November may be my favorite month. There’s football season and deer season, it’s pretty much guaranteed to be colder, and it has my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. In our house, all of these reasons also mean family time. They are all things that our household, and broader family, celebrate together, even if it’s at a distance at times. November is also fashioned in a way that gives us a great image of the Christian life. The bookends of November are All Saints' Day at the beginning and the start of Advent at the end. These two Church celebrations mirror the start and “end” of our journey of faith, in-between these two celebrations we have November, which is the Christian life.

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1). This is the great celebration of All Saints' Day. We don’t just remember the saints that live in eternity now, we celebrate that we are saints now. By the waters of baptism, we are currently living as saints, washed in the blood of the Lamb, declared righteous and holy in the sight of our Father God. Our entire lives start in those waters of baptism, where God’s promise of eternal life, forgiveness, and family. From those waters we journey into the November of daily life.

In our November lives, we have plenty to celebrate! There are holidays, memories, family, victories, and cherished moments. We meet these celebrations with thankful hearts, knowing that it is by the grace of our heavenly Father that we are able to live these moments of joy.  In our November lives, we have plenty to mourn. There are holidays, memories, family, failures, and broken moments. We meet these hurts with yearning hearts, knowing that is by the grace of our heavenly Father that we are able to endure through these moments of pain. November is our journey of faith.

At the end of November, we come to the beginning of Advent, a celebration that draws our focus not just to the birth of Christ but to His promised return, His second Advent. “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for Him” (Isaiah 64:4). We do not wait alone, but we wait as the Body of Christ, the Family of God, the Church.  As we wait together, we live together because we know what is coming. We know Christ is coming back and that when He comes, He comes to bring us to that eternal Home!

As we live from the All Saints' Day of our baptism, waiting for the Advent to come, we live in the joyous anticipation within this Christian-November-Life, living with Christ in His Church as children of God.

Your thankful brother in Christ,
Pastor Zach Sarrault