Dear Friends,

Welcome to worship for Sunday, October 30, 2022.

It has become common knowledge that Halloween is what it is on October 31 because November 1 is All Saints Day. The word Halloween is in fact a contraction of All Hallow’s Eve, a reference to the saints honoured the following day (think of the phrase in the Lord’s Prayer hallowed be thy name).

All Saints Day was actually a spring festival in its beginning. Held on the first Sunday after Pentecost, beginning in the fourth century, it was a feast day to commemorate all the saints of the early church, venerated but who did not have a feast day of their own. The reasons for its move to November 1 vary depending on the source.  Officially it was moved in the 8th century by Pope Gregory III to be held on the day that the first basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome was consecrated (dedicated to all the saints).

But some historians speculate that the move was made for more practical/nefarious reasons. I recently listened to a podcast that claimed that as the church spread to Ireland and sought to convert Celtic people living there, it continued the practice of claiming ‘pagan’ observances for Christian purposes as a means to make Christianity more appealing. The thinking went that if the Celts didn’t have to change their days of celebration, they would be more likely to give Christianity a chance. Hard to believe that was an overly successful strategy for church growth but it did have precedence in that the date of Christmas was set at December 25 to make it more appealing to Romans who were already celebrating the winter solstice the same week. In the 10th century November 2 was declared to be All Soul’s Day. The thinking behind this was that if there was a feast day for the heroes of the early church, referred to as saints, there should also be a feast day for everybody else that has gone before. In the Catholic calendar these ancient observances can still be found. From the earliest days of the Protestant Reformation, the idea of saints was largely discredited.

That is not to suggest that Protestants didn’t recognize the virtue and achievements of Peter, Paul and others of the early church. But since the rallying cry of the Reformation was “Justification by Faith Alone” (as opposed to justification by deeds) the idea of setting some apart held no water. All Saints Day receded into the background for Protestants.

In the late 20th century, helped in part by the liturgical renewal movement of the 1970’s (of which our dear friend Bob Galston was a leading local advocate), Protestant traditions began to rediscover the value of marking time on the Christian calendar. We taught the seasons of the church year, added colours, and increased access to the table. The windows and quilts of Charleswood are legacies of this movement. And so it was that All Saints Day was also rediscovered.

But when we refer to all saints we are less likely to think of heroic figures and three miracles for veneration, and more likely to think of all those who have gone before for all are saints in the heart of a merciful God. This is a theological interpretation of what the book of Hebrews refers to when it says we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, or what the ancient creeds mean by saying we believe in the communion of saints. There is only One who was without sin.

The rest of us, for all time, are a wonderful mixture of sinner and saint. What a privileged to pause and remember those who have gone before us and shown us this way.

None of this of course has anything to do with giving our candy and chocolate to children dressed as witches or superheroes. Or in my wishing you a Happy Halloween.

Grace and peace,
Michael