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The Citizen, 2001-10-31, Page 16Nov. 4 "God Speaks... through the Church" 9:30 a.m. - Sunday School for all ages, 10:30 a.m. - Worship at Blyth Public School, corner of King & Mill Pastor: Ernest Dow 523-4848 www.tcc.on.ca/-dowfam FA PA FA FA PA PA PA PA You are Welcome at the BLYTH COMMUNITY CHURCH OF GOD 9:45 a.m. - Sunday School - for ages 3 to adult 11:00 a.m. - Morning Worship 7:45 p.m. - Evening Worship Kids' Club - Tuesday - 3:45 - 5 p.m. Ages 6-11 welcome. Bible Studies - Wednesday morning 10 a.m. Wednesday evening 7:30 p.m. Phone 523-4590 308 Blyth Rd., Blyth Yleaae join u6, fax utaftalLift this Sunday Morning Worship Service -10 a.m. Evening Worship Service 7:30 p.m. Jesus said to her; "1 am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." — John 11:25 BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH Hwy. 4, Blyth 523-9233 Wheelchair accessible THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA Weicome4 you to come and wo,oliip, with November 4 Trinity, Blyth St. John's, Brussels et, 9:30 a.m. 11:15 a.m. ALL SAINTS DAY HOLY EUCHARIST The Rev. Tom Wilson, B.A., MDiv. 887-9273 Cornerstone Bible Fellowship Ethel Communion - 9:45 - 10:30 Family Bible Hour and Sunday School - 11:00 - 12:00 Prayer & Bible Study - Tuesday 8 p.m. " Adventure Club: Thursdays for 10 consecutive weeks September 27 to Nov. 29, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Children ages 4 to 12 welcome. Ladies' Time Out: the last Wednesday of each month (except October) 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. John 14:6 - Jesus said, "I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE, no one comes to the Father, but through Me." Everyone Welcome For more information call 887-6665 BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA Joan Golden - Diaconal Student Minister Church Office 887-6259 E-mail bepc@wcl.on.ca Ethel United Church 9:30 a.m. Worship Service & Sunday School Brussels United Church 11:00 a.m. Worship Service and Sunday School November 2nd at 8:00 p.m. there will be an informal time of prayer. All are invited for a time of reflection and prayer. Come worship and celebrate with us! HURON CHAPEL. EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY CHURCH Auburn - 526-7555 PASTOR DAVE WOOD - 523-9017 Sunday 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. - Wed., Oct. 31 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. - Friday 7:30 p.m. Family Bible Hour Morning Worship.Service Evening Worship Hillbilly Hootenanny, Auburn Community Hall. Fun for the whole family. Wear your hillbilly clothes. Youth BLYTH UNITED CHURCH Corner of Dinsley & Mill Street November 4 Worship Service & Sunday School 11:00 a.m. Guest Minister: David Williams Dedication — Sarnaidtareo "-woe — Shoe .%)/xeo. Office: 523-4224 MELVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BRUSSELS 11:00 a.m. - Morning Service - Sunday School 9:30 a.m. - Belgrave Service Wheelchair accessible Nursery care available Rev. Cathrine Campbell - 887-9831 PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2001. From the Minister's Study All Saints, All Souls and all that... By Rev. Tom Wilson Trinity, Blyth and St. John's, Brussels Anglican Churches As we approach one of the princi- pal feasts of the Christian Church, All Saints Day (Nov. 1), and one of its lesser feasts, All Souls Day (Nov. 2), and All Hallows Eve of Halloween, we have time to reflect on where they come from and how they affect us today. Fall festivals celebrating the har- vest and the end of the growing sea- son, and consequently the death of plants, etc. have existed for many thousands of years. The celebration of the Celtic pre- Christian Samhain (pronounced Sah-when) festival is at least 3,000 years old, according to archeologists. It celebrated the end of the harvest and the beginning of the season of Samana, the Lord of Death and the beginning of the winter season. The end of the fall season was the end of the national year, and the peri- od around Nov. 1 was a time of New Year's celebrations. There were huge bonfires, lit by the Celtic Druids (their spiritual leaders) on to which the offerings of crops and even ani- mal carcasses were thrown (bonfires is a contraction of bone tires). This year end was also regarded as a "between time", of this world and the next, when the two worlds mixed and the deceased came back to this world for the period of the Samhain celebrations. All fires in the Celt's homes were extinguished and at the end of .the three-day festival, they were rekin- dled from the communal fire, bring- ing the community together in a joint bond of warmth. We Christians con- tinue this use of tire, often lighting candles of remembrance for those who have died. Of course, 2,000 years ago the Roman empire was at its zenith. The Romans had their own fall festivals as well. They celebrated Firalia, or the festival of the dead, and the festi- val of Pamona, the Roman goddess of Fruits and Trees. Pomona's sym- bol was the apple. So perhaps this is why apples feature so prominently in our fall decorations. Belgrave hosts rally The 39th regional fall rally of the United Church Women was held on Oct. 16 at Belgrave United Church. The host unit was Calvin Brick UCW. The theme of the rally was laugh- ter, thus members were greeted by ladies dressed as clowns. Marg Livermore, North Huron contact