The church year · All Saints · November 1
You miss them. They’re not lost to God.
All Saints is the day the church remembers everyone who has died in faith. We run our race surrounded by “a great cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12:1).
There’s an empty chair at the table, or a name you can’t say without your voice catching. Maybe it was this year. Maybe it was long ago and it still aches in November. You’re not alone in this. The church sets aside a whole day to grieve, remember, and hope together.
Fellow travelers
We aren’t the first to walk this way.
- Martha met Jesus on the road with “Lord, if you had been here” (John 11:21). He didn’t scold her. He told her who he is.
- Jesus stood at his friend’s tomb and wept (John 11:35), even knowing what he was about to do.
- David grieved his child and then said, “I will go to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Sam 12:23).
- The faithful of Hebrews 11 died still waiting, seeing the promises from a distance and welcoming them (Heb 11:13).
The ones we’ve lost to death are not lost to God, and in him they are still part of us.
Where the Shepherd meets us
The destination of every season is the same: God himself.
- “I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus said. Whoever believes in him will live, even though they die (John 11:25–26).
- “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants” (Ps 116:15). He noticed. He was there.
- We grieve, but not like people without hope (1 Thess 4:13–14). Grief and hope can sit in the same pew.
- One day he will wipe every tear from our eyes, and death will be no more (Rev 21:4). Until then, the whole family of God, here and gone ahead, belongs to the one Shepherd (Heb 11).
Light a candle for someone you’ve lost. Say their name out loud, thank God for one specific thing about them, and tell him you trust him with them.
Keep walking
- Us with God and Death
- Grief
- Us with God and Legacy
- The Calendarthe whole year at a glance