As Korey and I planned our final adult Sunday school class together described below, we quickly came upon the topic of celebration. Throughout the history of humankind, celebration has been an important part of survival, meaning, wellness, and community cohesiveness. Since the early days of people gathering in Bethlehem in Mary’s house at Christmas or praying in Peter’s house by the sea of Galilea, Christians have focused our celebration on what God has done for us and proclaimed the love of God which gives every single other thing in our lives and world meaning.

Thanksgiving and being together go hand in hand. In the middle of the holiday season with Halloween and Christmas on either side, Thanksgiving has in many ways been a moment to pause around the table for a good meal and reflect on all that we have for which to be grateful. For most of us, these past two years have brought limits and challenges to how we could gather. Hopefully this year will bring joyous reunion. For some of us, this year will be different due to loss. The Condons and our extended family certainly feel that poignantly as it was the last holiday we had with Sarah’s parents. And yet…and yet, we have a God we know to be our redeemer. We have a God who has suffered loss and responded with new life. With the awareness of that love, we can not only acknowledge loss, but proclaim hope and gratitude as we gather with so many cousins, aunts, and uncles this year.

As we proceed full speed ahead into this holiday season, it has been so wonderful to see many of our Holy Spirit traditions coming back. Trunk-or-Treat was a blast and there were so many costumed kiddos and creative trunks. We will have our Thanksgiving dinner and Eucharist this Sunday evening at 5 (don’t forget your side or desert to go with our smoked turkeys and dressing!). Some traditional parts of our common life are still not quite back to normal, such as having our Advent wreath making outside next Sunday, but all things considered, it is good to be back.

I recently sat with a couple who are getting married at Holy Spirit next week to talk through our Prayer Book service. When we think of weddings, we often think about vows, rings, and giving the church’s blessing. Whether they know it or not, most are pretty familiar with our BCP vows as they are the basis for most of what you will see in shows and movies with some version of “to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death.” The Declaration of Consent near the beginning of the service may also be familiar, “Will you love him/her, comfort him/her, honor and keep him/her, in sickness and in health…”

The Feast of All Saints holds a special place in the worship life of the church. As is stated in a liturgical book of observances, “All Saints’ Day is classed…as a Principal Feast, taking precedence of any day or observance. Among the seven so classified, All Saints’ Day alone may be observed on the following Sunday, in addition to its observance on its fixed date.” The aforementioned fixed date was November 1st, which you may note is the day after All Hallows Eve, now called Halloween. It is all connected. All this said, All Saints must be a pretty big deal, right?

When Will Stafford shared his idea for the Stewardship theme this year, I knew immediately that he had put his finger on the pulse of our community. “Joyous Together” embodies how I feel every time I get to see you. Every Sunday I see new faces I have missed for months and seeing you all light up when you encounter each other is the love of God manifest. We have weathered a worldwide event and to finally be on this side of it not only points to what we missed, but also how essential this community is. I believe coming together is essential for our wellbeing as well as fulfilling our need to hear the assurance of God’s love.

All the packages arrived today, thus we are ready for Trunk or Treat. As I shared at the announcements this past Sunday, our daughter insisted that our trunk will be “fairy” themed this year. Our son was creative enough to quickly come up with the idea for his costume – he will be the Marvel character “Groot.” That said, I did not get to decide for myself what my costume will be. While I will don my traditional pumpkin shirt, there is an extra part of the costume that you will have to come on the 31st to see.

Fifteen years ago today, I walked into a church in Mississippi. The church was full of family and friends, and as I stood at the front, I anxiously anticipated Sarah’s entry and journey down the aisle. These fifteen years of marriage have been full of joy and wonderful experiences as well as support through many challenges. Wonderfully, we have also shared the experience of guiding two little ones through the early years of their lives. Finally, it has been a blessing to live most of our marriage at Holy Spirit as we have served here eight and a half years.