This Saturday (November 1) is All Saints’ Day: a Christian holy-day dedicated to honoring those who have died. The day has roots in early Christian worship services honoring martyrs, and there are records of Christians holding the commemorations on November 1st as far back as the 700s.
Today, a wide variety of Christian denominations around the world continue to celebrate All Saints’, including Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, and Reformed Churches. Eastern Orthodox Christians also celebrate All Saints’ Day, but in the summer.
On our campus we will be marking the holy day in a variety of ways, including:
Sunday morning worship in the Chapel of the Resurrection: We will worship through readings and music that focus on the themes of All Saints’ Day. We also specifically remember people connected to the Valpo community. During the prayers, we will read the names of people who have died in the past year, given to us by the Valpo community. Photos will be displayed around the baptismal font.
The ofrendas set up around campus. These are part of the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, which is intertwined with All Saints’. Ofrendas are altars set up to remember and honor those who have died. You will see these ofrendas filled with photographs and personal objects as well as the traditional symbols: marigolds, artfully-cut paper, bread, and salt.
This year’s ofrendas can be found in the following places around campus: the Gloria Christi Chapel (lower chapel); the Christopher Center (2nd floor); the Harre Union; Wesemann; Mueller; Urschel; and Loke.
As we’ve been preparing for these commemorations, I’ve been thinking about an old Celtic saying: “Heaven and earth are only three feet apart, but in the thin places the distance is even shorter.”
The term “thin places” is traditionally used to refer to ancient ruins and holy sites: places of wonder and beauty; places that remind us of our deep and abiding connection with the past – and beyond that, with the eternal. Traditional Celtic thin places include the monastery of Glendalough and the Isle of Iona.
As we commemorate All Saints’ Day, locations like the Chapel and the ofrendas become thin places for us. They offer us an embodied experience of connection to those we love that have died. They pull us out of our usual ways of thinking about time – through schedules and deadlines – and invite us to ponder eternity. And, for those of us that are Christian, these thin places are filled with the promise that God still holds us close to those we have loved and lost in the timeless and spaceless Body of Christ.
A Prayer Meditation for All Saints’ Day
We give you thanks, O God, for all the saints who ever worshiped you
Whether in brush arbors or cathedrals,
Weathered wooden churches or crumbling cement meeting houses
Where your name was lifted and adored.
We give you thanks, O God, for hands lifted in praise:
Manicured hands and hands stained with grease or soil,
Strong hands and those gnarled with age
Holy hands
Used as wave offerings across the land.
We thank you, God, for hardworking saints;
Whether hard-hatted or steel-booted,
Head ragged or aproned,
Blue-collared or three-piece-suited
They left their mark on the earth for you, for us, for our children to come.
Thank you, God, for the tremendous sacrifices made by those who have gone before us.
Bless the memories of your saints, God.
May we learn how to walk wisely from their examples of faith, dedication, worship, and love.
From the United Methodist Church’s Discipleship Ministries
– Pastor Kate
Rev. Katherine Museus and Rev. James A. Wetzstein serve as university pastors at the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University and take turns writing weekly devotions.
