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Into Ages of Ages!

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:14:29 GMT

I'm belatedly realizing that my sermons tend to include an unusually high amount of dismemberment. That's what comes from regularly using medieval monarchs to illustrate my points, I suppose. Nevertheless, it went over quite well this morning! It's hard to make a guy named Lionheart boring...

When it comes to Greek mythology, the two granddaddies of them all are, of course, Homer and his rough contemporary, Hesiod. Everybody reads the Iliad and the Odyssey in high school, but Theogony and Works & Days prove inexplicably less popular. Not enough dismemberment, perhaps. Anyway, as most of my readers know, Hesiod spoke of Five Ages of Man:

The Golden Age of peace and harmony, when Man lived amongst the gods and the Earth spontaneously produced fruits and honey for them to eat. After a long and fulfilling life, a man would lie down to sleep and die peacefully, never having known the rigors of age. This Age ended after Prometheus brought fire to Man, and Zeus wiped out the Golden race by unleashing Pandora's Jar. (Yes, it's a jar, not a box.)

The Silver Age, when humanity fell to fighting one another and refused to worship the gods. Thus Zeus wiped them out in a great Flood. That should sound awfully familiar.

The Bronze Age of violence, passion, and unrelenting warfare. This is also when mankind starts building shelters (of bronze), indicating recognizable civilization.

The Heroic Age of heroes, monsters, and demigods, notable both due to its lack of an associated metal, and also because it is the only Age not to be a diminution of its predecessor.

The Iron Age of modern Man, marked by complete depravity, the total destruction of morals, impiety, fratricide, the dishonoring of parents, and the breakdown of the social contract. Sounds pretty accurate to me!

Ovid mostly concurs with Hesiod, though he either eliminates the Heroic Age or conflates it with the Bronze. And Hellboy adds an Age of Frogs. Anyway, St. Jerome attempted to assign historical dates to each of these periods, and his estimates were surprisingly brief. Most of the Ages only got a handful of decades in which to play out! Frankly, after exploring Ryan and Pitman's Black Sea hypothesis in a Confirmation course about the Great Flood, and weaving mythological beasties in with Biblical stories for our Christian Education Forums, I think the groundwork has been laid for doing a better job of it.

Clearly the Golden Age, marked by idyllic innocence, direct interaction with the Divine, and destruction wrought through a woman sneaking forbidden fruit, corresponds to our all-too-brief stint in Eden. The Silver Age of godless violence washed away by a Flood takes us from Cain to Noah. Going with the above Black Sea hypothesis, of which I'm rather fond, that puts the end of the Silver around 5500 B.C. The Heroic Age, obviously, reaches its climax with the Argonauts and the Trojan War, around 1250 B.C. This coincides rather nicely with Biblical accounts of Israel conquering the giants of Canaan, and the following period of the Judges with heroes like Samson running around yanking up fortified city gates. This assumes an "early" (1550 B.C.) rather than "late date" (1250 B.C.) Exodus.

The Iron Age is our own bizarre little epoch, in which we've driven all the unholy terrors of the primeval forest into the realm of superstition, while simultaneously becoming the greatest monsters of them all through such modern wonders as eugenics, lobotomies, and the atomic bomb. The cut-off between Heroic and Iron could be... Alexander the Great? Maybe Caesar Augustus? Perhaps the honor should go to Herodotus, the first truly non-Jewish historian, who marks the moment when history began to outstrip legend in the minds of the West.

But whereas most synthesis between the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian blends with surprising ease (see: all of Christian history), I'm not quite sure what to do with Hesiod's Bronze Age. What warlike, bronze loving civilizations arose between the Flood and the Trojan War? The obvious contenders would seem to be Egypt and Mesopotamia (3500 B.C.), together the Cradle of Civilization. The end of that era could then be marked by the coming of the Sea Peoples and their so-called Aegean Apocalypse, or even by the volcanic annihilation of Thera, which has been blamed for everything from the destruction of Atlantis to the Ten Plagues of Egypt! Yes, dear reader, this is precisely the sort of thing I ponder when left to my own devices.

The human mortals want their winter here...

Did you know that 54% of Icelanders openly profess belief in elves? The government actually diverts road projects around elf habitats for fear of the little sprites monkeying with the construction equipment. And Bhutan actually has a wildlife sanctuary dedicated to the Yeti. But what particularly fascinates me about the Icelandic accounts of elvish encounters is just how medieval they are -- insofar as modern Icelanders, like medieval Europeans, talk about entering hidden elvish homes, having coffee and pancakes with them, and even being asked to maintain a respectful silence upon passing near an elvish Church! As I recently recounted:

Almost every mythology contains a category of being which is neither ghost nor god, angel nor devil, but is a sort of quasi-mortal creature—indeed, not just a beast, but a type of person—magical in nature, fond of pranks and puzzles, ranging in attitude from malevolent to benevolent. Be they hobgoblins, leprechauns, pixies or gremlins, Europeans typically refer to them as the Fair Folk, or fairies. They tend to be much like human beings, with similar families, concerns, and vocations, but living in a hidden or parallel world, concealed by magical "glamour" ... In medieval literature they are not un- or anti-Christian, but often assist the faithful and show an orthodox religiosity.

And you thought that was useless knowledge! Little did you know that I was prepping you for your next foray into Iceland. Kudos to the Destination Truth marathon for a particularly entertaining episode on icy Scandinavian elves.

Spilling Gore Upon the Shore

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:52:50 GMT

Scripture: 23rd Sunday After Pentecost (the Reign of Christ), 2009 B

Sermon:

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. AMEN.

If you ask me, one of the greatest movies of all time is the Adventures of Robin Hood! Not the recent versions, mind you, but the old 1938 swashbuckler with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland and Basil Rathbone. Folks, it doesn’t get any better than that!

Everybody knows the story, right? Good King Richard of England, Richard the Lionheart, has nobly gone off to do battle with Saladin in the Third Crusade. But while he’s gone, his weasely younger brother, the dastardly Prince John, usurps the throne and crushes the British Isles under merciless, unjust taxation! Thankfully, the people have a hero in Robin of Loxley, an outlaw noble who resists John’s tyranny, and who robs from the rich to give to the poor, ever fighting the good fight until that hoped-for day when the true King shall return from the East to restore justice and rectitude to the land.

So Robin fights, Richard returns, John is deposed, and Maid Marion gets wooed. Roll credits, close curtain, all’s well that ends well, right?