per- son, led in a sing-song and Gloria Dow, president of Calvin Brick wel- comed everyone. Roll call was answered by a joke. UCW members were present from Belgrave, Whitechurch, Fordwich, Brussels, Bluevale, Wroxeter, Gorrie, Calvin Brick and Wingham. The guest speaker for the evening was Ed the Clown who told of taking the course through the Children's Aid Society in Goderich. He showed all present how his makeup was put on, and how he decided on a charac- ter. There are three types of clowns, white face, auguste and tramp. He is auguste clown. Fordwich UCW led the worship service. The 2002 rally is to be held in Fordwich, Sept. 24.. Calvin Brick ladies---served lunch following the meeting and allpresent had a chance to look at the book dis- play set up by Carol Simons from the Resource Centre at Mitchell. As the Roman Empire engulfed much of the Celtic World (southern and western Europe) the fall tradi- tions of remembering the dead became intermingled. When the Roman Emperor Constantine Christianized the Empire in the 4th century people still continued to give thanks for the har- vest (as we do to this day, here in the churches in north Huron County) and the remembrance of the dead after the harvest was gathered. Winter, while often fearsome still in 21st century Canada, was even more feared in the early Christian and pre-Christian times. It was a time of cold, illness, scarcity of food and because of all of the preceding, death. This rhythm of life and death was integrated into Christian custom, practice and belief, when in the 7th century, Pope Boniface IV declared Nov. 1 as All Saints Day, day to hon- at. r all the saints and martyrs of the early Christian Church. And, as with so- many Christian festivals, it was super-imposed over much older remembrances and celebrations. All Saints, was originally called (in mid- dle English) "Alholowmesse" or All Hallows and therefore the evening before was called All Hallow's Eve which has been changed over.the centuries to Halloween. And it is this mix of the pre-Christian traditions of dressing up to drive away the dead that might want to take over one's soul, the Roman festivals of the har- vest and the dead, and the Christian observances of remembrance of those who had suffered for their faith that we observe today. Originally the pre-Christian Celtic celebrations were observed over three days. In the Christian church this was changed to two days, All Hallows Eve and then All Hallows Day (All Saints Day). But in the 11th century the Christian church instituted the minor feast day of All Souls, to honour the dead of each parish or congregation. In much of Europe, All Souls was celebrated with bonfires, parades, dressing up in costumes, etc. So we can see how the pre-Christian Samhain festival has gradually evolved into our Christian obser- vance of Halloween, All Saints and All Souls. Humans have always had a fear of the dark, and the ultimate darkness of death. As seen above, even in pre- Christian times, people had religious practices to- help them to come to terms with the death of loved ones, and to come to some understanding of what happened after death and the ability to interact with those who had died. In our belief in Jesus Christ, Christians have overcome death, that through our baptism and faith, death has been replaced by life eternal with 'God in heaven. But our basic human fears and needs still exist, and we have the need to remember those who have died, to know that those who have gone before us are still alive in another place with God. And we Christians take time at the end of October and the beginning of November, at the end of our summer and our harvest to observe these fes- tivals, just as our ancestors- have done for thousands of years. As Christians we remember all those "who have died for their faith, those early Christians sacrificed in the coliseums, those martyred for their faith by being burned at the stake in the middle ages, and to mod- ern Christian martyrs, such as Dietrich Bonhoffer or Maximilian Kolbe, both ministers of God, mur- dered in Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War; and to those modern Christians, such as Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero, assassinated as he celebrated the mass in his cathedral in El Salvador in 1980, or those Christians burned to death in the Sudan in the late 1990s as they attended Sunday Services. We also celebrate All Souls Day to help us remember those in our own Christian towns, and villages, who worked in our churches and congre- gations to help build the body of Christ; to share the faith with those they lived and worked with. As we hand out candy and treats to those small children all dressed up and excited on Halloween, 'I urge you to take a moment or two and think of how this time of the year, that these observances of All Hallows Eve, All Saints and All Souls have been in our Christian tra- dition for almost 1,400 years, and they reflect a basic human need to vanquish death and darkness that goes back into the mists of history for many thousands of years. And for those of you who are Christians, I exhort' you, stop and take the time to remember through our faith in the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the darkness of our death has been destroyed forever and that after we leave this earthly existence, we will live with our God in brightness and light forever.