All Hallow's Eve / All Saint's Day

This coming Sunday, November 1st is All Saints Day, a feast of the church honoring all the saints of the Christian Church. Along with Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Ascension Day, and Epiphany, it is a Principal Feast of the church -- a cause for major celebration.

Lots of people wonder about the Origins of All Saints Day, and it's vigil All Hallow's Eve (held the night before), or as we now call it Halloween! Below I am pasting a bit of helpful historical information from churchyear.net about the development of this festival. But for us today, I think the most important part of All Saints Day is a reminder that the community of the church exists not just across space, but across time as well. When sing the "Holy, Holy, Holy" at Communion, we are "joining our voices with saints and angels and all the company of heaven" -- reminding ourselves that we are part of a much larger reality beyond the one we experience each day.

From churchyear.net, about the Feasts of All Hallow's Eve/All Saints/All Souls:

Christians have been honoring their saints and martyrs since at least the second century AD. Initially the calendars of saints and martyrs varied from location to location, and many times local churches honored local saints. However, gradually feast days became more universal. The first reference to a general feast celebrating all saints occurs in St Ephrem the Syrian (d. AD 373). St. John Chrysostom (d. AD 407) assigned a day to the feast, the first Sunday after Pentecost, where in the Eastern Churches the feast is celebrated to this day. In the West, this date was probably originally used, and then the feast was moved to May 13th. The current observance (November 1) probably originates from the time of Pope Gregory III (d. AD 741), and was likely first observed on November 1st in Germany. This fact makes the connection of the All Saints Feast with the pagan festival Samhain less likely, since Samhain was an Irish pagan feast, rather than German.

The vigil of the Feast (the eve) has grown up in the English speaking countries as a festival in itself, All Hallows Eve, or Halloween. While many consider Halloween pagan (and in many instances the celebrations are for many), as far as the Church is concerned the date is simply the eve of the feast of All Saints. Many customs of Halloween reflect the Christian belief that on the feast's vigils we mock evil, because as Christians, it has no real power over us. However, for some Halloween is used for evil purposes, in which many Christians dabble unknowingly.

Various customs have developed related to Halloween. In the Middle Ages, poor people in the community begged for "soul cakes," and upon receiving these doughnuts, they would agree to pray for departed souls. This is the root of our modern day "trick-or-treat." The custom of masks and costumes developed to mock evil and perhaps confuse the evil spirits by dressing as one of their own. Some Christians visit cemeteries on Halloween, not to practice evil, but to commemorate departed relatives and friends, with picnics and the last flowers of the year. The day after All Saints day is called All Soul's Day, a day to remember and offer prayers up on behalf of all of the faithful departed. In many cultures it seems the two days share many customs.

Special Resources for Class this Sunday!

Because it is "Commitment Sunday" this week, we will have special Stewardship Handouts for all K-5th classes since it is Commitment Sunday. Please consider using this resource to make the connection between the risky faithfulness of Ruth's commitment to God, and the risky faithfulness of our own stewardship commitments.

Also, here is a link to a great maze/word-puzzle handout about Naomi and Ruth that you could use for this Sunday's class:
Naomi and Ruth Word Search

Ruth & Naomi: Holy Friends -- Sunday, October 25th

Today's Bible lesson for K-5th grades tells the story of Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah. It's one of the few stories of women in the Old Testament in which women are not portrayed as passive victims, but are active models of faithfulness. It is unfortunate that these women's names are not as well known by children as are Noah, Moses, and other role models of faithfulness. Through teaching this story each year at St. Andrew's, we hope to change that reality!

As the curriculum notes at the start of this lesson, these three women lived in a tough age, "when those who worshiped the Lord were unfaithful." This is an interesting description -- that some who worship might yet be unfaithful. It's a reminder that our faith is about much more than what we do on Sunday mornings, our faith is about what we do Monday through Saturday. Even if we get Sunday 100% "right" that matters far less than living all our days aware of God's presence among us. To put it more simply, being Christian is about our choices, not just our voices.

In the case of Naomi, Ruth and Orpah (rhymes with Orca, i.e. a killer whale), they were fast with hard choices. Their husbands dead, the women had to find a community that could support them in which to live. This was a life or death decision -- women could not live independently during that time. They could not work to support themselves and they needed protection (and, frankly, so did men in that rough age). Naomi, mother in law to both Ruth and Orpah, decided that each of the three should return to their own hometowns. This would be the one community on whom they KNEW they could depend to take them in.

Now Ruth and Orpah were of a different race than Naomi and her two sons (who had been husbands to Ruth and Orpah), and the two daughters in law had not practiced the Hebrew faith prior to the marriages. Returning home meant abandoning the One God, and returning to the Moabite faith of their clan. While separating would make it more likely that they would be taken in by the communities that raised them, it also was, in some sense, a rejection of a life with God -- as well as a life with each other. Though torn, Orpah sees the wisdom in this hard choice and chooses to leave Naomi and Ruth and go back to her hometown.

Ruth, however, makes a different choice. She clings to Naomi, giving a beautiful and impassioned speech: "Where you go, I will go: where you lodge, I will lodge; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God." No doubt, Ruth's is a strong story of female friendship being more powerful than the patriarchal social forces that seek to separate them. Ruth is taking on a very vulnerable position here. She chooses to go to Naomi's community, who has no responsibility to care for her, to help her re-establish a life. It is not a safe choice, it's a risky one. Her economic and personal well-being are not assured.

