I’ve long had mixed feelings about Halloween. Yes, it’s a fun family time—especially for kids—to dress up in costumes and celebrate the fall. But in our present culture it has also become a strange celebration of horror and death … to the point where sometimes you want to turn your kids’ eyes away from the grisly costumes and decorations.
But in recent years I’ve learned more about the day after Halloween—and that’s a day worthy of our attention and our celebration.
That day is All Saints’ Day. It falls on November 1 and is meant to show gratitude to God for those believers who have gone before us. Though All Saints’ Day is not a public holiday in America, it is in many other countries.
I’d love to see more followers of Christ take advantage of this special day to remember the saints who have influenced our faith.
When we hear the word “saint,” many of us may think of people honored by the Catholic church because of their remarkable faith and works. Catholic saints are believed to have performed at least one “miracle” during their ministry.
But the Bible uses the word “saints” to describe Christians in general—those who have been saved by the blood of Christ and set apart for the sake of the gospel. 1 Peter 2:9 provides a good description: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
All of us who are born again—alive or dead—are “saints.” All Saints’ Day is an opportunity for saints who are alive to celebrate those saints who have touched our lives … and I think that’s a good tradition.
All Saints’ Day is a great time to tell stories. Who are some of your favorite heroes from the Bible? Who are some saints whose lives have challenged and influenced you?
One saint who has influenced me is Brother Andrew. Some people called him “God’s smuggler” because Brother Andrew would often sneak Bibles into Communist countries where owning a Bible was illegal. If he had been caught, he would have been thrown in prison and beaten or worse, but God honored Brother Andrew’s courage, often performing miracles to protect him.
One day, as Brother Andrew was waiting in his little blue Volkswagen to cross the border into Yugoslavia, he started thinking about the great risk he was taking. The armed guards at the border were checking paperwork and searching cars and every piece of luggage for forbidden materials. It seemed this day the guards were searching more thoroughly than ever. As he waited, he felt fear creeping into his heart.
Brother Andrew knew his paperwork was in order, but he also knew his car was loaded with Bibles and other Christian literature. If the guards found any of this, he would be arrested.
But Brother Andrew knew something else: The Christian believers in Yugoslavia were suffering and desperately needed the encouragement that the Bibles and Christian content would bring them. He had to try, even if it meant prison. He had to resist his fear and his natural desire to save himself and follow the path God had laid before him.
So that day he prayed a prayer that was to be repeated hundreds of times in the years to come: “Lord, in my luggage I have Scripture that I want to take to Your children across this border. When You were on earth, You made blind eyes see. Now, I pray, make seeing eyes blind. Do not let the guards see those things You do not want them to see.”
Finally, Brother Andrew’s turn came. The guards took his paperwork and began poking around in the car. One guard asked to see inside his suitcase, which was filled with the books. Brother Andrew opened it. In that instant, with a suitcase full of Bibles fully visible to the guards, he knew he was caught.
But the guard asked, “Do you have anything else to declare?”
Andrew replied, “Only small things.”
“We won’t bother with them,” said the guard as he handed back the paperwork and waved Andrew on.
God had made seeing eyes blind!
Brother Andrew saw miracles because he resisted his fear and risked doing a work for God that was impossible on his own. Stories about saints like Brother Andrew enrich our walk with Christ and challenge us to walk in obedience to God’s Word. You can probably think of saints who have influenced your life; how about telling their stories to your family?
When I think of saints who have influenced me, I could talk about two women, Sally and Pam, who led me to Christ and helped me grow in my faith as a university student over 50 years ago.
I could talk about Bill and Vonette Bright, who founded Campus Crusade for Christ (now called Cru), the organization I’ve worked with ever since I graduated from college. And I could go back even further and talk about Henrietta Mears, the remarkable woman who showed Bill how to walk with Christ when he was a young man and then led his fiancée, Vonette, to the Lord. When I look back on my spiritual heritage, I can see a straight line from Henrietta Mears to Bill and Vonette Bright to Sally and Pam and me … and then on to anyone God has used me to influence over the last few decades.
I encourage you to use All Saints’ Day to broaden your knowledge of the saints who have come before us and then to tell stories to others. These stories are part of us because we are all part of the Body of Christ.
To help you celebrate All Saints’ Day, our team at Ever Thine Home has created a unique “All Saints’ Day Banner” that includes a set of 15 cards. Five cards have photos of famous saints and a short bio about each for you to read for your children. Also included are blank cards for you to personalize with photos of the people God has used in your life or your children’s lives (friends, family members, teachers, preachers or authors) along with a sentence or two describing their influence.
Pair this banner with my Tales of the Resistance book, which contains longer stories of five saints from around the world who believed God for big things and inspired many as a result. God recorded His own Tales of the Resistance stories in Hebrews 11, which many preachers have called the “Hall of Faith,” so we might be inspired by their faith to remain strong and faithful too. Our belief that we need to continue to be inspired by those who are nearer to us in our history led to the creation of our All Saints’ Day Banner.
If you don’t already have the book you can order a kit that includes both the banner and the book. It’s all available in our Etsy store.
Display the banner on your mantel or in a wreath in your home in the month of October. Add a new card throughout the month and read a story from the book one day each week leading up to All Saints’ Day on November 1. It’s a great way to celebrate those who have gone before you.
