One of my favorite spots on our beautiful campus is our Chapel.  It is not only beautiful to look at, but in what it communicates.  As we celebrate All Saint’s Day, it seems appropriate to comment on the message of our Chapel.
     As you enter though the doors, you walk beneath stained glass depicting the announcement of the Resurrection of Jesus.  To the sides of the doors are numerous triangles representing saints.  Here we have an important Biblical truth.  Biblically, saints are not spiritual superheroes, but the people of God who have been set aside to God for His purposes.  Every Christian, then, is a saint, set aside to God out of the world for the work of God’s mission in the world.  Yes, there are superheroes of the faith, the ones often called “saints.”  They are the great examples, the ones who help show us what it means to be a saint.  But as we walk through those Chapel doors, we are reminded that we too are saints through Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Through the Cross, we are forgiven and become part of the people of God: saints.
     As we face the altar and our gaze moves to the glass above, we see a vision of heaven.  There we see scenes described in Revelation: the Throne and presence of God seen as brilliant colors and light, the River of Life and the Tree of Life, all communicating a vision of the restoration of  creation.  Sweeping from the bottom of the glass, almost as though continuing from the very place we sit, those triangles, those saints, flow up and around into the throne, the presence of God.
     This is where we live: in the beautiful place of tension between the Cross of our Salvation and the glory that is yet to come.  We are saints in procession among saints.  There are saints behind us, and we must invite many, many more to walk through that door of salvation found in the Cross of Christ.  There are saints all around us, and we must join in fellowship, worship, and fruitful kingdom work with them.  There are saints ahead of us we can no longer see, those who have gone before us in the pilgrimage of faith.  For their life and example we give thanks.
     May you find your spirit refreshed and blessed as you celebrate this All Saint’s Day.  Give thanks for the example of those who have gone before us; remember that you are, now, a saint among saints, and join with one another in committing yourself wholeheartedly to the work of the Kingdom of God.