All Saints Day

Throughout church history, believers have honored the memory of saints and their sacrifices on this day. Lesbia Scott, loving mother and wife of an Anglican priest wrote I Sing a Song of the Saints of God for her children to commemorate their memories.

We sang this song in the Episcopal Church when I was a child. I always loved it and in fact, we made a special request to have it sung on the day of Wesley’s baby dedication.

The song reminds us that saints come from every walk of life; their lives are a testament to their faithfulness, an example to follow.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1

I sing a song of the saints of God,

Patient and brave and true,

Who toiled and fought and lived and died

For the Lord they loved and knew.

And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,

And one was a shepherdess on the green:

They were all of them saints of God—and I mean,

God helping, to be one too.

They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,

And his love made them strong;

And they followed the right, for Jesus’ sake,

The whole of their good lives long.

And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,

And one was slain by a fierce wild beast:

And there’s not any reason—no, not the least,

Why I shouldn’t be one too.

They lived not only in ages past,

There are hundreds of thousands still,

The world is bright with the joyous saints

Who love to do Jesus’ will.

You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea,

In church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea,

For the saints of God are just folk like me,

And I mean to be one too.