But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. –Jude 1:20

Like many of you, I did not grow up in a tradition that celebrated “saints days”, or really even recognized saints at all. Most Protestants don’t pay much attention to saints. In more recent years, I have become interested in thinking of saints as our spiritual ancestors. Their stories can challenge and uplift us. Many saints are identified with places, people, or a particular set of needs. Today just so happens to be the Feast Day of St. Jude, patron saint of desperate situations. If 2020 needs a patron saint, it’s probably good ol’ Jude.

Jude (AKA Thaddeus) was one of Jesus’ disciples. He knew desperation. He had roamed the countryside with Jesus, faced Roman persecution, and hid at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. Along with the other apostles, he worked to establish the church, and he dealt with conflict and corruption among the people.

Our Biblical canon has a short letter attributed to St. Jude, and it isn’t exactly sweet. In 25 short verses, it speaks of condemnation, sin, and doom. But in spite of the doom and gloom, Jude’s message is to hang in there. Keep on in the faith. When the world seems to be falling apart, and there is persecution and war and unfaithfulness and immorality… in these desperate situations, we need most of all to cling to our faith in God.