Sure. In the movies. But alas, the true story does not end there. Reality isn’t quite so rose-colored as Hollywood would have us believe.

There really was a Richard the Lionheart, of course, but he wasn’t quite the Good King of legend. His father, Henry II, had married the gorgeous and powerful Eleanor of Aquitaine, thus creating the famed Plantagenet Empire, with as much land in France as in Britain. At his mother’s behest, Richard and his siblings spent much of their young adult life waging war against their own father in order to seize the throne.

When he himself became king, Richard had naught but disdain for the swampy British Isles, much preferring his mother’s duchies in France. A francophone himself, King Richard never bothered to learn English, and complained bitterly that he’d have sold England if only he could’ve found a buyer!

That said, Richard did indeed have the heart of a lion, insofar as he showed peerless strength and savagery on the field of battle. Upon taking up the Crusade, his ships sailed for Acre in the Holy Land, and as they arrived they beheld the shoreline thick with Muslim archers and warriors right up to the sea. Fearlessly, monstrously, Richard rammed his boat headlong onto the shore and leapt alone off the prow, single-handedly hacking down the Saracens to clear a beachhead for his troops. Acre was taken by sheer brute force.

Islamic chroniclers record an incident from another battle, in which Richard fought so fiercely and thrust so deeply into the Muslim ranks that he soon found himself alone and completely surrounded, his men having been left behind. His horse was soon cut out from beneath him, and on foot he fought so savagely that all the enemy soldiers pulled back several steps, leaving him alone and spattered with gore inside a circle of scimitars and spears.

One Saracen noble, offended that a lone infidel should strike such terror into the warriors of Allah, charged Richard on horseback, attempting to lance the king on the spot. But Richard’s sword struck the rider on the shoulder, cleaving straight through his armor and passing diagonally through his torso, literally splitting the knight in two with a single blow. The Muslim soldiers cried out in shock and horror!

Saladin, ruler of the Islamic forces, had been watching from afar. Upon seeing his mounted noble split from collar to hip, he pointed at Richard and said to his aids, “Give that man a horse and send him home.” He had earned it.

This, my friends, was the King for whom Robin Hood was waiting! This indomitable, unstoppable, godlike warrior. Little wonder his people called him Lionheart. Prince John, meanwhile, was known as Softsword—a name as embarrassing then as now. Weasely little John didn’t stand a chance.

Eventually Richard did get home, and John was booted just like in the movies. But it wasn’t quite your “happily ever after.”

You see, the first thing Richard did upon his return was to re-conquer all those castles that had rebelled against him in his long absence. During one such siege he boastfully rode out beneath the castle walls, daring them to attack, when a young boy shot him through the shoulder with an armor-piercing crossbow bolt.

Richard’s surgeon botched the job and he lost the arm, his wound rapidly growing gangrenous. Knowing his injuries to be fatal, Richard nonetheless soon cracked the castle and had the young boy who’d shot the quarrel brought before him. “Why,” he asked the child, “have you slain your own king?”

“You killed my brother,” the boy replied defiantly, “in one of your endless wars.”

“Give this youth a satchel of silver and set him free,” ordered the King. “Everyone else in the castle is to be hanged. And let it not be said that I am without mercy!”

Thus perished Richard the Lionheart. His brother John retook the throne, legitimately this time. And all of Robin Hood’s many adventures proved to be for naught.

“Put not your trust in princes,” sings the Psalmist, “in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.”

This has sometimes been called the antigovernment psalm. But it does not apply only to heads of state. “Beware the teachers of the Law,” Jesus says this morning, “who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! “They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Yes, brothers and sisters, place not your trust in politicians, and certainly not in religious authorities with long robes saying windy prayers. We are thieves and brigands. And not the nobly folkloric sort either.

I’d like to say that such condemnations apply only to other people, to blustery televangelists who make millions by prophesying that Jesus wants you to put $10 in the box! But this falls on all the clergy, self-righteous as we are.

According to the Law of Moses, money was collected by the religious leaders for the purpose of caring for widows, orphans, foreigners, and other vulnerable peoples upon the fringe of society. But money, like all forms of power, corrupts. In our Gospel this morning, with 1500 years between Moses and Jesus, the Temple institution no longer gives to powerless widows, but instead devours their houses.

Furthermore, a poor widow, with nothing to live on but two copper haypennies, gives all she has to the very Temple intended to provide for her. The most vulnerable are being used by the greedy and power-hungry, who then, as now, hide behind a veil of respectability and pious self-righteousness.

Adding insult to injury, this poor widow is often used once again in the modern day, when preachers hold her up as a model for giving all that you have to the Church—as if poor people of limited means should suffer for the very institution established to care for them.

True stewardship involves earning, saving, and spending, as well as giving. The Church’s job is to feed the hungry, both spiritually and materially. No one, then, should have to go hungry so that the Church may prevent hunger. It’s nonsensical! That’s right up there with destroying the village in order to save it.

Christ does not want us to be poor. Poverty is an evil to be fought, not an ideal to pursue, and certainly not a mechanism for salvation. But we indeed are to give out of our abundance so that we may love our neighbors as ourselves. Not more than ourselves—not less than ourselves—but as ourselves. In this we must be wise as serpents and gentle as doves, just as Jesus commands.

So in this day and age, brothers and sisters, when so many princes and preachers claim to be Robin Hood, while they in fact they take from the poor to enrich themselves, do not place your trust in mortals. Even the good ones, the ones who truly mean well and work for a better world, will falter and fail, if for no other reason than that they are human. Secular messiahs make for terrible saviors. They arise from the East only to be cut down once more.

But instead, place your trust in Christ Jesus, Who, as we heard in Hebrews, has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and Who now appears in the presence of God on our behalf. For He Who bears the sins of many will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him. And we do not wait in vain.

We pray to God that we may be rightly guided in the proper stewardship of all the gifts provided to our households, our communities, and our congregations. And we pray to God that He guide us in just and proper governance, for the Lord appoints princes over the people not that the masses be ruled, but that the needy be served. Christ grant us wisdom to act with love in such earthly affairs!

But ultimately we know that people may fail, money may run short, but Christ will never leave us. He is the true King for Whom we wait. He is the true Lion of Judah. And when Church, State, and all other rulers fail us—Jesus never will.

Thanks be to Christ, our true High Priest, and King of all Creation! Alleluia! AMEN.

Prayers of the Church:

Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray for the Church, for the world, and for all people according to their needs.

