In a little over a month we will celebrate Halloween. Decorations are already in the stores and have been for weeks now. Homes have been decorated and are being decorated, but the meaning of the word “Halloween” has been by and large lost. The word comes from old Scottish and is a contraction for “Saints Evening”. It referred to the evening before or eve of All Saints’ Day, November 1, a Christian holiday remembering and honoring those recognized as saints in the Christian Church, as well as loved ones who have died.
I never thought of All Saints’ Day, didn’t even really know what it was until we lived in Italy and saw that on November 1st, all the stores would close, people would go to church and then make a trip out to the cemeteries to honor their loved ones who had died. In this country, we celebrate Halloween, the eve of All Saints’ Day, but don’t celebrate the holiday of All Saints’ Day, which has become just another day. But where did All Saints’ Day come from?
The early church recognized a concept from the book of Hebrews 12:1-3, which makes a reference to a great cloud of witnesses who surround those of us following Jesus. The author is referring to those he had previously mentioned in Hebrews 11, those who had demonstrated great faith, such as Moses, Abraham and Sarah, among others. The early church incorporated that concept into what has been called the Apostles’ Creed in the statement, “we believe in the communion of the saints”. That statement, refers to Hebrews 12:1-3, and became the foundation for the holiday of All Saints’ Day.
Hebrews 12:1-3 offers some encouragement to those of us who follow Jesus today. The author exhorts us to run the race set before us with endurance looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who set an example when he went to the cross. Jesus ran his race successfully; the author exhorts us to run ours successfully as well. But what is our race? Martin Luther, who on All Hallows Eve, October 31, 1517, nailed 95 propositions or thesis for debate on the the Castle Church Door in Wittenburg, taught quite a few things. However, one thing that he taught was the priesthood of all believers, taken from 1 Peter 2:9. From this Luther taught that anyone who follows Jesus can serve God through any useful vocation. In other words, not just members of the clergy, priests and pastors, have a holy calling, but anyone can serve God through their vocation, which is holy, because they are holy in Christ Jesus.
So running our race is getting up each day with the intention of serving Jesus that day no matter what our responsibilities happen to be: in the way that we speak with and interact with those we encounter, in the way that we show kindness to those around us, in the way that we seek to serve rather than to be served. We live this way, not because we have to, or because we are afraid God will punish us if we don’t, but because we have a love for Jesus and that love translates to how we love and treat those we encounter that day.
