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Halloween

Halloween takes it's name from All Hallows' Eve, the Eve before the Festival of All Saints, when the church remembers those who are hallowed, literally 'blessed': -the saints. Christians sometimes get worried about what Halloween has become, but probably for the wrong reasons. A bit of glorification of things that frighten us is probably harmless enough. But what really matters perhaps is that as a culture we are losing the ability to cope with death. Death is thought of as something threatening and frightening, it becomes about witches, devils and satan; but death in the Christian tradition has been transformed by Jesus' Resurrection. We no longer fear death even if we still experience the pain and loss of death. The Feast of All Saints' and All Souls' is an annual reminder to Christians that we are connected with all the faithful departed who live on with God. We remember those in the past who have truly shown something of God's love by their lives. We will be thinking at All Saints about some of Jesus' key teaching - the beatitudes and what that means for us. Blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who mourn.... Matthew 5:1-12. 

 As we start to get into that festive spirit of Advent and Christmas as the nights really draw in (we're still waiting for the colder weather) we should be encouraged to consider anew the Christian message. Where is hope and salvation to be found? We could be tempted into thinking that it is found in nostalgia or in material wealth or in power and influence. But the message of Jesus is to tell us and show us that salvation is to be found in the recognition that we are created mortals, vulnerable and dependent and because of that fragile, beautiful and to be cherished. We do have many fears as humans, fears of what can do us harm and it's easier to turn those fears in to scary gory monsters that somehow allow us to think that the danger is really just fantasy. But there are smaller dangers, closer to home that grow in the human heart when it seeks to run away from reality. There is nothing scarier than a human being who thinks he or she is immortal, or who thinks that there are no laws or rules which need to be followed, no common language of value or responsibility.  The Christian faith declares:  We are created. We are mortal. We are loved. We are responsible for one another and the world. We have a duty to follow a moral code of which the summary is and always has been - 'do to others as you would like done to yourself'. 

 All Souls' and All Saints is a very important reminder to a culture that would rather forget that death is a reality, but that it has been transformed by the hope we have in Jesus. We live within a wider universe in which the saints are forever worshipping round the throne of God and interceding for us. We have nothing truly to fear when we recognise that we are held within the love of God. 

 http://vimeo.com/75045602  check out this great video, puts it better than I have done!


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