Today we celebrate All Saints Sunday.

There is some debate about how the festival of All Saints Day originated.  According to some sources, the idea of commemorating all of the saints of the church on a single day dates back to at least the third 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 festival 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), we view all Christian believers as saints.  We are made saints, or made holy, by what Jesus accomplished on the cross.  Consequently, 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 Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, we take this day to remember our congregation members, friends and family who entered the Church Triumphant since the last All Saints Day as well as all who have been newly baptized in the past year. We will specifically name those individuals during our worship service. For names of people who died more than one year ago, we will not specifically mention them in our service, but everyone will have an opportunity to name them on that day. Please call the church office with any names of people who have died or been baptized this past year.