Lord, we pray for veterans,

For soldiers in their work and life

Violence the planet rends

As mortals pour out bowls of strife

Remind us all, O Prince of Peace

That You call armies to protect

That murder might be stemmed and cease

And harmony thus resurrect

Let the sword be last resort

An instrument of mighty care

We stand before Your holy court

Lord, in Your mercy—hear our prayer

Gold and silver, patient God

Are ever idols in our heart

Let us not in greed defraud

The vuln’rable who stand apart

Possessions, Lord, You do protect

By Your Commandment not to steal

Yet in hoarding we neglect

The poor who then to You appeal

Give us wisdom with our money

None can take it with us there

To Jesus’ land of milk and honey

In Your mercy—hear our prayer

Lord, Your Church does oft devour

Those for whom we’re meant to live

Teach us that Your godly power

Is the selflessness to give

Ev’ry man from king to peasant

Stands the same before Your Throne

Though divided at the present

All are one in Christ alone

Let us see in ev’ry human

Jesus Christ, Your Son and Heir

Give our vision Your acumen

In Your mercy—hear our prayer

Lord, we pray especially for those we name before You, both silently and aloud… for Myron, Jacob, Aaron, Linda, Bill, and Kris; for the Arno and Perala families; for soldiers and their loved ones, especially the victims of Ft. Hood; for a just and merciful peace; for Your Church in all Her divisions; for families wounded by money woes; for all children undergoing medical care; and for all who dare not pray to You.

Into Your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray

Trusting in Your mercy to light and guard their way. AMEN.

Meet Sam

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:11:56 GMT

I finally polished off the last few chapters of Ron Paul's End the Fed, and even though I know at least one regular reader of this blog who very much wants me to post a detailed review, I must refrain -- in part because I do not think I could do the book justice, as it already makes a very tight argument, and in part because I want him to break down and actually buy a copy.

As I said in my little Facebook blurb, End the Fed is "cogent, succinct, multifaceted, and thoroughly convincing. Ron Paul expertly weaves economics, philosophy, political theory, and, most importantly, ethics, into a simple and elegant plan to help the poor, fix the government, and return America to integrity." I'm not sure that I can quite classify myself as a libertarian -- due largely to this book on classical casuistry -- but I find libertarian political ideas to be far saner, and more solidly time-tested, than those of modern day "liberals" or "conservatives."

In addition to our bathroom books, I also tend to have an audiobook in the car, at which I nibble away in five and 10 minute trips. Having gotten through 16 CD's of Crichton's State of Fear, I've now moved on to the autobiography of Frederick Douglass, a work of remarkable prose that's about as uplifting as your average visit to the Holocaust museum. That this man taught himself to read, and even had to do odd jobs at a young age so that people would reveal to him the alphabet, boggles the mind. (Crichton, by the way, appears to have a posthumous pirate novel coming out later this month. How fitting that it be a tale from beyond the grave!)

Yesterday I finally rented Trick 'R Treat, and I must say, it was very much worth the wait. In fact, this might be my favorite horror movie in years! Slated for theatrical release in 2007, Trick 'R Treat was given rave reviews at early screenings, and has been all over the nerd blogs and movie sites ever since. Finally it was released this past October, direct to disk. Why, I've no idea. This is one of those instant classic Hallowe'en movies, which has already made it into my top five. Somehow it captures the feel of the 1980s, which so effortlessly produced classic horror after classic horror, while not feeling dated.

Its true brilliance, however, lies in how the four (well, four and a half) stories intertwine. After seeing the film (but not before) go on over to its Wikipedia site and check out the long list of tie-ins. I'll admit, I got maybe half of them on my first viewing. Also, it's kind of fun to try and figure out the final chronology, because it gets rather complex. In the final tally, this movie has zombies, vampires, werewolves, serial killers, and a little freaky guy named Sam (for Samhain) who looks for all the world like the lovechild of Chucky and Pumpkinhead. And I loves me some Pumpkinhead.

For the most part I've been much, much better about renting DVDs rather than buying them, but I'm afraid the last two months of this year will break me of that. Trick 'R Treat and Drag Me to Hell make for an absolutely irresistable double feature. Up! comes out next Tuesday, and I'll inevitably be asking for the special editions of District 9 and Inglourious Basterds for Christmas.

Anyway, that's enough fun for me. Back to the grindstone!

Lost Symbol, the Occult, and Halloween Report!

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:23:26 GMT

And with the passing of the Hallowtide, we enter November and the home stretch for the Church year. We've got two more ordinal Sundays, followed by Christ the King and a Thanksgiving Eve service. After that we're hitting the road for a few days to spent Thanksgiving with my wife's side of the family, and I've even got a guest preacher for the first Sunday in Advent so we needn't rush back. Hopefully this month will have a milder climate (in every sense of the word). Granted, I say that almost every month, but hope springs eternal!

Anyway, the Hallowe'en graveyard worship was a rousing success. So many things came together so perfectly that it almost makes you believe in a Higher Power. For the first time all month it stopped raining, stopped gusting, and the clouds parted to reveal one of those spotlight moons you only get out in the country. The PA systems were set up all around the graveyard and I was given a headset so I could be heard no matter where we went. A path through the leaves was cleared in advance so it would dry in the sun, and torches lit our route. Everybody had a candle save one fine lady who assisted me by shining my maglight ahead of my feet.

We ended up with somewhere around 100 people, a great many of whom were from other congregations or the community in general. Buzz around town is that it was really cool, and made a very favorable impression. (I've gotten a lot of "Good message!" feedback.) In fact, several of our Saturday night guests showed up for Sunday morning Hallowmas as well. The two hour youth party before evening worship also went wonderfully, with face painting and a witch's walk, scary stories in the basement and a surprisingly effective Frankenstein's lab.

I finally polished off Dan Brown's Lost Symbol. It was not a good book, but it was fun. Each chapter was short enough and baited enough that I kept wanting to continue on to the next. That said, Brown is not nearly as bright as he thinks he is. Every time he tries to talk about how all the world's major faiths teach the same thing, he demonstrates his ignorance not of one, but of several major religions. Note to Mr. Brown: Buddhists don't believe in God. Also, if you mention one more time that the Age of Exploration "proved" the Earth was round, I'm going to forcibly teach you Greek and show you how astonishingly wrong you are. You're only off by about two thousand years.

