Wake the Dead

Pastor’s Epistle—October, A.D. 2015 B

Ah, October. Wood smoke, fallen leaves, apples and spices. Death and decay never smelled so good.

Throughout October we are surrounded by images of dying, not only in the natural world of harvested fields and denuded trees but also upon every store shelf and front porch. Halloween cometh, bearing with it legions of grinning skulls, spider webs, and fiends of every conceivable variety. And while this most American of celebrations has become almost completely secularized in the popular imagination, nevertheless its Christian roots show through in the laughter that accompanies all this iconography of horror.

Halloween is not really about death. It’s about laughing at death, skipping past the graveyard gate. There are thrills but no real terror, gooseflesh but no true danger. There is no mourning, no despair, for the tomb has been gelded by Easter glories. Death has no power here, and we delight in this victory of new life in the midst of darkness. This is Christianity, through and through. There is no paganism about it.

Appearances to the contrary, October is not a month that the Church dedicates to remembering those who have died. That honor is reserved for November, what with the Hallowmas and All Souls’ Day. Just as happens before Christmas and Easter, the stores are at least one good month ahead of the sanctuary. Nevertheless, October—dedicated in fact to the holy angels—has unique rites of its own. Please note that we’ll be Blessing the Animals at 3:00 p.m. on St. Francis Day (Sunday, October 4) and Anointing for Healing during worship on the Feast of St. Luke (Sunday, October 18).

As for All Hallows’ Eve, wrap up your trick-or-treating by nightfall, then gather at St. Peter’s Cemetery for our torchlight Graveyard Halloween. There shall be fire and incense and light shining amidst the darkness, and it will all end with a good shouting out of St. Patrick’s Breastplate against the powers of the night. And who knows? All this promise of the Resurrection might just wake the dead.