The Rev. Mike Angell preaches on All Saints Day: Your faith isn’t just yours. Your faith was passed down to you. Never forget that, and know when you come down the aisle of church, when you sing a song of the saints of God, when you stand around the table, you are not alone. The communion of the saints, all the saints is here to. So take off your grave clothes. Be Free. Practice resurrection, and get out there and get about the work of setting others free. That’s what Jesus asks of us, this All Saints Day.
Category Archives: Jesus
What does a thinking Christian do with Halloween?
Part of why we need to be careful about Halloween is because there are so many stories around us that associate evil with women’s bodies, with other cultures, with those who are different. Specific evils: Racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, age-ism, these evils haunt us. Real concrete harm is done when we allow these forces to run amok. Some modern feminists have re-claimed Lilith. Some in our congregation may even have once attended a “Lilith Fair” concert, a tour which featured women artists and told the rabbinic story of Lilith as Adam’s first wife, who refused to be subservient to men. When we encounter resistance to Halloween, I think we have to ask ourselves: what has done more damage in our history, literal demons?
God’s Sense of Humor and our Sense of Self
There is humor in these texts, I would argue, because God invites us almost always to take ourselves more lightly. The Spiritual life should make us laugh at ourselves at times, or else we’re probably doing it wrong.
Mike Angell 