Finally (my criticisms are not exhausted, but I have to cut off somewhere) the Freemasons do not teach apotheosis; the Mormons do. Mormons, Masons. I realize that the former filched a great deal from the latter, but it's really not that hard to keep them straight. Please, Mr. Brown, I know it's just a silly fun novel, but you had millions of dollars and the better part of a decade to not include stupid things. (sigh) Anyhow, enjoy tens of millions more in profits and the already established movie deal. You did make me want to go tour DC!

The Lost Symbol has also led me to do something stupid. We're coming up on a hiatus for our Christian Education Forums, due to a bunch of Wednesday evening worships starting with Thanksgiving and going through Advent. Because of the issues raised in the Lost Symbol, I switched our last forum for 2009 from Life After Death to the somewhat more sensationalistic The Occult! Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, Thelema, Luciferianism, Wicca, Kabbalah, Theosophy, and even some dabbling with Neoplatonism and Pythagoras. I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this one... especially given that these things tend to cause me headaches. (Ben Franklin has also inspired me to read up on astrology, but that's a topic for another day.)

Speaking of crazy public events and Christian Education Forums, in response to popular demand I managed to compile, reformat, and upload all our recent sermons, newsletters, classes, newspaper articles, &c to the St. Peter's website. They're all linked under News. Soon we'll be uploading pictures from our ridiculously well attended Festival of Tables too!

Let's end up happy movie news, shall we? Boondock Saints 2 does not appear to be playing anywhere near here, so I'm waiting for the DVD pre-order. Up! comes out soon, and while I resisted buying Transformers 2 or Drag Me to Hell, Pixar movies are always worth owning. The new Prince of Persia trailer tastes vaguely like The Mummy and Pirates of the Caribbean, which augurs well in my book. And apparently there's a five minute scene in The Expendables wherein Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Willis all argue with one another about who's the baddest tough guy. Yet another dream come true for the children of the 80s! Oh, and Alice is back.

P.S. -- Our "Things That Go Bump in the Night" class continues to have legs! It's been recreated to very positive acclaim (so far) over at Revelife.

Wake the Dead!

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:05:16 GMT

Scripture: Hallowmas (All Saints’ Day) 2009 B

Sermon:

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. AMEN.

Somebody asked me last week how Jesus would fight zombies. I told her that He would probably resurrect the zombies and send them home. When she found this scenario disappointingly nonviolent, I replied, “Hey, you asked.”

For the last month or so, brothers and sisters, we have found ourselves surrounded by signs and symbols of Death. Skeletons and scythes, ghosts and graves, body parts and blood and beasts of the dark! I’m even told that certain people have been worshipping at night in the graveyard! Perish the thought…

This might all seem quite macabre, even unholy—were it not put in the proper context.

Take, for example, our worship space here in the sanctuary. Imagine, if you will, that you were an animist or perhaps a Buddhist from some culture completely unfamiliar with Christian beliefs or symbolism. Now imagine that you were brought into this parish. The first thing you would run into as you approached the chancel would be the Baptismal Font, at which, the Christians tell you, we don’t just bathe, but we drown ourselves and our children.

Next, you would look up to see the gigantic cross hanging over your head, on which, you are told, we nailed an innocent Man in order to murder our God. Finally, below that executioner’s cross, you would be brought to the Table in order to eat the true Body and drink the true Blood of that God Whom we killed. No wonder the ancient Romans thought that we were some freaky death cult!

To those who do not know the love and mercy and promises of the God Who ever raises us from death to new life, this Christian sanctuary might appear to be a chamber of horrors. But that’s not what we see when we come here. At least, I hope not!

For us, drowning in the Font means that God slays our old, wicked, sinful selves and pulls us up out of the waters into new life in Christ! For us, that Cross is not an executioner’s rack, but a symbol of where God comes down to save mankind, and on which He defeated Death forever! For us, as we gather at the Table, we do not come for anything so depraved as cannibalism, but we share in Christ’s Body so that we may become part of it—that we may be joined as one in the Church.

Without faith in Christ, this holy house would seem a house of horrors. But because Christ meets us here—to forgive, to heal, to resurrect us all—we see not death, but life; not the profane, but the holy; not fear, but liberated joy.

This should stand as a lesson to us, whenever we as Christians become tempted by a sort of defensive, fundamentalist, fortress mentality: Whenever the pure and holy Christ encounters the sick, the broken, the wicked or the dead, it is not Christ Who is defiled. Instead, it’s as if His goodness infects that which is sinful or evil, converting it, resurrecting it, to new life and new meaning. Jesus spreads like a fire! Not consuming what He touches, but purifying it.

That’s essentially the same message that we proclaim at this celebration of the Hallowtide. Once upon a time, this season was indeed a horror show. Back when we were pagans, terrified of the grave, the end of October hailed the twin curses of famine and sickness, both heralding the coming of winter’s icy claws. With crops in harvest and every living thing upon the earth either shriveling up or disappearing into dens, it was no surprise that our heathen forebears viewed this as a time when the veil between the living and the dead wore quite thin indeed. Winter meant cold. Cold meant death. And death meant the end of all things.

But not so anymore. No longer do we fear the autumn or dread the coming of winter. Rituals of fear and superstition have become times of celebration and frolic! And it’s not simply because we now have an abundance of food and warm, insulated houses. Oh no. The Hallowtide had become a celebration long before such creature comforts. It was Jesus Who set us free!

With the coming of Christ, Whose Light dispels all darkness, our pagan forebears learned that death and the grave are not to be feared. They are not merciless thieves who undo a lifetime of work, nor who rob our existence even of its meaning.

“Is God not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?” Jesus asks. “And is He not the God of the living rather than the God of the dead? Therefore I say to you,” our Christ proclaims, “that our ancestors are not dead, but alive in the promises of God!” Death, by God, is not the end! It is but a brief parting, an eyeblink in terms of eternity.

Those graves out there, etched with faded names and long forgotten dates, do not represent the accomplishments and achievements of our loved ones as if they were now a complete and finished set! Nor do they remind us, grieving, of what was once good, but now over. Those gravestones now are monuments, each one, to what Christ has done for us and for every sinner He has saved! Every one of those stones is a Baptism that has now been fulfilled!

In Baptism, we were joined into the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and this is not a once-and-done thing. It’s more of a daily drowning, a walking resurrection. Our Baptism returns to us each and every day, so that every night as a Christian lies down in his or her bed, that Christian dies to all the sin and brokenness and loss of the previous day—and rises to new life in Christ with each fresh morn!

