Five reasons to celebrate All Saints Day all year

Who are the saints who contributed to your life and to your church? There's never a bad time to celebrate the saints of the past. True confessions: I missed All Saints Day completely. It's November 16, too late to make up for it.

But really, it's never too late to celebrate the saints.

Here are five reasons to celebrate All Saints Day all year (and not just because I missed it):

1. We can claim the strengths and resourcefulness of those who founded our churches for the present challenges we face.
   
   1. We can practice gratitude for those who made sacrifices in the past.
      
   2. We can show respect for those older saints who are still in our midst (rather than assuming they are outdated and/or wrong) even as we adapt for the future.
      
   3. We can give ourselves a foundation for the risks we will have to take in the future (just as they had to in the past).
      
   4. Honoring the past (without being wedded to it) helps us invent for the future in a more grounded way.

How would you answer the question at the beginning, Who are the saints who contributed to your life and to your church?

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