But Ruth risks this vulnerability not only because she loves Naomi, but because she loves God. Her loyalty is not just to her friend, but to her friend's God, who has become her own. Of course, it is not unusual for a person's relationship with God to be bound up in relationships with other people. And in fact, in moments when it is hard to take a risk for God, the support found in human friendships often makes it easier to make the harder, but more faithful choice. That's why the friendship between Naomi and Ruth is a holy friendship. It is a friendship that helps Ruth become even more faithful in making life choices. She is an example of holy living in an age when even the most "observant" worshipers of God made unholy choices.

This lesson is PERFECTLY timed in our church calendar to come up this Sunday for two reasons. First, is that next Sunday is All Saints Day -- when we celebrate all holy women and holy men: people who have been "holy friends" to others, helping them make faithful choices even when it is hard. In the Episcopal tradition, we use All Saints Day to celebrate not just the "official" saints of the church, but also all the holy people in our own lives who have helped us live more faithfully. I bet we can all think of a few real mentors and friends who have helped us live out our faith not just in our voices, but in our life choices, too.

The second reason this lesson is well timed, is that THIS Sunday is "St. Andrew's Connects" -- a stewardship-season event that celebrates our care for each other and our financial stewardship of this community. Similar to how Naomi's friendship enables Ruth to take a faithful risk, by reaching out to connect with each other at this time of year we hope to encourage all parish families to take the risk of making a financial pledge this year. Perhaps the confidence we draw from the care we have for each other will enable us to risk being even more generous and joyful givers than we already are. When we remember the many ways in which God's presence is made known to us, especially through our relationships at St. Andrew's, it makes taking the risk of pledging a little easier to accomplish. And when we're willing to take that risk, we really are living our faith in our choices, not just in our voices.

Have a great class this week!


Chris +

Joshua Fought the Battle...

As much as I'm conflicted about this Sunday's Bible story (see post below), it is the basis for one of my favorite pieces of Gospel music! Here's an arrangement by the Moses Hogan Chorale that I have loved for almost 15 years now...

Joshua at Jericho: Sunday, October 18th

This Sunday's Church School lesson for K-5th graders is the story of Joshua leading the Hebrew people out of the wilderness and into the promised land at the town of Jericho. It is, in some ways the final conclusion to the stories about Moses that our classes explored over the past month or so. Moses began the great procession of God's people, out of slavery in Egypt and into the wilderness of the Sinai peninsula -- where they wandered for two generations as a community without a home. All they had to go on during that time was God's promise that if they followed faithfully, God would bring them to a land where they could establish communities of justice, peace, and dignity (so unlike the communities they had left in Egypt). In Joshua's arrival at Jericho, God's promise is finally fulfilled after nearly 40 years.

Now, the story of the Hebrew people's arrival in the Jordan Valley is fraught with difficulties. The belief that God destined this land for the Hebrew people has caused no end of international turmoil -- especially since the establishment of the political state of Israel in the years following the Holocaust of the 20th century. Some believe that the experience of the 20th century in Israel/Palestine parallels at least somewhat the narratives of Joshua's conquest of an already settled land as God's recompense for one group's own suffering of oppression/persecution. The belief in a divine right to the land, as well as divine sanction to use violence in carrying out this prophecy, finds a significant amount of its justification in this familiar Bible story (among other sources as well). And having personally traveled to present day Jericho and elsewhere in the Jordan Valley, witnessing the oppression and violence that engulfs that region today, it's hard to read this story without feeling deeply conflicted about its place in the canon of familiar Bible stories that we teach to children.

Do you remember "Choose your Own Adventure Books" from being a pre-teen? I used to love these books because the reader was involved in determining exactly how the story worked out by making a series of choices at critical plot moments: "If you think Sara should follow the wizard's voice, turn to page 26; but if you think she should stick to the path by the river, turn to page 42."

I sometimes wonder if children who hear the first part of the story of the Hebrew people could write a better ending to this story than the one in today's the Bible story. Could they come up with a more peaceful ending, an ending in which God's promises of a land for the Hebrew people were kept without resorting to violent conquest, an ending that wouldn't have led to the conflict that region now experiences today? What would such an ending look like? Maybe this Sunday, you can give your class the chance to dream of alternate endings to this story.

One way you could teach this story is to review the history of the people of Israel (slavery in Egypt, Moses' leading them into the wilderness, life being hard in the wilderness for 40 years, the need for a permanent land where they would not be oppressed), and then introduce them to Joshua, a child who had not been a slave in Egypt, but had been born and grown up in the wilderness. God called Joshua, as a young man, to lead the people into the permanent land that God had promised. But there's a problem. There were other people living there. Joshua had an army of people, and believed he had God on his side. Then stop telling the story and imagine with the kids what might have happened next.

For older kids, try breaking them into groups and asking each group to come up with a story or even a skit about what might have happened next. Or you could have each group come up with two alternate endings (a choose your own adventure!). Younger children could wonder about this together, thinking about how Joshua might have managed to settle in the land peacefully. What would he have had to do in order to live peacefully in Jericho rather than conquer it? Share space. Get to know the people who live there already. Respect people with different customs. Talk about disagreements rather than fight about them. So often it seems easier to just take what you want and beat up the guy who has it now (particular if you've been beaten up in the past), but children tend to have a harder time justifying this kind of behavior than adults do. One of our jobs as teachers is to protect those gentle instincts.

I wonder if Joshua might have made a different choice about how he brought his people into the land if he'd known about the legacy of violent conquest that, over 3,000 years later, still persists. I wonder if he, or those who wrote his story down in the Bible, would have heard God's call to Joshua in a different way...

Have a great class!

Blessings,
Chris +