Baptism finally reaches its fulfillment in bodily death, when the first things pass away, when every tear shall be wiped from our eyes, and we are surrendered fully into the love and promises of the Christ Whose death has broken Death’s back.

We’ve already died the death that matters. We died it in this very Font, on that very Cross. All that’s left now is the little death, the animal death. It will come to each of us in our own good time. And brothers and sisters, it is nothing to fear.

In our Gospel reading this morning, dear Christians, we heard the story of Lazarus. When Lazarus passed away, his sister Martha said to Jesus, with tears in her eyes, “Lord, I know that my brother will rise again on the last day.” And Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, said to this mourning woman, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever comes to Me, even though he dies, shall live. And all who live and believe in Me shall never die.”

And then, with but a spoken Word, the living Lord called out to the dead man, and he rose from the tomb. Not as a zombie. Not as an apparition. But as a living, breathing, beloved child of God, raised to life beyond the grave. And Jesus said, “Unbind him, and set him free!”

When Jesus touches disease, it becomes wholeness and health. When Jesus touches death, it becomes new life and life everlasting. And when Jesus touches sinners—broken, fallen people, like you and like me—we become saints. Not because we’re so great. Not because we earned or deserve the love of God. But simply because God is so good, and His promises so completely unbreakable.

This is why Christians can do the impossible. This is why we can look to the Cross and see not horror, but joyous promise. This is why we can dress up as skeletons or ghouls or even the Devil himself, and laugh right in their faces. And this is why we can live in a world where loved ones die, where the innocent pass away, and where even, God forbid, our children might be buried before us, yet we still have the audacity in Christ to proclaim: “This is not the end. God will set it right. And we shall rise again!”

Brothers and sisters, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is not simply some philosophical notion, nor some distant promise invisible over the horizon. The Resurrection has already begun!

It started on that glorious Easter Morn when Christ burst forth from His tomb, and it has continued, down to this very day, in every Baptism, every burial, every promise of forgiveness and mercy and life everlasting. The Resurrection is now!

You are already freed from death. We’ve all heard it said that we’ve already got one foot in the grave, but I say to you that we’ve already got one foot in Heaven! And every time we eat this bread, drink this cup, turn to this Font, it is hammered home, time and again, that we need never fear death! It has lost its sting! It has been swallowed up, forever! Death is dead!

Everyone for whom we mourn will greet us in the Easter Dawn. For God now dwells with Man as Jesus Christ our Lord, and He will wipe every tear from our eyes, and Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for behold, He makes all things new!

What does it mean, O sinner, that God should proclaim us His saints? It means we have nothing to fear. It means there is nothing we mourn that shall not be regained. And it means that we will live forever.

Such promises may be too fantastic, too astonishing, too scandalous for us to fully grasp, let alone take seriously, while we remain in this fallen, broken world. Lord, we believe! Help us in our unbelief!

But such are the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God does not break promises.

This is the Feast of All the Saints! And Christ is ours forever! Alleluia! AMEN.

Prayers of the Church:

Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray for the Church, for the world, and for all people according to their needs.

Lord, for Halloween we thank You

Once a time of sin and dread

Now our merriment we make through

Christ our King, the Church’s Head

Show that You are right beside us

Through the darkness of the grave

With the Light of Christ inside us

Naught can thwart Your will to save

March with us in Death’s dark valley

His corruption cannot taint

When we to Your banners rally

Lift us up—with all the saints

Guide us in this Hallowmas

To honor those through whom You work

Through this fallen world we pass

Where pride and lust have gone berserk

Yet You love the broken sinner

All unworthy You have claimed

As our time here stretches thinner

Turn us to Your holy Name

All Your plans shall find fruition

Let us join without complaint

May Your Will be our contrition

Lift us up—with all the saints

On el Dia de los Muertos

Let us honor those who’ve gone

Unto Heaven’s sweet concertos

Joining in angelic song

Thank You, Lord, for those we’ve buried

Through the course of this last year

Unto Christ they now are married

Free from death and sin and fear

Though we mourn them, give us faith

That now they live without restraint

Now as shadow, ghost or wraith

But lifted up—with all the saints

Lord, we give you thanks for all those who have died and now live in the fulfillment of Your Baptismal promise. And we pray especially for those current saints whom we name before You, both silently and aloud… for Linda, Jacob, Aaron, and Sue… for the Arno and Perala families… for those who suffer, those who mourn, and those who despair… for all who undergo surgery… for those struggling in this broken economy… for the USA and all nations, the ELCA and all Your Church… for all children undergoing medical care… for those who dare not pray to You… and for our bishops, Lawrence and Mark.

Into Your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray

Trusting in Your mercy to light and guard our way. AMEN.

Remembrance of All Saints:

Let us remember all the saints before God.

We praise and bless You, O holy Trinity. You have taught Your Church that it is an ageless communion of saints. We thank You for gathering those who faithfully waited in hope for the redemption You promised, and now for adding us who celebrate the love of Your Christ for the redemption of the world. Prepare a place for us among those who are already with You. Help us remember them as an encouragement to saintly living, exciting us to love, in anticipation of an eternal reunion.

Christ says, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I AM gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. And you will find rest for your souls.”

We give You thanks, Lord, for all those who have been drowned in the Font and raised in Christ, joined to His death and Resurrection now and forever. Especially today, we give thanks for:

David Allen Carlson

Davidrah Faith Reitmeyer

Grant David Martin

Leighton Rueben Olson

Jett Andrew Goeson

Ava Noelle Carlson

Dakota Dennis Neseth

And Lord, we give you thanks for all those whose Baptisms have been fulfilled in body death, and who now rest in the peace and love of Christ, awaiting the Resurrection of us all. Especially today, we remember:

Madalyn Rose Kay Layman

Leonard Eskeli

Audrine Breitenfeldt

Beatrice Setterholm

Elma Barret

Irene Kotarski

With all those who have died in the faith before us, and with all generations yet unborn, we are the Body of Christ—and through us He proclaims His death and Resurrection for us all, until He comes again! Thanks be to Christ! Alleluia! AMEN.

Recognition of New Communicants:

In Holy Communion, God makes us one in His Body, the Church, and we are joined in the Incarnation, life, work, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord. On top of that, we are joined not just to our Creator, but to all those who have shared in the Church’s one Meal, and one Faith, from every time and place.

At this time I would like to invite up all who, within the last year or so, have joined in the Sacrament of Holy Communion for the first time, along with their families!

