On All Saints Sunday, we worship and celebrate with the First Church Puppet Saints, a symbolic representation of the Communion of Saints gathered with us today. Their presence in our worship provides a creative, playful, and accessible way for the youngest members of our community to encounter and contemplate the spiritual connections between the living and the dead. Each puppet was named and given a story by the children. Our oldest puppets were created in 2004, and subsequent generations were made in 2007 and 2013. On All Saints Sunday 2020, we hosted a virtual DIY puppet-making workshop; many new puppet saints were created that day!
Big Puppet Saints
St. Lionel (robed in green print) loves lions. In fact, he was raised by lions and became a minister to lions after saving a lion from a poacher. St. Lionel believes that all of nature (especially lions!) is a sacred gift from God.
St. Michiro (robed in blue & white stripes) lives in Japan, where he teaches Japanese to monkeys. Like St. Lionel, St. Michiro celebrates the natural world as God’s beautiful creation.
St. Maya (robed in pink) is a good listener and an artist who uses materials from nature in her artwork. When not creating pictures from nature, she studies rocks in Madagascar.
Middle Puppet Saints
St. Joann (robed in black & white flowers) is a world traveler who speaks many languages. She loves to sample the foods of different countries. St. Joann is known to help people of all sorts who come to her. She also visits hospitals and heals people who are sick.
St. Lelo (robed in green madras print) loves to sail. She sails around the world with her pet chameleon and pet chinchilla. She is able to speak to frogs and helps them survive in difficult climates.
St. Philip (robed in olive green) is a tae-kwon-do master who is “really close to God.” He lives in Iraq, where he cares for the injured and dying, both Americans and Iraqis, who have been hurt by war. He also looks after animals in Iraq.
Small Puppet Saints
St. Lucy (robed in blue print) loves living in the country surrounded by cow pastures. She helps endangered chimpanzees survive, and she “helps people find their way.” She also likes to send cards to people who are sick.
St. Rainbow (robed in green) is loving and compassionate. She helps people in need by finding houses for them and caring for them when they are sick. She can speak every language (!) and she teaches people to communicate peacefully with each other in different languages.
St. Valerie (robed in pink stripes) plants flower bulbs as well as seeds of vegetables and grains, so that all can be fed. She gives food away to people who need it.
St. Allie (robed in blue floral print) is an artist who paints pictures. She is also an animal doctor who helps all animals, particularly helping animals not to bite people or each other.
St. Sarah (robed in brown stripes) lives in the Amazon. She makes food for animals, and she helps get food to people in war zones. She also helps people who have “owies.”
St. Louis (robed in tan & black print) tends to the injured in places where there is war. At one battle, he saved 120 people! “Almost wherever he goes, people follow him.”