What Grace They Received: Worship Commemorations for 12 Ancient and Modern Saints

Do not stay where you are, but move ahead, move toward Jesus! ... Do not ask yourself whether the road is firm or practicable... look only to see that it is really the road that leads straight to Jesus.
(from the sermon about Albert Schweitzer)

Here are 12 worship resources about modern-day saints. Eleven are designed for "the sermon slot." Dag Hammarskjold's chapter is an entire liturgy. Each resource has parts for two or more readers. One is the narrator while another shares excerpts from the writings of the saint. Additional readers may make connections to our lives today.

The 12 saints are:
- Wilhelm Loehe
- St. Benedict
- Cyril and Methodius
- Bartolome de Las Casas
- Thomas Aquinas
- Albert Schweitzer
- Perpetua and Felicity
- Dag Hammarskjold
- Athanasius
- St. Ignatius
- Ludwig Nommensen
- John Christian Frederick Heyer

Lutherans will find these 12 commemorated in the Lutheran Book of Worship during 1993 and 1994.

Thomas A. Renquist is pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Rochester, Minnesota. He previously served two parishes in Iowa. He holds a master of divinity degree from Yale.