All Saints Sunday

All Saints Sunday (Coffee Hour following the 10:30 Service)

All Saints’ Day is Nov. 1 every year, but it is celebrated on the first Sunday in November.

There is some debate about where the celebration of All Saints originated. According to some sources, the idea for All Saints’ Day goes back to the fourth century when the Greek Christians kept a festival on the first Sunday after Pentecost (in late May or early June) in honor of all martyrs and saints. Other sources say that a commemoration of “All Martyrs” began to be celebrated as early as 270 CE but no specific month or date is recorded.

Pope Gregory IV made All Saints’ Day an authorized holiday in 837 CE. It is speculated that the chosen date for the event, November 1, may have been an attempt to supplant the pagan Festival of the Dead (also known as Samhain or the feast of Saman, lord of death). All Saints’ Day is closely tied with All Souls’ Day, which was first instituted at the monastery in Cluny in 993 CE and quickly spread among Christians.

In the Lutheran Church (and in most Protestant denominations in general), we see all Christian believers as saints. We are made saints, or made ‘holy’, by what Jesus accomplished on the cross. So, we don’t just celebrate people who have died in faith. We also use All Saints Day to remember all Christians, past and present, as holy in God’s eyes.

At Lutheran Churchs, we also take this day to remember friends and family, and all those who have died who were members of the local church congregation. Individuals come to the front of the sanctuary to light candles at the beginning of the service, and those candles stay lit throughout the service to remind us that we are in the presence of all saints, living and dead.

All Saints Sunday