| As we near the end of the Trinitytide Season, the latter part often called “Michaelmastide”, we are approaching a number of important festivals of the Church: Reformation Day/All Hallows Eve, All Saints, All Souls, and (in some places, a little later) Totensonntag. The first three in the series of Festivals is sometimes called Hallowmastide. We are familiar with Reformation Sunday – sometimes considered a “minor festival” – or not observed at all outside of the traditions that are called Protestant. It falls on October 31st and is often transferred to the nearest Sunday. This year it falls on a Tuesday, but we will observe it on Sunday the 29th. We remember and celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit as He reformed the Church by the Word of God that took place in the 16th Century Lutheran tradition. The date is linked to the posting of Luther’s 95 Theses, and is in some respects a curious date for the celebration, as this was merely a plea by a Catholic Augustinian friar for debating certain aspects of Church practice and teaching (largely concerned with the value of “indulgences” and their sale in the Church). Of course, we know that the effect of this act did eventuate in what we now call the Lutheran Reformation. And we give thanks for the Reformation of Christ’s Church! All Saints’ Day is a much earlier festival, officially established in the 9th Century, and is concerned with the remembrance of the great (usually martyr) heroes of the faith; those that are sometimes called capital “S” Saints. There is nothing wrong or unchristian in the practice of remembering those who made especially good use of the “talents” (Matthew 25:14-30) that God had given them – those who made a particularly vibrant witness, in some way, to their Lord and God. We take this time as an occasion to thank God for the faith He has given and sustained in them, and we hold their lives up as exemplary. The preaching for this Day will figure largely on these blessed heroes. In more recent times, many churches also remember all the faithful who have died persisting in the Christian faith. Even if they weren’t particularly impressive! These are also saints; in that they have been made holy by their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ – the word “saint” literally means “holy”. All Saints falls on a Wednesday this year, and I will commemorate those who have died in the faith of Christ at the Midweek Holy Communion. We will also observe All Saints Sunday on November 5th, where I will also read the names of the recently departed Christians of our parish and beyond. PLEASE SEND Pastor Porter the names of the departed Christians of the last year that you wish to be commemorated at our Services. All Souls’ is a related and somewhat later festival that is not universally observed. Whereas All Saints was for remembering the victory of Christ in the lives of noticeably “heroic” and virtuous Christians, All Souls was for celebrating Christ’s victory for and in the rest… Functionally, All Souls has been overtaken by All Saints, the former having been collapsed into the latter. We have observed it at Lebanon during the Midweek Services in past years. In certain German lands, Lutheran and Reformed traditions began to observe Totenfest or Totensonntag (Festival of the Departed and Sunday of the Departed, respectively) on the Last Sunday of the Christian Year – the Sunday before the first week of Advent. This observance is mainly bound to the churches and lands included in the “Prussian Union” of the 19th Century. We will not observe it here at Lebanon, having already commemorated the faithful on All Saints, but I wanted you to be aware of it. |
| Our services |
Reformation Day will be observed on Sunday, October 29th. Wear red and be prepared to belt out “A Mighty Fortress”! |
Celebrated on Wednesday, November 1st at 1:30pm. Holy Communion will be administered and the names of last year’s faithful departed will commemorated in the Service. |
On Sunday November 5th, we commemorate the faithfully departed of the last year during our regular Divine Service at 11am. |
