The last day of October is widely observed as Halloween.
This secular celebration can be just rather childish fun, or it can come rather dangerously close to the occult. What it is, of course, is the eve of all Hallows, the eve of All Saints’Day.
On November 1st we celebrate the feast of All Saints, which falls on a Sunday this year. This is a celebration of the good purposes of God, the communion of saints and the promise of eternal life. We commemorate all those saints (without a capital letter!) so not the well-known ones with their own feast day but the vast number of holy ones of God.
November 2nd is All Souls’ Day, also known as the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. On this day we come together to remember our loved ones departed. We don’t pray for them –they are with God and don’t need our prayers - but we need to remember them.
This year we will hold our service for All Souls on the afternoon of November 1st, at 3.30pm. This is an opportunity to come to a quiet and peaceful service and remember those who were dear to us whom we see no more – no matter how long it is since they died.
I will invite the families of those for whom I have conducted a funeral service in the past year, and anyone else who would like to come is very welcome. Before the service there will be list at the back of church on which you can add the names of those you would like to remember, and those names will be read out during the service.
Edith