Brothers and sisters, today you are our honored guests at this Meal. Moreover, because this is not our table, but the Lord’s Table, you are the honored guests of Jesus Christ.

Imagine that this rail continues in a full circle, and that the other side of the circle, the part which we cannot at present see, is filled with those faithful saints from every time and place who have gone before us, and with all those yet to come. Our ancestors and friends—our families and loved ones—may seem lost to us, but are never lost to God. They join us now in this Meal, which is but a foretaste of the eternal feast to come.

You are all saints now. Not in that you are perfect, or magically different from other people. We are all still sinners, and we all mess up. But you are saints in that Christ’s Spirit lives within you, and you live within His Body. He has given to us His holy Name, and all the blessings He has to offer. In ourselves, we are but sinners; yet at the same time, in Christ, we are saints and inheritors of Heaven.

Let us welcome our brothers and sisters to the Table God has prepared for them, and for all the broken saints whom He gathers in Him. (applause)

The gifts of God for the people of God! Come; taste and see that the Lord is good.

Freaking Out the Neighbors, Round Two

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:34:20 GMT

Yesterday we were in the weekly East Otter Tail Focus. Today, a similar, briefer article appears in the Fergus Falls Daily Journal! (Fergus Falls is about an hour and a half southwest of St. Peter's.) Both write-ups have been very positive, though one must expect the occasional kook. And while I'll admit that the Journal picture is somewhat less flattering than the Focus', that just proves once again that vanity, thy name is Stout.

When church meets Halloween

By Trisha Marczak (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Thursday, October 29, 2009

Halloween is anything but scary for a group of Christians from New York Mills.

Pastor Ryan Stout of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in New York Mills is taking his congregation back to early Christian traditions — and surprising some people along the way.

One of those traditions will be revealed at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, when Stout leads a Saturday evening Halloween service from a most unlikely setting: Greenwood Cemetery.

“We have the promise of resurrection and no place so dark or defiled or spooky that Jesus is not with us,” Stout said.

But Stout says the intent isn’t to conduct a service that’s bizarre or sensational.

“These days, we certainly remember Halloween as a fun holiday, but not many people realize or remember its roots in the Christian Church,” Stout said.

The early Christian Church recognized Hallowtide, which included the celebration of All Saints Day on Nov. 1 and All Soul’s Day on Nov. 2.

“This used to be one of the high festivals of the church year,” Stout said. “Everybody enjoyed these.”

The service recognizes a tradition of St. Peter’s Church to remember those who have gone before them.

Stout is taking church members back in time this Halloween with a traditional service, modeled after an Episcopal liturgy.

“We’re not trying to be anything but orthodox or traditional, but we’re also trying to have some fun,” Stout said.

Service will begin with attendees walking to the cemetery, creating the shape of a cross. The service will include Scripture readings related to death and resurrection.

“The general idea is that all of the things we used to be afraid of are now no longer anything that we need to worry about,” Stout said. “We can, in fact, have fun, frolic and have the laughter of our children in the midst of all the things that used to scare us.”

The Halloween service is also a reminder to parishioners that, with Christ, there’s nothing to be afraid of.

An Accusation of Satanism

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:24:07 GMT

Well, that was fast. The first online comment regarding the local newspaper's coverage of our All Hallows' Eve service naturally accuses those celebrating Halloween of Devil worship. I'm proud to say, however, that the posted comment comes not from rural Otter Tail County, but from the enlightened big city of Minneapolis.

T. D. Minneapolis, MN 10/29/2009 11:58 AM

All Saints Day is something that was created by Christians and was initially celebrated in the spring. A Pope later switched it to November 1 so that the Pagans and the Christians could celebrate these 'holidays' together. I'm sorry, but there is still nothing Christian about Halloween! All it takes is typing two words in to Google : Halloween origin.

Halloween—Ancient Night of Terror

It is the last night of October. By the light of the moon, a small group of costumed figures move from house to house stating their demands with dire threats. Guarding some doorsteps are grimacing pumpkin heads glowing with burning candles—made from human fat. Other doors drip with human blood. It is the night of Samhain, Celtic lord of the dead.

Perhaps in no other “Christianized” celebration does Satan so blatantly honor himself and memorialize his war dead. The writer J. Garnier suggests that celebrations of suffering and death can be traced back to the ancient destruction of all of his human followers, as well as the hybrid sons of fallen angels, at the time of the Flood. Cultures the world over have festivals for the dead, “held by all on or about the very day on which, according to the Mosaic account, the Deluge took place, viz., the seventeenth day of the second month—the month nearly corresponding with our November.”—The Worship of the Dead, by J. Garnier.

The Druids were no exception. On October 31, Samhain was said to release the spirits of the dead to mingle with the living. Druids roamed the streets with lanterns, and on coming to a house, they demanded money as an offering for Satan.

Halloween is a major satanic ritual day. “It’s a religious holiday for the underworld, with satanists performing sacrifices and witches quietly celebrating with prayer circles or meals for the dead,” according to a USA Today article. It quoted Washington witch Bryan Jordan as saying, “[Christians] don’t realize it, but they’re celebrating our holiday with us. . . . We like it.”

Oh, T.D. I'm sure he or she means well. But buddy, I could have told you right off the bat that googling "Halloween origins" would produce some messed-up stuff.

The above argument is, basically, that Satan invented Halloween in order to "memorialize his war dead," namely "the hybrid sons of fallen angels, at the time of the Flood." (For those of you who have absolutely no idea what T.D. is talking about, please check out our Christian Education Forum on Things That Go Bump in the Night. Look for "Nephilim.") Wow, where to start.

Okay. First off, there were no organized Satanist churches until the 20th Century. Yes, they do weird things like hold Black Sabbaths and prance about on October 31st, but the festival of Halloween -- the very name of which invokes the Christian saints, i.e., the hallowed -- far, far predates this. Furthermore, even the Church of Satan condemns the practice of human sacrifice. I'm not even kidding.

On a side note, that witchcraft pentacle that freaks everybody out? Also not adopted as a satanic symbol until the 20th Century. The five-pointed star, like the cross, is a universal symbol found in every human culture. And, again like the cross, the pentacle historically has had special significance for Christians, representing for us the five wounds of the crucified Christ. Symbols, like dates, mean nothing in and of themselves. It's our understanding of them and the faith we put into them that matters to God. That's why the exact same object can be venerated by the faithful while simultaneously being worshipped by idolaters (e.g., Nehushtan).

