This week, we head into Halloween, which is the feast of All Hallows’ Eve in the Christian liturgical calendar. It is the night before All Saints Day. On All Saints, we honor all those who have gone before us—especially those we loved and have lost to death. November 1st is a day of remembrance. We pause and remember those who have ended their earthly journey.

The Covid years showed us how important these times of shared grief and mourning are. We need each other even more when the weight of grief threatens to take us under. A service of All Saints Day gives us the opportunity to do this in community, intentionally centering the hope of Christ Jesus.

This year, we lost three beloved members of our congregation—Jim Woodard, Sue Shaw, and George Dyer. But as a congregation, we also honored the lives of Mavis Scott (Sharon McDougall’s mother), Roberta Green (Teresa Sherman’s mother), and Benji Keifer (the son of Becky and Jo Anna Keifer). I know there are other lives we mourned this year. Many griefs that change us forever—whether for a person, a dream, or potential. There is no such thing as “moving on.” The journey of grief brings us to the place of being able to live in a new reality, carrying the sorrow and the gratitude. There is letting God’s healing smooth the jagged wounds of loss, and letting the Spirit lift us into hope of being restored to all those we have lost.

On Sunday, we will have an opportunity to honor our many griefs together. So saints of God, let us bring our sorrow, our hope, our joy, our gratitude, and our grief.

– Pastor Megan