All Saints – The Raynville Rambler

Here from all nations

Christ worshiped by all the saints
stained glass window in the church of
All Saints, Clapham Park, London

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is ‘Here from all nations’ by Christopher Idle. It’s continuing a series of hymns for the All Saints season.

Unlike some of the others we’ve sung this week, this one takes the traditional view of ‘saints’ as meaning those disciples of Christ who have suffered persecution or martyrdom and are now in heaven. This is clear from many phrases in the hymn: ‘These have come out of the hardest oppression’, ‘Gone is their thirst and no more shall they hunger’, ‘sun shall not pain them, no burning shall torture’, ‘gone is their grief and their trials are over, God wipes away every tear from their eyes’.

The reward of these long-suffering saints is, first of all, the very opportunity to be with the ‘countless crowd’ adoring God in his majesty, serving him in his Temple. Jesus shall be with them, as shepherd and guide, leading them to living water (echoes of Psalm 23). The hymn concludes with a paraphrase of the song of adoration of the saints from the Book of Revelation.

The image is of the joy of worship and the comfort of food and drink, contrasting with the pain, fear and often hunger of persecution in this life. Although the martyrs are at the heart of this, we could perhaps extend our thoughts and prayers to the memory of those who for the sake of Christ have lived selflessly caring for others with no thought of their own comfort and pleasure.

Rejoice in God’s saints

Today’s hymn for All Saints Day from Sing Praise is ‘Rejoice in God’s saints’ by Fred Pratt Green. The suggested tune is a 17^th century metrical psalm setting (‘Old 104^th’) but the tune John wrote to it had a similar feel.

The overall message in the lyrics is similar to that discussed yesterday: the saints come in various guises. There are people we consider especially holy, both the activists and the contemplative (who ‘march with events to turn them God’s way, (or) need to withdraw, the better to pray’). There are exceptionally heroic individuals who ‘carry the gospel through fire and flood’. And also the ordinary Christians who show their sanctity in quiet service of others (‘unpraised and unknown, who bear someone’s cross or shoulder their own’).

The line that stands out in the first verse, repeated in the last, is ‘A world without saints forgets how to praise’. Perhaps that is intended to mean that the true praise of God is inspired by the actions of those who demonstrate what loving God and neighbour really looks like.

For all the saints who showed your love

Procession for All Saints day, Wyoming, USA
www.newliturgicalmovement.org

Today is the eve of All Saints day, and so for a few days we have hymns on that theme. The first is ‘For all the saints who showed your love’ by John Bell and Graham Maule. The theme is set by the last lines of the first three verses, that all begin ‘Accept our gratitude’. We are thanking God for what previous generations have done by way of example.

‘Saint’ simply means ‘sanctified’, or ‘set apart for God’. Whenever it comes to talking, singing or preaching about saints there always seems to be a tension between the idea of ‘every Christian believer is equally a saint’ and ‘Saints are people with a special calling to do something out of the ordinary for God’ (such as found a monastery, challenge the status quo, or proclaim the faith in the face of opposition until they are murdered for it).

There are elements of both these in the lyrics of this hymn. The first two verses focus on the first idea: ‘all the saints who showed your love in how they lived and where they moved’; ‘who loved your name … sang your songs and shared your word’. These are the ordinary people who in the way they lived their ordinary lives witnessed to the presence of Christ in them.

The third verse speaks of those who rose to a challenge: ‘who named your will, and saw your kingdom coming still through selfless protest, prayer and praise’. The last verse brings these together, asking God to ‘bless all whose will or name or love reflects the grace of heaven above’. Whether we live ordinary lives inspired by Christ, or feel called to be set apart in some special way, we are among the saints.