All Saints Sunday

One of my favorite "holidays" in the church year is All Saints Day/Sunday. It gives me and everyone a chance to remember the people who have made a difference in our lives; both those who are still alive today and those who have gone before us. Today in worship we emphasized the latter; the congregation has gone through a major grieving period and I felt it was important to acknowledge this and remember the names of all of those people who were special to us who have passed away. We set up a card table with a whole bunch of tealights and after a short meditation, I invited folks to come forward and name a saint and say a word or two about that person. It was truly amazing to see the number of people come forward and - as was later told to me - have the picture on the rotating powerpoint often be that same person being lifted up as the candle was lit.

I know I am surrounded by saints all the time. My cloud of witnesses is big. I shared yesterday some pictures of my grandfather - who was probably the most loving and patient man I have ever met. The picture of him with a bird perched on his finger says it all; being able to hold still long enough and be so peaceful for such a length of time as to allow a bird to feel safe enough to land on his finger is a feat in and of itself! I remember dancing around in the smoke of his pipe, chasing it around and enjoying the smell of it. I remember when I would go shopping with my grandparents; my grandmother and I would be halfway through the store and Papa would still be wandering around, taking time out to look at different things and be curious about them - didn't matter what it was! I remember his messy workbench with wires and half-open electrical contraptions strewn about. I also remember all of his gadgets that he had throughout the house (mostly in the basement, though!) - like a pair of dolphins rotating around in a circle, powered by the induced current a changing magnetic field makes.

Sometimes I feel bad for not having the opportunity to get to know him better. We lived so far away and we only got to see him and Nammie about once a year; twice if we were lucky! But I know he continues to watch me as I grow...and I hope that he can be proud of me! (I'm sure he is, but...yeah. :-) )

NaBloPoMo

So, it's National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), and I've decided to do this instead of NaNoWriMo, largely because being a pastor and being a seminary student means I have lots to write without adding the extra pressure. I already blog, and I'd like to become more consistent about it so...there we go. NaNoWriMo is on my horizons for next year though, once I don't have at least 20 pages to write and research for class. I'll still have the sermons, but those can be managed. Mostly.

Honestly, right now I am procrastinating. I'm preaching tomorrow - well, really it's a meditation for All Saints Sunday. My plan is to give a short message about the "cloud of witnesses" that surrounds us, then give people an opportunity to share stories about the saints in their lives that have gone before, complete with candle lighting and pictures. I hope it will be powerful; our church community has recently gone through a lot of grief and loss, and the aim of this is to provide a way for the whole church to remember together both the saints of the church and the saints in our own lives that have impacted and made a difference to us.

I can think of several people who have been saints to me. Some I have already wrote about, like Hillie Cass (and a wee bit about her husband Malcolm in there). But as I put together my service powerpoint, I thought a lot about my grandfather (whose picture us below).

"His eye is on the Sparrow, and I know He watches me."

More thoughts to come about my grandfather...