A WORD FOR TODAY, November 2, 2021
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, November 2, 2021
“When Yahweh brought back those who returned to Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, ‘Yahweh has done great things for them.’ Yahweh has done great things for us, and we are glad. Restore our fortunes again, Yahweh, like the streams in the Negev. Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves.” Psalm 126:5, WEB
Death is a fact of life. Since the day that Adam and Eve chose to believe the word of the serpent and eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we have been cast out into the world where there is suffering and death. Everyone will die, even those who do everything humanly possible to ward off illness and the end of life. That it is a fact of life does not make death any easier. We suffer the ravages of old age, the sting of dis-ease and the danger of this imperfect world. Death comes in too many ways to list; it comes quickly in the night or lingers for years. Death is often the consequence of our own behavior, but too often it comes from others who by accident or choice have taken life into their own hands.
We do not celebrate when death comes knocking on our door; we experience grief and an incredible sense of loss when someone we love dies. We are exhausted by it, especially if death took a long time coming. We are shocked when it comes by an accident or by violence. We are often afraid of what will happen in our lives, especially if the dearly departed is someone who provided support for us. We do not celebrate these deaths, although we do find the strength and courage to celebrate their lives. When we die, we tell our loved ones not to cry for us, but to go on with their lives. No matter how much we insist on the joy, death will always bring sorrow.
That’s ok because God never intended for death to be a fact of life. Adam and Eve made a choice, and that choice separated all humankind from the intimate relationship that they had with God in the Garden of Eden. But even while death became the problem, God was already working on the solution. He knew, even from the day of Adam and Eve’s banishment from the Garden that He would make it possible for mankind to have the eternal life He intended. He knew that the Christ would pay the price that would free God’s people from death, guaranteeing those who believe will have eternal life. As Christians we know there is a reason to celebrate the death of one of God’s people: they aren’t really dead. They live on in the Kingdom where they no longer have to rely on hope or faith because they now walk in the Garden again with their Father the Creator.
As Christians, each year we celebrate the lives of those saints who have moved from this world to the next on All Saints Day, November 1st. We don’t really think of this as a multiple day celebration, but it actually begins on October 31st and ends on November 2nd, a triduum honoring the dead which goes back to pre-Christian eras. October 31st we know as Halloween, a vigil service which can include a prayer for light and readings from the scriptures. Halloween has become something much different, as houses are covered with graveyards and fake body parts covered in blood, children young and old dress as zombies or fictional murderers as they go door to door begging for sweets. That’s why the Halloween festivities are sometimes disturbing.
Christianity is a religion of light. Jesus Christ is the light of the world. The All Hallows Eve vigil liturgy and scripture is meant to point us to the light that is Christ who overcame death and darkness. All Saints Day then commemorates the Saints known and unknown. In older times, the Saints honored were local martyrs with ties to specific places. As the Saints became known from parish to parish, the day began to focus on the body of Saints, all those who have been beatified. They are the ones, known and unknown, who have achieved that life that God intended, who have been restored to Him through grace and who lived as God intended. They give us an example of the Christian life, the willingness to follow Christ anywhere and the courage to face even the most difficult times for His sake.
Today is the third day which completes the triduum: All Souls Day was a day of prayer for the dead. Prayer for the dead has been practiced in the Jewish as well as Christian faiths for at least a millennium. Most Christians reject the idea of purgatory and question the practice of praying for the dead, and so the triduum of the dearly departed has been condensed into All Saints Day, a day to remember all the saints, but in doing so we lose a part of what the triduum meant to teach. All Soul’s Day reminds us of the dead who did not die in faith and that there are many in this world who still need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that they can believe and become one of the saints that will spend eternity in the heavenly Zion.
We have melded all the ideas of this triduum, but in the celebration of All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day we are reminded of the promise of the light overcoming darkness, death being destroyed for the sake of God’s people, and the remembering of those loved ones who have passed from this world into the next. We are reminded during these three days that we are children of God; someday we will join those who have come before us to dwell in God’s presence forever. We have seen the light; we still live on earth and still rely on the hope and faith that our beloved family and friends have set aside for the reality of life in God’s presence.
There are too many who do not have the assurance of God’s promises or the expectation of eternal life. They are frightened by death and do whatever they can to avoid it. While we should take care of our bodies, we do so not because we are afraid of death but because we know God has work for us to do. The greatest work, of course, is to introduce our loved ones to Jesus Christ. We will mourn because death is a part of this fallen and broken world, but we are comforted by the Word of God that tells us this life is only a momentary journey on our way to an eternity in the heavenly Zion. We believe and we are blessed. We find comfort in the promise that our mourning will one day come to an end forever as God Himself wipes away our tears.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org.
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