All Saint's Day . . . All Soul's Night, Halloween . . . A lolly haul, dress ups, candles in worship spaces, names of loved ones lost spoken. Australia doesn't really have much of a public tradition around this time of year. But commercialism is driving a shift and we are buying into it. It is this year for me and many I know, raising a question about who we are, how we like to do things, and why we might buy into it in the first place. |
I think next year, I'll gather with some folk and recall those who've been special to us, who have helped to shape us as people, in our faith, in the experiences we have lived. I'd like to light a candle as a way of honouring and remembering those who have gone before, and celebrate the goodness they have brought to the world. Maybe we could gather in the local park, or on the footpath with our neighbours, BBQ cooking away of course! We all have lost people who have been special. God invites us to recall and for a moment mark their life. God invites us to celebrate the hope we have in Christ Jesus - the light of the world, unconsumed by darkness.