Dear saints,
This week I visited Canterbury Court, a wonderful senior living facility All Saints' co-founded nearly 60 years ago. As I walked down the corridors, I came across a lovely succession of photographs of Canterbury residents dressed in the uniform in which they served the military in some capacity or other in years gone by. It offered a timely reminder that service comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Most of us will never know the particular sacrifice that military service represents, especially when that service has had to confront loss. Indeed, it always surprises me each year quite how many parishioners stand in church when veterans are invited to be prayed for. I suspect that this is true of people more generally - that we serve and sacrifice more than we think. Just imagine the number of people who served and sacrificed this past year in hospitals, and classrooms, and right now as election officials. It's a timely reminder during an election season, when we can so often hear the worst about people, that in the end people tend to be the good they wish to see in the world when given the chance.
For all those who will remember veterans in their own families this weekend, I pray that you will know the gracious presence of God uphold you. For the rest of us, I pray that we will pause for a moment to give thanks. We will remember them.
Peace,