Samhain was not a crazy slaughter time when human blood dripped from walls and candles were made from human fat. Seriously, how many people would it take to make more than a handful of those candles? And how long would they burn? Very inefficient. Also, druids did not go around demanding money for Satan. They didn't know who Satan was. They were pagans: polytheists. When the Christians came, they didn't say, "Oh, don't worry about us. We've already thrown our lot in with the other side." Rather, it was the Celts and their druids who converted to Christianity. They're us!

That final quote from the purported satanist is the real kicker. It seems to imply that Christians are "accidentally" worshipping the Devil by reading Scripture, invoking Jesus' Name, praying by the intercession of the Holy Spirit, and rejoicing in the promise of Resurrection. The way I was taught, that's the stuff that drives Old Scratch away rather than what draws him out. (People give Satan way too much credit for power, and far too little for subtlety.)

The fundamentalist mindset always wants to throw up fortress walls behind which we can fearfully hide as we condemn the rest of the world as evil. But Christ has set us free: "I have come that you might have life, and have it abundantly!" If you want to be scared on Halloween, like the old druids were, then I hope that the Good News resurrects you soon. Should you instead feel like joyously announcing the Light of Christ in the midst of darkness, feel free to join us in worship.

And Now the Whole County Thinks I'm a Witch

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:28:08 GMT

Published October 28 2009

Christian Halloween: Pastor to hold traditional service in NY Mills graveyard

Church tradition and customs of the Middle Ages are not lost to Pastor Ryan Stout and his congregation at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in New York Mills.

By: Kevin Cederstrom, East Otter Tail Focus

Pastor Ryan Stout of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in New York Mills is preparing to hold a Halloween church service at the Greenwood Cemetery this Saturday night. Pastor Stout, wearing a cassock and holding an incense burner called a thurible, says Saturday night’s service in the graveyard celebrates the Christian traditions of Halloween. (More on the tradition of Halloween in Pastor Stout’s “Focus on Faith” column found on page 11a.)

Church tradition and customs of the Middle Ages are not lost to Pastor Ryan Stout and his congregation at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in New York Mills.

Along with the candy and trick-or-treating, Halloween is often thought of in today’s society as a scary night of ghouls, goblins, death, and often evil.

Not so, says Pastor Stout, who plans to hold a non-traditional church service Halloween night in the cemetery.

Despite its image of vampires, werewolves, and walking dead, Halloween is actually an important date on the Christian calendar. It’s a holiday associated with Hallowtide, which is a three-day celebration of Halloween (Oct. 31), All Saints Day (Nov. 1), and All Souls Day (Nov. 2).

Stout wants to push aside some of Halloween’s scariness and underlying evil, and celebrate the night by resurrecting some of the Christian traditions the holiday holds.

What better way to dig up the overlooked Christian holiday of Halloween by holding a church service in a graveyard... at night, as a light fog slowly creeps over the headstones?

We’ve come to know Halloween as a fun fright night, perpetuated by spooky cemetery scenes from pop culture icons like Scooby-Doo. Zoinks!

“We tend to think of Halloween as something scary and don’t think of it as something associated with Christianity,” Stout says. “Some even think of it as anti-Christian.”

But that’s not the case, religiously speaking. And Stout, a lifelong fan of Halloween, is excited to hold a service at Greenwood Cemetery on the west side of New York Mills, weather permitting, Oct. 31 starting at 7 p.m. Gather at the St. Peter’s sign.

The actual liturgy they will be using is taken from an Episcopalian service.

“It’s held in the graveyard so that we remember that bodily death is no longer something to fear, but in fact the fulfillment of our Baptism,” Stout says.

“Christians daily die to ourselves and rise in Christ the next morning. Our graveyards emphasize the reality of death, and the equally powerful reality of Christ’s promise of resurrection.”

Stout also points out it’s particularly poignant for the three-day Hallowtide, when we celebrate All Saints and All Souls from every time and place–both those generations who have died before us, and those yet unborn.

“It’s a celebration of hope and new life right in the face of the concrete reality of our own mortality,” he said.

Pastor Stout chose four Biblical readings for this service, to be read by members of the church. Those interested in attending the service will meet in the cemetery, and it’s a good idea to bring a flashlight.

Different points along the walking service will have people set up to do readings, and act out different scenes in the Bible.

Readers will be dressed in costume to fit the appropriate Bible passage. Stout expects to see a witch, possibly a skeleton and other characters with Halloween and Biblical associations.

The walking service will follow a path from reading to reading with the route forming a cross through the cemetery.

“We’re not doing anything weird,” Stout claims. “We’re reclaiming the Christian roots of Halloween.”

Halloween is tied directly to All Saints Day, which is celebrated each year on Nov. 1 to commemorate the old saints who have passed on.

“The idea is not to be macabre or to be flippant regarding death and those who mourn,” Stout says. “There is a time in the church year when we take mourning and death very seriously indeed. That’s Lent and Good Friday. But the Hallowtide is when we remember that death is not the end, and that in the Cross of Christ–an instrument of death which has become a symbol of faith, hope and love–there is no place so dark, so gritty, so scary or defiled that it can separate us from the promises of our Lord.”

When in Rome!

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:03:18 GMT

Newsletter: Pastor’s Corner, November 2009

The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.

—Genesis 9:2-3a

Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to become a mighty warrior. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it was said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord!”

—Genesis 10:8-9

Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables.

—Romans 14:2

Okay, I admit that I’m having a bit of fun by taking St. Paul completely out of context in that last quote there. But I wanted to pull out some appropriate verses in honor of that most sacred of secular holidays coming up in November. No, not Thanksgiving: Hunting season!

It would be most remiss of me to make such big deals out of Michelmas, the Feast of St. Luke, and the Hallowtide, yet ignore that ritual nearest and dearest to the hearts of so many of our parishioners and neighbors. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. I see your spouses bracing for (or is that anticipating?) long weeks at home alone. And I recognize that glint in your eye, the eagerness of young and young at heart alike to go hide in the brush, perch up in a tree stand, or climb into one of those raised turrets I see menacing field and vale.

Last year our Confirmation class seemed particularly excited. I’ll never forget one young lady, usually quite prim and proper, happily boasting about the gory task of gutting her first deer. I think I might actually have seen some fangs glinting as she zestily recounted her adventure. Ah, youth.

