Today is All Saints’ Day. Many churches, such as the Episcopal, Catholic, AME. and Methodist, use this occasion to honor the church triumphant in Heaven, with the souls of many saints. This has been the case since the 8th century, some 1200 years ago. In Christianity world-wide, All Saints’ is a popular church holiday. The evening before is All Hallows’ Eve, which was secularized by Halloween that we celebrated last week. I’ve always had trouble reconciling the two from a theological point of view but recognize that Halloween is a popular celebration with children and their parents.
There are some popular hymns that are sung during an All Saints’ celebration, including “For All the Saints” by How and Williams; “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God” by Scott and Hopkins; and “Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones” by Riley and Williams. The famous church musician Ralph Vaughn Williams gave us the tunes for two of these hymns, but let’s not forget the lyrics of William Washam How: “For all the saints who from their labors rest, who thee by faith before the world confessed, thy name of Jesus be forever blessed. Alleluia.”