Recalling Our Deceased Loved Ones

in Memory, in Song, in Story,

and in Lessons Learned​

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Our first full month of autumn is upon us, as you might have noticed the language at opening worship has shifted to reflect that. We are entering the preparations for winter, and while darkness has often been used as a metaphor for evil, wrong, ignorance, and fear, it is not in itself any of those things.

Darkness is rest. Darkness is gathering in.

Darkness is speckled with stars and clearer cycles of moonlight. Darkness is holy in its own way. Too much of anything, of course, is not sustainable - too much sunlight is drought, skin cancer, blindness, heat stroke, after all.

The shifting time, though, has long been recognized as holy in itself - remember when, at creation, the days were measured from ‘evening and morning,’ those in-between times of twilight and sunrise? So it has a certain energy about it of waiting, of possibility, of a closeness to what has come before and what may be ahead. Many cultures the world over take this time to recall their dead folk, their ancestors, their guides and mentors who may have started them on the path of their life’s purpose.

So it is in this time that we in particular remember those who have died in the past year, as guides, and friends, and recall they are close to us even in these days - in memory, in song, in story, in lessons learned.

Many in the Catholic Church (capital ‘C’ Catholic, as in the denomination, not lowercase ‘c’ as in universally Christians), will recall especially those who have been considered saints, who guide and support for particular causes or needs.

Martin Luther, whose Reformation we also recall this month, taught that all the baptized are simultaneously saint and sinner. As God is both located in time in the person of Jesus Christ, and outside of time as creator and advocate, we who are alive now are also alive with those who have died and live again in God. 

It’s a bit spooky for some, to consider how the dead walk among us, and one of the reasons we dress up in costume for All Hollow’s Eve (Hallowe’en), but it’s a comfort for many to consider how near those we love are to us, in the love that we share through the love of the Creator, Savior, and Sustainer of the cosmos.

We will remember them specifically by name at our All Saints Day service on November 1st, and remember they join with us around the Table of Eucharist every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

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​Grace and Peace,

Pastor Andrew Tobias Nelson