New Life in Christ
All Saints’ Sunday
November 2, 2025 8:00 am
Prayer
Father in heaven, we thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, into our world to give us new life through His death. We celebrate Your gift of baptism that grants faith to all who believe. Allow us to live a life of faith until You call us home to be with You. We thank You for those who have shared the New Life in Christ with us. Grant us the courage to do the same with those who come after us. Amen
Meditation
All Saints Day is a day when we as Lutheran Christians celebrate both the saints living on earth and the saints who have gone before us. It seems an odd combination where the living and the dead are both referred to as “saints”. We might identify with one while not completely coming to grips with the other. Martin Luther held to the theology that we are both sinner and saint at the same time.
Our heavenly Father claims us and cleanses us in the waters of Baptism. As God’s children, we are saints now and forever—not because of anything we have done or will do but because of Jesus. As we gather for All Saints’ Day, we are reminded that all who are baptized are “saints” because they are really God’s people. When we are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus, we become God’s children and saints. We are saints now because of our Baptism.
We will continue to be saints when Jesus comes back because God’s promise of new life in Christ does not change. We are reminded by the words of St. Paul, “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:4) Our new Life in Christ truly gives us reason to celebrate with all the saints.