Weekly Pastoral
Happy Allhallowtide
I had no idea until last week when I was doing some research for a sermon that the Christian church has a ‘triduum’ for the Halloween season much as we do for Easter. In the Easter triduum, we start with Maundy Thursday. The next day, we have Good Friday which then moves into the crescendo of Easter Sunday (with that Saturday eve vigil in there as well).
The Halloween triduum is called Allhallowtide. It starts with All Saint’s Eve (what we in the US know as Halloween). Then, the next day, there’s All Saints Day. The final day of the Allhallowtide triduum is All Souls’ Day or the Day of the Dead which corresponds with the Mexican celebration of El Día de los Muertos.
There’s something so strangely refreshing and soothing about this time of year when we take a few days to turn toward the human experience of death. Death has been around since day one and is nothing new. Death is occurring around and inside of us right now. But we all face different varying seasons of dealing with death.
It’s easy to soften death by turning it into a metaphor. To soften it by equating death with loss, pain, or struggle. But death is more acute than this. When we lose things like a job or when we break up with a partner, yes, these times hurt. But real death is different. In most cases, a new job or a new squeeze is right around the corner.
There’s a finality of death that makes it distinct from loss or pain. That person or animal that you once shared your days with is not coming back on this side of the veil.
Death plays no games. In that sense, there’s a relief to it. It doesn’t hold out the possibility of getting that person back if you do x, y, and z. You can’t change death’s mind. It is what it is. All you can do is hold fast through your grief and let it move through you.
But metaphorizing death is also understandable and okay. You might be going through familial relationships or friendships that have ended with the thud of finality. Parts of you, maybe personally or vocationally, have ended forever. Death works in and through us at all times. We need time and space to lament.
This is the time of year that the church provides to do just that. If we ignore death and try to hold grief locked away inside, it creeps up on us and squishes out sideways in our lives. We must respect it.
Meditating on our own mortality in the practice of memento mori is one of the most enriching spiritual practices I know (see the article linked below for more on this). When I was preparing for my hospital chaplaincy last summer, we studied (yes, another fancy schmancy Latin term) ars morendi, or the art of dying well.
Dealing with death is spiritual. A solid theology of death is vital to a full life.
In our US context, our culture mostly ignores death. We override it. We battle it. We try to stave it off. And I get it. Death sucks.
But like I said earlier, death refuses to be ignored. We must learn how to live with death. It has much to teach us. And in the Christian faith, we have good news to accompany us in our sorrow. For we believe in an ancient story and a risen Messiah that reveals that death never has the last word. Life/God uses death to resurrect new life. I believe we know this at a cellular level if we listen deeply enough.
Happy Allhallowtide,
Jonas
Prayer of the Week
Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost
Almighty God, gracious Lord, we thank you that your Holy Spirit renews the church in every age. Pour out your Holy Spirit on your faithful people. Keep them steadfast in your word, protect and comfort them in times of trial, defend them against all enemies of the gospel, and bestow on the church your saving peace, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Weekly Grab Bag of Links and Things
Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble is a boss. She’s a former atheist who revitalized the (previously mentioned) concept of memento mori. Now it’s all over the place, it seems (or maybe that’s just my personal algorithm, I dunno). You can read more about her here. (If you’re not a paid subscriber of NYT and have been locked out of free NYT articles, you can read about Sister Theresa here at her website for free.)
I have a confession to make… I have a slightly pagan side. Don’t freak out, Christians, I don’t offer blood sacrifices to the gods on moonlit nights. I’m not a pantheist (meaning that I don’t worship nature). I am, however, a penENtheist. This means that I believe that God indwells and transcends the created world (but is not limited to the created world). It’s been said that God becomes what God creates.
I really appreciate the ancient pagan affection for the created natural world. Lutheran theologian Steven Paulson quips this in his book Luther for Armchair Theologians:
“Without knowing this you might find it strange that Luther paused in his last great Bible lecture on Genesis (1535) to say that of all the philosophies and religions of the world, it is the “anthropomorphists” (from so-called primitive or animistic religions) who are closest to the truth. They set up handmade images such as totems or statues and believe they find God there. Luther thought that they were not so far off as the dreamers who set up metaphysical “ideas” and “rituals” and “methods” of heightening spirituality in the vain attempt to help transcend our low and mean estate on earth. The only thing missing in anthropomorphic religion is a clear and specific word of promise to go with the totem pole, for the created things too easily become worshiped in themselves instead of being God’s self-giving masks.”
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH and am proud to say that a Lutheran wrote it. All of this being said, if you have an animistic side to you and would like a soundtrack to celebrate it, listen to one of my new favorite bands, Wardruna. They’re Swedish and they’re frikkin amazing.
To wrap this section up, I want to share an ode to Halloween that my dear friends at the Emmy Award-winning Christian nonprofit SALT Project wrote. This sums up my deep love for All Hallows Eve and shares it in a Christian light…
Posts from earlier in the week
Weekly Snaps
As Ever,
Jonas
I am currently in Mexico and this is my first time participating in the Dia De Los Muertos festivities. We are going to mass tonight and I had no idea of the Halloween tritium. This morning I was journaling on Jesus’s first words of forgiveness on the cross and the unexpected death of a loved one. Very fitting to read this afterward. Much needed. Thank you for this post!