All Saints Day is about a perfect God

Fighting for joy in our imperfections

It’s All Saints Day. I’ve always felt a little under-educated about what this day means and its origins within the Christian tradition. I know there is a somewhat complicated history between the Jewish festivals featured in the Bible and the holidays that came along thereafter, which are still celebrated around much of the modern world today. All Saints Day falls the day after Halloween. It’s a day when many are turning their interests from a holiday that focuses on the human experience of fear to a season that celebrates the One who came to rescue us from all fear.

In an article featured in the @nytimes today titled “We Remember Saints Because They’re a Lot Like Us,” author @tishharrisonwarren articulates, “…saints are imperfect people…this is what draws me to this day. Christians don’t remember these men and women because they were perfect. We remember them because, like us, they were broken, selfish and fearful, yet God wrought beauty and light through their lives.”

“Like us, they were broken, selfish and fearful, yet God wrought beauty and light through their lives.” -Tish Harrison Warren, NY Times

If I’m honest, I woke up this morning with a flaring awareness that I’ve been lacking joy lately. Short with the kids and worried about many things, I’ve been trying to field goal my way through an imaginary standard. Yet, I’ve found my flawed attempts bouncing off the goal post. I probably can’t articulate my deepest fears in a single social post.

But this morning in my frantic state, I was brought to the book of Isaiah and reminded that in one of the most significant Old Testament prophecies about Jesus, he was called “Immanuel.”

Not “God figure your stuff out on your own,”

But “God with us,”

“God in the thick of it with us.”

“God come alongside us.”

“God rescue us.”

And when Immanuel came, when he was birthed unto this earth by a weary-worn, yet hope-filled mother, the angels declared JOY to the world. Later, Jesus declared the joy that is found in following him: “…so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11) Not partial or only in the easy. As Jesus’s messenger, Paul implored, “even if I am being poured out like a drink offering…I am glad and rejoice with all of you,” adding, “So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.” He’s imploring me personally here: Be joy-filled with me. Jesus came for your JOY.

One of my friends is a practicing Orthodox Christian. Her young daughter gave my daughter this pin of a saint last year at Christmas. I did not know the pictured (above) saint…I wished it was Paul. She tells me it’s Saint Nicholas.

Unfortunately, today doesn’t mark so much a shift toward Advent—toward the WAITING—but a shift toward STRIVING. All too often, we strive for some fabricated version of real joy: evidence of this complicated, imperfect relationship we have with our celebratory observances.

“Yet,” as Tish reminds us, “God wrought beauty and light through their lives.” With that in mind, may we flip the script back to joy. Because here’s the deal: even the day dedicated to the observance of saints—both the biblical and everyday saints—really still goes back to a God who is for us. It is he who makes a life worth living, a story worth celebrating.

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POSTED BY

Jenna

Jenna Kruse is a teacher but not in a classroom. She loves to think outside the box and inside the Word and is daily in need of an attitude adjustment. She is a wife to Justin, a mother to three school-aged children, and a mentor to teenagers and young adults. You can learn more about the heart behind her blog HERE.

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