The first hour of the day belongs to me.

Most mornings begin with a cup of coffee in the quiet.  It’s usually still dark when I rise.  I settle into a recliner facing the large window in our living room (often with a cat on my lap) and watch the sun rise.

Part of that first hour also includes reading.  Currently, I’m making my way through Colossians in The Message paraphrase; and for the past couple of years, I’ve developed another morning practice: reading about the saints.

Now, you must understand that I am a born-and-bred Baptist.  Growing up, the idea of saints was foreign to me.  I wasn’t sure what made someone a saint or why their stories mattered.  But in recent years, I’ve become increasingly curious about our larger Christian family — those faithful women and men who lived between the final “Amen” of Revelation and today.  What did following Jesus look like in their time and place?  What might their lives teach us about following Jesus in ours?

Two books have become regular companions: Everything Could Be a Prayer: 100 Portraits of Saints and Mystics by Kreg Yingst, with its beautiful woodblock prints, and All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time by Robert Ellsberg, which offers a reflection for each day of the year.

What I’ve come to appreciate is that the saints weren’t supernatural heroes.  They were flesh-and-blood people with their own struggles, shortcomings, and uncertainties.  They didn’t always get it right; but in their particular circumstances, they sought to live faithfully and reflect the love of Christ.  Their lives remind me that holiness isn’t about perfection.  It’s about faithfulness.

And that brings me to this Sunday.

During our All Saints Day worship service, we will remember twelve beloved members of Ardmore who have died during the past year. They, too, were ordinary, flesh-and-blood people.  They lived among us, worshiped beside us, shared our joys and sorrows, and embodied the love of Christ in ways uniquely their own.

Their names may never appear in a book of saints but their stories are no less sacred.  Their faithfulness has helped shape who we are as a congregation.  And just as I find encouragement in the lives of those who came before us, I find it in remembering those whose lives have touched our own.

This Sunday, we will speak their names, remember their lives, and give thanks for the ways God’s love was made visible through them.

For their lives, their love, and their legacy of faith, we say, “Thanks be to God!”