For All the Saints...Let it Be- November 3rd, 2021

All Saints Day, the first Sunday in November, is my favorite Sunday of the Christian year. The same resurrection message we hear at Easter as we watch flowers bloom and spring return finds us here at the beginning of the dark days of winter when death seems even more real. Yet, death does not have the last word. There is new life for all people— for us still living and for those people in our lives who have died and are now with God. It’s in that all inclusive vision of new life that I find the reason I like All Saints Day best. All Saints Day affirms our belief in the communion of saints, a union of saints and believers across every time and place.

The Old Testament reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for All Saints Day, November 7th, Isaiah 25:6-9 says…

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

While All Saints Day actually occurs on November 1st, most churches celebrate the day on the first Sunday of the month of November. Often, churches celebrate the day by reading the names of anyone in the congregation who has passed away in that year, lighting a candle, and ringing a bell in their memory. Typically Holy Communion is received as a part of this High Holy Day. There are many things happening when we receive communion. One part that is especially important to remember on All Saints Day is that we not only commune with God and with Christ, but we commune with all of those people in our lives who are now feasting at that heavenly banquet. God has wiped all the tears from their eyes and they now know his love in all its completion. They are with God and they are with us always. 

James Corden is the host of the “Late Late Show” on CBS. One of his most popular segments is called “Carpool Karaoke.” In “”Carpool Karaoke,” Corden invites famous musical guests to sing along to their songs with him while he is driving on a planned route. He has welcomed a lot of different famous musicians including Stevie Wonder, Elton John, and Carrie Underwood. A few years ago “Carpool Karaoke” featured its most famous guest, Paul McCartney. This particular segment has been viewed on YouTube over 62 million times and if you haven't seen it, go now and look it up. It's a lot of so much fun! James Corden and Paul McCartney ride around the Beatles hometown of Liverpool, England singing Beatles’s songs and Paul McCartney’s songs. They go by Penny Lane and McCartney signs his name on a street corner sign there. They pass a church and McCartney explains that he was in the choir there when he was boy. They start walking down the streets and fans start coming up to them, one fan says “your music was played at my Dad’s funeral.” They visit his old childhood home, McCartney even plays a surprise concert in a pub to a group of unsuspecting locals. 

All along the way Paul McCartney and James Corden are in and out of their car singing songs. At one point James Corden says to McCartney, “your music is so full of positivity, and joy, and a message of love and togetherness, I feel like it’s more relevant now today than maybe it’s ever been.” And McCartney talks about how the music has remained relevant and then he says, “I had a dream in the 60s, where my Mom who died, came to me in the dream and was reassuring me saying, it's going to be ok, just let it be.” And McCartney said it made him feel so great and he said, “she gave me the positive word so I woke up and wrote the song “Let It Be.” And then they start singing “Let It Be” in the car. Soon James Corden begins to cry and he says, “I didn't see that coming, that made me emotional.” He shares, “I can remember my granddad who was a musician, and my dad, sitting me down and saying ‘we’re going to play you the best song you’ve ever heard’ and they played me that song, “Let It Be.” And Corden says, “if my granddad were here right now he would get an absolute kick out of this.” And then theres a pause and Paul McCartney says, “He is.”

On a dark Sunday morning at the beginning of November, we gather in our churches to reflect and remember, but we are not alone. May your All Saints Day be blessed!

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