All Saints’ Day has never been an important part of any form of Christianity within which I have participated. That would include Pentecostals, Baptists, and more broadly, evangelicalism. In part, this may be due to the fact that the common ecclesiologies of these groups say little about the saints of the past. In the Anglican, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic traditions it is common for saints to have an important place, especially in the latter two where parishioners are encouraged to petition to the saints for intercession (I don’t know anything about how Anglicans understand praying to the saints).

Personally, I have never felt drawn to pray to saints. I observe that Jesus taught his disciples to pray to the Father. It seems that in some cases like the story of Stephen’s martyrdom, the Christology of the Book of Hebrews and the Pauline Epistles, and maybe even some of the epistolary greetings we see Jesus addressed as a mediator to the Father. I cannot recall petition being aimed directly at the Spirit. All this has caused me to understand prayer to saints as somewhat superfluous.

I understand that we ask living saints to pray for us. This does make good sense as an analogy for why we may ask those who have gone before us to do the same. That being said, other that the “great cloud of witnesses” passage in Hebrews 12.1-2, I haven’t seen anything in Scripture that indicates that saints who have died can hear me speak to them. I know that it is a well-established tradition with many branches of Christianity, but I remain somewhat skeptical of how finite saints in the heavenlies can hear my prayer in Portland, OR.

That being said, I am appreciative of the tradition in general and the meaning it attempts to convey, though at this juncture I don’t image that I will be changing my practices of prayer. On All Saints’ Day let me ask you why you pray for the saints or why you do not pray to the saints. What reason do you find for your position on the matter?

See also: “Why All Saints’ Day Matters” by Ryan Hamm.