In preparing for our All Saints service this coming Sunday, I picked up a book written by a saint who I was privileged to know – the late former United Church moderator Lois Wilson. 

It’s entitled I Want to Be in That Number: Cool Saints I Have Known, and it contains a great definition of sainthood.  Quoting from a letter she once received from Anglican Bishop K.H. Ting of China, Lois writes: “The saints in each generation, joined to those who have gone before and filled them with light, become a golden chain, in which each saint is a separate link, united to the next by faith and works and love.”  Or, to put it another way, saints are self-giving individuals who continue the tradition of freely shared their gifts of faith and love so the life of both the church and the world would be enriched in meaningful and significant ways.

Of course, no two saints are alike.  Some, like Mother Theresa of Calcutta and Francis of Assisi, are famous.  But many are not.  Indeed, most of the 40 short profiles in Lois’s book are of family members, classmates and former colleagues whose names would be unknown in most Canadian households.  But all of them were unique individuals with strong and distinctive personalities.  And each of them touched her life, and the lives of many others, in significant ways.  So she writes – not only to tell their stories – but to encourage us to remember the “saints” who we have known, and who have helped us on our way. 

So, this Sunday, we’ll try to do just that.  Who helped to nurture your faith and show you what loving God and loving your neighbour could look like?  Who gave you the guidance and encouragement you may have needed at a particular point in your life, or inspired you to pursue a certain calling or vocation?  Who are the people who taught you some vitally important lessons, and whose memories you cherish?

No two saints are alike.  So let’s give thanks for all those we’ve known “who’ve been filled with the light” of faith, works, and love.