"And I Mean to Be One, Too": Stories of United Methodist Saints

Orthodox All Saints Icon. Public Domain.

"They lived not only in ages past;

there are hundreds of thousands still.

The world is bright with the joyous saints

who love to Jesus' will.

You can meet them in school, on the street, in a store,

in church, by the sea, in the house next door;

they are saints of God, whether rich or poor,

and I mean to be one too."

Verse 3 from "I Sing a Song of the Saints of God," UMH 712.

So we're trying an experiment at the GBOD Center for Worship Resourcing, and I'm inviting you to join in.

Here's the experiment-- what if we keep the weeks of October, starting with World Communion Sunday and concluding with All Saints Sunday (November 6 this year) as a "Season of Saints?" 

In other words, we'd get five or six weeks (depending on the number of Sundays in a given October) and not just one Sunday a year, or perhaps two (if you count or celebrate "Heritage Sunday") to focus on the praise of God for the lives of persons past and present who make the world "shine" because "they love to do Jesus' will."

Think of the fun this could be! Really... fun! Telling stories, doing saints parades, maybe making saints videos, singing saints music of old and writing and sharing new songs of saints today. This wouldn't have to involve just worship, but could take in lots of groups in the life of the congregation-- Sunday Schools, youth groups, mission teams, caring ministries, small groups, and of course the choir and/or praise team!

I'll provide more specific ideas for saints to focus on each week-- saints in our United Methodist traditions and the larger Christian tradition-- in the weekly worship planning helps at GBOD.

Now, this would not have to involve changing any of the current lectionary readings, or even any major change in the color of the paraments usually used, though you could add some gold in with the green to catch the color of All Saints Sunday (White and Gold).

When I first shared this idea on the UMC Worship Facebook Group, one of our members there suggested we make room for folks to tell stories of saints they know in worship. I thought that was a great idea as a response to the word-- part of a kind of testimony time-- and suggested one way to help that happen through this blog.

Here's my suggestion: don't tell just one story, tell two. Tell one from your congregation (with the person's permission) plus one from another congregation to enhance our sense of connection in the living communion of saints. 

That's where you come in-- and this blog comes in.

In the comments below, share a brief story of a saint you know or have known in your local United Methodist congregation or ministry. This blog can then become a resource for others to find their story from another congregation to tell each week. 

Are you up for this?

I can't wait to see the saints stories you will tell!

Peace in Christ,

Taylor Burton-Edwards

Director of Worship Resources

GBOD