We kick this month off with All Saints Sunday on Nov. 2nd and we are going to do it up big this year! We’re bringing in a jazz combo and will be singing big, bold songs like “O When The Saints Go Marching In” at which time, we will march in pictures of our saints from St. Peter’s who have died in the past five years.
Janet Hook
Kendall Sandage
Bobby Silva
Delores (Dee) Spencer Smith
Lorrayne Johnson
Bob Keck
Carol McGrath
Leon Matson
Terri Webster
Wayne Terry
Beverly Mitchell
Dave Haas
Marcia Thaxton
Rosalin (Rose) Engleman
Doris DeChenne
Kevin Sutter
Violet (Vi) Forbes
Bruce Tippie
JT Byrne
Mary Miller
Mathilda (Bobbi) Hall
Of course we will all also be carrying with us the memories of so many others who live on in our hearts past death - friends, parents, children, grandparents, and loved ones.
I imagine we will feel a collision of emotions on this day. I spend a lot of time watching the show “Ms. Rachel” with Isaak (2) which is a show for toddlers. In that show she sings, “Big feelings are ok! I’m not afraid of your big feelings.” I hope that this All Saints day you will feel the church offering you a space for whatever you feel. You may feel feelings of great comfort and joy, remembering these incredible people and the incredible love with which they loved us and we loved them. You also may open your mouth to sing and find that your breath has been taken away by a grief that came up and pounced on your from behind.
I hope it will be a day when we can come together wholeheartedly to remember, celebrate and grieve.
And so I leave you with these words from writer Jamie Anderson:
“Grief, I've learned, is really just love. It's all the love you want to give, but cannot. All of that unspent love gathers in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in the hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.”
And yes, this love does have a place to go. We can express it together in worship on All Saints, and always and forever, we can bring it to God where it will find a home.
Join us for worship on Nov. 2nd for All Saints Sunday.
Peace,
Pastor Bekki