Otherworldly

Pastor’s Epistle—October, A.D. 2013 C

Just as our lives seem most encumbered by worldly concerns, the Church asks us to be mindful of the otherworldly.

How has September treated you? In last month’s newsletter, I mused a bit about how our new year really seems to begin in the fall, what with school and Confirmation and all the usual post-summer activities starting back up again. If your calendar looks anything like ours, I imagine that you find your evenings and weekends eagerly devoured by Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Church activities, community service, social obligations, fund raising, and all the other joys of living in the hands-down busiest small town around. (Speaking of which, would anybody like to order some popcorn from Soren?)

Yet these same months—October and November—are, for the Church, a time of spirits. Following Michaelmas, we dedicate October to holy angels: the bodiless extraterrestrial spirits of Scripture, tradition, and popular culture, who interact invisibly with our world, carrying out God’s will. They remind us that there are more things in heaven and earth, as it were, than are dreamt of in our philosophy. There remains, even in the Twenty-First Century, an undeniable fascination with the heavenly host, perhaps because our postmodern culture feels open to belief in just about anything—or perhaps, just perhaps, because angels are once again starting to show up more often. Scripture tells us that angels make themselves known amongst God’s people whenever something big is about to happen. And we do live in interesting times, do we not?

October also celebrates the wide range of embodied spirits in our world, by the Blessing of the Animals on St. Francis’ Day (Thursday evening, October 3rd) and with prayers for healing in honor of St. Luke the Physician, whom we shall recognize in worship on Sunday, October 13th. (Pastors are often asked if animals have souls. The answer is yes, they do, just not human souls. In both traditional Jewish and Christian belief, animals, and even plants, have their own type of spirit.) But let’s cut to the chase: all else in October is overshadowed by Halloween!

Halloween is the first of a three day period commemorating the Christian dead. All Saints Day, or Hallowmas, falls on November 1st, and we celebrate it on the nearest Sunday. The night before, All Hallows’ Eve, is of course Hallowe’en. And November 2nd is further held as All Souls Day, or the Day of the Dead, when we particularly remember those souls who have died within the previous year. (The ancient All Souls practice of giving sweetened “soul cakes” to the poor in exchange for their prayers for the dead may be related to our modern trick-or-treating. And, no, the costumes aren’t pagan. Neither costuming nor jack-o’-lanterns were associated with Halloween until Twentieth Century America, no matter what the History Channel claims.)

Together these three days form the Hallowtide, and the entire month of November that follows is dedicated to saints in Heaven and to the recently deceased. We here at St. Peter’s will be celebrating Halloween, as always, with our graveyard service, and All Saints Sunday falls soon thereafter. This year we’re also hoping to have a Day of the Dead-themed celebration for the young and young-at-heart on Saturday, November 2nd, complete with piñatas and perhaps the opportunity to take candles to the graveyard.

The purpose of such remembrances, mind you, is not to be morbid. Rather, it is to remind us that we are bound to a vast community in the Body of Christ, a Body which spans past, present, and future, both the living and the dead. Not even the grave can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus! There are angels above us, saints beside us, and animals below us, each serving God in a unique and astonishing way. (If you don’t believe me, try learning to ride a motorcycle in your thirties. You’ll never feel quite so in need of guardian angels, nor quite so close to the dead!)

The generations before us rejoice in Heaven as they pray for us on earth—just as we shall someday pray alongside them for generations yet to come. The Church is not only our congregation, but spans the globe, the past and future, all of Heaven and all of earth! Let us remember this “otherworld” when worldly concerns seem so demanding and distracting. And let us remember that we have help wheresoever we turn, if only we will ask for it in Jesus’ Name.