A Word from Laura: Healing and Wholeness on All Saints' Day

While children across our nation recover from the Halloween sugar shock today, or Nationals fans see this as the day before the big “welcome home” parade, Christian traditions around the world observe November 1 as All Saints’ Day.  All Saints’ is the day we remember those who have died, who have gone to their eternal rest.

Remembering those who have gone before us is not meant to be morbid or depressing, but gives us a chance to remember our ancestors familial or spiritual.  We have a gift of stopping to rest and reconnect, so that their memory might be life-giving for us and for those who come after us.

Come join us this Sunday as we observe All Saints’ Day.  As you enter you will have an opportunity to share the names of loved ones and to place a flower in their memory.  I will include all of the names during the prayer of thanksgiving during communion, recognizing the “mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won,” to borrow the words of an old hymn. 

We will also have a time for blessings of healing and wholeness – an opportunity whether you are grieving, troubled for our nation, or in search of physical healing.

I hope to see you Sunday, when we pause using this ancient tradition, to remember those who gone before us, giving thanks for their life and honoring all they mean to our lives.

Grace and peace to you, as we give thanks for our saints,

Laura