Not that such spirit is unfamiliar, mind you. I did grow up in Pennsylvania, a state rumored to be the fourth largest mobilized army on Earth during the first day of deer season. I’d watch row upon row of fluorescent orange march out into the fields beyond the schoolroom window. There’d be no shortage of venison for the rest of the year!

I’ll admit, though, that I’m not much of a hunter myself. I don’t own a working gun, and my compound bow hasn’t been resized since junior high. Moreover, I just spent over a decade living in big city apartments. Apart from dirty pigeons (rats of the sky) there’s not terribly much to hunt in Philadelphia. Quite frankly, I was more concerned with who was pointing guns at me rather than the other way around. In some parts of the city you feel like you have antlers.

But as an old Eagle Scout, I am quite familiar with the solace, the spirituality, the shalom that one finds out in the wilderness. And as a childhood NRA member, I know just how cathartic a rifle can be, whether you’re alone or with old friends. So as our brothers and sisters march out into God’s good Creation in order to put some more holes in it, I pray for our enjoyment, our safety, and plenty of good red meat for the table.

Remember while you’re out there that God is with you, the work of His hands readily apparent in tree and brook, hunting dog and oh-so-fast deer. It’s a perfect time for meditation, communion, and prayer, out away from the hectic world of Man. And remember those who love you and anxiously await your return—though maybe not right away. J

Hunting is an ancient, sacred, and primeval rite of passage. We may have come a long way since the spear, but you, my fluorescent orange friend, are, like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord! Be safe, have fun, and thanks be to God.

More Free Publicity! Er, Outreach.

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:44:53 GMT

Well, the Halloween service has piqued enough interest that the newspaper came to interview us and later asked me to suit up (cassock, thurible, pectoral cross, the whole nine yards) for an evening graveyard photograph to be published in this week's edition come Thursday. In addition to the article that our reporter will be penning, I've also been asked to write a monthly column on "Faith and Life" -- a little vague, perhaps, but that just gives me plenty of wiggle room.

Anyway, the paper e-mailed this morning for some clarification and asked if I could reply with some more comments. This was my response:

Dear K,

The Church year is absolutely packed with celebrations, but for some reason, many of them have fallen into obscurity. Maybe we had festival overload! Anyway, one of the ways we've tried to make worship interesting and fun is by bringing back or re-emphasizing Church holidays that are largely forgotten.

Michelmas (the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels), for example, is the traditional kick-off of autumn for Lutherans, Anglicans, Roman Catholics, &c, so we made sure to bring that back. We also did a special healing service with anointing oil in honor of the Feast of St. Luke the Physician. The Hallowtide used to be one of the biggest deals of all, and at least with Halloween people are familiar with the holiday. But how many remember that it used to be a great Christian festival?

The actual liturgy we're using is taken from an Episcopalian service. It's held in the graveyard so that we remember that bodily death is no longer something to fear, but is in fact the fulfillment of our Baptism. Christians daily die to ourselves and rise in Christ the next morning. Our graveyards emphasize the reality of death, and the equally powerful reality of Christ's promise of resurrection. It's particularly poignant for the three-day Hallowtide, when we celebrate All Saints and All Souls from every time and place -- both those generations who have died before us, and those yet unborn. It's a celebration of hope and new life right in the face of the concrete reality of our own mortality.

The idea is not to be macabre or to be flippant regarding death and those who mourn. There is a time in the Church year when we take mourning and death very seriously indeed: that's Lent and Good Friday. But the Hallowtide is when we remember that death is not the end, and that in the Cross of Christ -- an instrument of death which has become a symbol of faith, hope and love -- there is no place so dark, so gritty, so scary or defiled that it can separate us from the promises of our Lord.

Does that help at all?

Yours in Christ,
~RDG Stout

And this below is my companion column. It's basically a reworking of my newsletter article from October 2008. It'll be new to all the people of Perham and East Otter Tail County, and I sincerely doubt if even one of my parishioners will recognize it after all this time.

For me and mine, October has always been about one thing: Halloween!

Blame my Mother, if you must. She’s always loved to decorate for holidays, and come October our home would inevitably end up looking like a haunted mansion. She would hold dinner parties for family and friends, complete with brain-shaped Jell-O molds and freezable plastic eyeballs bobbing in punch. Even the invitations would be little boxes with rubber fingers in them.

But before you write our family traditions off as a touch bizarre, let’s keep in mind that for much of Western history Halloween was considered one of the most important festivals of the year. It’s true!

On the Church calendar, November 1st was traditionally held as the Feast of All Saints, or All Hallows. The next night, November 2nd, was the Feast of All Souls (Latin America’s Day of the Dead). And October 31st, the day before All Hallows, unsurprisingly was known as All Hallows’ Eve—Hallowe’en. Taken together, these three back-to-back celebrations were the Hallowtide, a period of the Church year nearly as important and beloved as Christmastide or Eastertide.

“Ah, but wait!” you might say. “Isn’t Halloween an old pagan holiday?” Well, sort of.

Long ago our Celtic forebears celebrated a harvest festival known as Samhain (pronounced SOW-win). Livestock would be slaughtered, barns filled with winter stores, and as the twin threats of sickness and famine loomed large with the coming ice, people understandably viewed this as a time when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead wore particularly thin. Bonfires were burned to keep the darkness at bay and to summon back the sun, whilst garish costumes were donned to frighten off the ghosts and goblins of the primeval forest!

When the people of Europe converted to Christianity, many of their holidays were converted as well. New Christians came to celebrate Christmas at the winter solstice, when before they had celebrated the Mithraium or Saturnalia. Wreaths, evergreen trees, and other pre-Christmas traditions were happily given new meaning and significance. Likewise, the festival of the Germanic spring goddess (whose name was “Easter”) became a celebration of Resurrection.

So it was with Halloween. The old festival continued, but no longer as a time of horror and foreboding. Instead, the Hallowtide found new life as a celebration of light in the midst of darkness and laughter in the face of fear! The old “Things That Go Bump in the Night,” which so terrified our ancestors, have been transformed into objects of frolic and fun for our children.

It’s not about being wicked or deviant. And it is certainly not an irreligious time. In the end, the true and faithful meaning of Halloween is simply this: “to dance in the face of Death, and thereby know what it is to truly be alive.” Hope and joy defy gloom and doom! Now what could better express a life of faith than that?

Happy Halloween, everybody.

Here's hoping I don't get too many nasty letters from the A.O.G. or the Baptists.