
It reached Rome and was adopted there…
early in the 9th century…
As is confirmed by a letter of Pope Gregory IV calling for an observed feast throughout the Holy Roman Empire.
But in actuality it has been in observance way before the 9th century.
Gregory the “Wonder Worker” writing before 270 refers to the observance of a festival of All Martyrs (though he does not mention a date).
Other Church Fathers also mention a day of observance:
Including:
Ephrem the deacon in the 4th century…
and…
John Chrysostom in the late 4th century
All Saints Day is one of the seven Principal Feast Days of our church.
Today we honor, celebrate, and remember all the saints that have come before us…
We recognize that we have much to be grateful for in the lineage,
the tradition, and the legacy of many faithful believers that have given their life for the faith…
for faith in the hope and love of Jesus Christ.
All of us who are believers in Christ are saints of God…
In the sense, that we are set apart for the ministry of Jesus in the world.
We are God’s children because of his love for us…
And because we by grace through faith have been adopted into the family of God.
Now in our reading from 1 John, the writer explains three statements of (1) our character… (2) our personhood… and (3) what it means to be children of God… In other words:
What we are.
What we will be.
What is our response.
St. John starts with What we are:
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.
What are we? Children of God!
God gives us this privileged designation only because that is what we are by his grace, no matter what other people may think or say.
We are not children of God because we earned it…
As though it was some kind of achievement we accomplished.
In fact, that is the way the world works…
Children are children because they were born biologically into a family or they were adopted into it.
In both cases, they did not work to become children in the family…
It was a gift to them.
We are God’s children by the grace and love of God.
He brings us into his family…
This being made possible because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Then John writes about What we will be.
Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.
St. John admits ignorance here.
Saying, “…friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up!
It is a divine mystery of exactly what we will look like and be like in the glory that is to be revealed…
when Christ returns, and we are caught up in the air with him… resurrected in glory…
ushering the King of Kings back to a new heaven and a new earth…
When heaven and earth are consummated together…
And we enter this beatific vision where we see God and serve him in the new creation.
And this is our hope… like all the saints before us.
We will be resurrected like Christ…
and when we see him…
we will be transformed into a heavenly body…
just as Christ was and is when he rose from the grave…
As St. John said:
What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him.
But in the here and now…
In the muddy waters of this earth…
In the hustle and the bustle of our days…
As our bodies age…
as our health struggles…
as the weight of the problems in our families…
in the nation…
and in the world weigh heavily upon us…
It is easy to slip into darkness, discouragement, depression.
And yet, this is why we have days like today!
To remind us of our hope.
The saints who have gone before…
All the saints intercede with Christ Jesus in the throne room of God…
Singing Holy and Glory to the King of Kings…
Supporting us… rooting us on… as we grow closer and closer to the second advent of Christ…
The Second Coming.
So… we arrive at our third question…
What is our response…
St. John wrote:
And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
St. John’s reason for writing about the return of Christ and our final state is not just theological… but the purpose is actually ethical.
He is teaching the practical implications of this glorious expectation.
Our response is purity.
A desire to be pure.
Christians who fix their hope upon Christ’s return will purify themselves…
not just ceremonially or ritually…
but morally.
This is especially important for the people of God in the church today because as we worship in the sanctuary and keep in step with the Spirit of God…
we also live in a world that has been cursed by sin and influenced by evil…
So, what is St. John saying about purity?
Well, the context reveals where he was going with this.
The next few verses after our reading point the way…
Listen to this next part of what St. John is saying (1 John 3:4-10):
Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins,
and in him there is no sin.
No one who abides in him sins;
no one who sins has either seen him or known him.
Little children, let no one deceive you.
Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.
The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God’s seed abides in them;
they cannot sin, because they have been born of God.
The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right are not from God,
nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters.
That’s pretty strong words from an epistle that is known for talking about and emphasizing love.
That’s because love warns people about sin.
Love does not sit by and do nothing.
Love is not idle.
It is an action word…
Love points people to Jesus.
St. John is basically saying this:
You are children of God… and your hope is in the future…
So, this should drive you toward purity from sin.
And this isn’t just to say:
“Well, we all just need to be better and try really hard not to sin…
We should be more kind and be more considerate of others.”
We become pure when we confess our sins and ask for God’s forgiveness.
Because purity is not something we can achieve…
It is only something that we can receive.
Only that which is perfect can make perfection.
Only through Jesus Christ can we be made pure.
Which is why when we worship we confess our sins when we pray and say:
We confess that we have sinned against you
In thought, word, and deed,
By what we have done,
And by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent…
And then in response we are given an absolution…
The priest or bishop stands and declares God’s forgiveness…
To be absolved from our sins
Saying:
Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins…
And then we exchange the Peace of God…
to strengthen us as we walk…
as we walk in that purity… in that forgiveness.
You see, this is grace!
We don’t earn it.
We come to Christ Jesus to be purified…
Not by our own merit… but because Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is the only action on earth that redeems us from our sin.
In Christ Jesus we have been made Children of God.
In Christ Jesus we have the hope of eternal life and we will see God.
In Christ Jesus we are made pure.
This is All Saints Day…
A day where we look toward the future…
With All the Saints!
A day where we seek God’s purity…
as All the Saints have done before us.
Today we celebrate…
And we remember…
and we look forward to our future hope.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
