Big Three

Pastor’s Epistle—October, A.D. 2014 A

The Big Three

Earlier this week, I shared the Eucharist with 30 or so residents over at the Elders Home, which always strikes me as a particularly powerful worship service. Since most of the folks over there come in wheelchairs, I bring the Body and Blood of our Lord to them rather than having them come up to the altar. With one of the aids holding the chalice, we methodically work our way up and down the rows, promising each person, “This is the Body of Christ, given for you. And this is the Blood of Christ, shed for you.”

After we had served one elderly lady and moved a few wheelchairs down the row, she turned excitedly to the man next to her, who had also just received Communion, and gleefully whispered, “We made it! We made it!” Now that’s a woman who understands the Sacrament.

“We made it!” That’s how I often feel when we get to October. A sense of relief, of peace, starts to seep into my bones along with the crisp autumn air. October is my Zen. In some ways that probably sounds odd. Fall, after all, is when things start to get busy for families, schools, and churches. But it’s a busyness with a purpose, with an aim. It’s akin to reaching the top of a rollercoaster and peering down the slope below. Sure, things are about to speed up—but this is the part we all came for. This is the good stuff.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for the Big Three: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas! And the stores have had merchandise for the whole trio out on the shelves since September, haven’t they? That’s because people simply can’t wait for the holiday season to begin. It’s the most magical, the most hopeful, the most joyous time of the year. Spooks and Pilgrims and Nativity scenes may seem odd bedfellows, but they all invoke laughter and family and things greater than ourselves. The holidays put us in touch with community and gratitude and peace, all of which transcend the everyday—or perhaps infuse the everyday, making life more meaningful, more thrilling, more truly alive.

Of course, I always like to remind people not to forget the other holidays sprinkled throughout the season: Michaelmas, St. Francis Day, All Saints, All Souls, Martinmas, the Hanging of the Greens, Advent, St. Nicholas Day, Santa Lucia, Comites Christi, Epiphany, Candlemas and all the rest. But let’s be honest. In our heart of hearts, it all points towards Christmas, doesn’t it? Even Halloween, with its ghosts and goblins, seems but a prelude, a kick-off for the season: The Nightmare Before Christmas, if you will.

This is the point in the year when we, like Moses, reach the mountain peak after our arduous trek through the desert, and we can see the Promised Land laid out before us. Christmas is coming. Jesus is coming. And though we’re not in a huge rush to skip ahead to those glorious Twelve Days—the “white” part of White Christmas doesn’t need to get here anytime soon—we are reminded, in the midst of our hustle and bustle, that everything is going to be all right: that we are re-embarking on the long pilgrimage towards Bethlehem, towards the Star, towards the Babe in the manger.

And though we may wince at selling Christmas trees in October—for isn’t it much more fun to give each holiday its due in proper turn?—nevertheless I do think it brings us peace, brings us reassurance, brings us a smile, to look all the way down the road. We’ve made it. He’s on His way. And when He gets here, all will be right with the world.

Happy Halloween, folks. We’ve earned it.