Rev. Eric Anderson Pastor's Corner

Pastor’s Corner: All Saints Day; Love and Tears

October 22, 2025

As this month ends, we will remember the ones who have blessed us and gone to God’s blessings on All Saints Sunday, October 26th. This service moves me every year as the rows of candles come alight and glow, revealing just how much brightness the saints among us have shown.

Their glow also reveals the traces of tears down our cheeks.

I would love to remember those who’ve blessed me with an unwounded heart. I would love to sing their praises unrestrainedly. I would love to speak of their virtues without a tremor. I would love to celebrate their life in God’s realm without regret. Of course, I cannot.

Grief cannot be disentangled from love. God holds our loved ones in tender care, in new life, and in everlasting love. I believe that’s true. It is also true that the soft words, the gentle hugs, and the merry smiles I’ve treasured in them are now lost to me save in memory. That hurts. I wish it didn’t, but it hurts.

We light our candles as a reflection of their brightness. We also light our candles to bring new light to our own hearts.

Come honor and remember the saints of our lives on October 26th. Come light a candle in their memory. Come and feel again the joy they brought you, and feel again the grief of their loss. Come celebrate the saints, and recall that one day we will be restored to one another in the gracious love of God.

In peace,

Pastor Eric

Rev. Eric Anderson Pastor's Corner, What I'm Thinking

What I’m Thinking: What Makes Them Saints

I’m thinking about the Beatitudes this week, and what they tell us about who the saints in our lives have been.

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking about the sixth chapter of Luke’s Gospel (Luke 6:20-31), the opening to what Luke called the Sermon on the Plain. That is not the regular Gospel reading found in the Revised Common Lectionary for this coming Sunday. You see, at Church of the Holy Cross we observe All Saints Day on the last Sunday in October. This reading is from the All Saints portion of the lectionary.

It seemed suitable because we will be remembering those who have blessed us with their lives. And so it seemed right to go to the Beatitudes: blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who weep, blessed are those who are hated for Jesus’ sake.

More than that, though, there was Jesus’ advice (once he had gone through the blessings and, in Luke, gone through the woes). He said, “I say to you that listen: love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you.”

Isn’t that the difference between the ones who made our lives better and the ones who made our lives worse?

There are plenty of people in the world — and plenty of people who will tell you that this is a virtue — who require evil for evil. They demand to be paid back for what has happened to them. Or they are out in front of it. “Do unto them before they do unto you,” is one way I’ve heard it expressed.

That’s not Jesus. For Jesus, it’s bless those who hate you, do good to those who seek to harm you.

And this is the advice, the direction, the demand that Jesus made of us who claim to follow Christ. Do good. Don’t hate. Don’t harm.

Isn’t that why we honor those we call saints? Isn’t that what we saw in them that makes us miss them? That made us love them? That makes us love them still? They did good for us and for others around them. They followed the directions of Jesus. They were and they are the Saints of God.

So we will remember them and honor them coming Sunday and, yes, with every  moment of memory in our lives.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.

Rev. Eric Anderson Pastor's Corner

Pastor’s Corner: More Saints

October 23, 2024

Each year there are more saints.

As we approach All Saints Sunday on October 27, we have been receiving names of people we want to remember that day. Each year, it’s a list that tugs at my heart. Some I only know through the stories their families have told me. These are the people who turned to the Church in the moment of grief’s need, and as I hear about the one they lost, I feel a sadness that I never got to know them.

Others I’ve come to know over the years of my service here at Church of the Holy Cross. Some were leaders, some frequented Bible studies, some appeared regularly at worship, and some worked with me to prepare their services ahead of time. As I gather their names for inclusion in the bulletin, my eyes prickle with tears for sadness that I never had the opportunity to know them better.

Each year there are more saints.

For it is the living, not just the dead, who are saints. Each time someone waves a pedestrian across the street in front of them, each time someone returns the dropped valuable, each time someone shows their love with their presence, they are saints. Each time someone lays aside a temptation, each time someone creates beauty to share, each time someone takes a stand for justice, a saint is active. Each time someone lives out the summons of Jesus to love their neighbor as themselves, a saint is alive.

Each year there are more saints.

I am grateful for the saints we honor this All Saints Sunday, so grateful to have known at least a little of their lives. I am grateful for the saints who will gather to remember them in worship this All Saints Sunday, and I am grateful for all the saints, more each year, who honor Christ with their lives.

In peace,

Pastor Eric

Photo by Eric Anderson