All Three Days

Yes, Halloween is over and we are thinking out loud, what's next? Most of you think the next thing is Christmas, but it's not. Today is All Saints Day or as it was intended to be, ALL saints day. This day came into being in the early years of the church as a day to honour and remember the saints of the church. It was first celebrated on May 13th, 609.

This celebration is a commemoration of those individuals who were martyred for their faith by the Romans & others in the first three hundred years since Christ's death. Which begs to ask, what about All Hallows Eve? Halloween was that day people would light bonfires and dress up to scare ghosts away, preparing for ALL saints day.

All Saint's Day then developed into a celebration commemorating individuals who died for their faith in Christ. Because there were so many in the first three hundred years of the church, it is one day for all of them while there are special feast days set aside for specific individuals like Peter and even people like John Wesley. And just so you know, All Saint's Day is not just for Catholics, the Methodist, and Lutheran plus other churches celebrate it.

Now we can move on to the next celebration. No, again it's not Christmas because tomorrow is 'All Souls Day'. What's with that? I believe it may be the most important personal celebration of these three days. This is the day where we do something close to our hearts. It is here to have us remember the individual or individuals who in our eyes lead us to faith in Christ. That is what these three days do for us. They all go together, giving us opportunity to reflect on our faith and who influenced us to put our faith in Christ who will lead us into heaven.

All of this moves us to be thankful in a very real way. And that is because it is always through another individual that we come to Christ. And if truth be told, we can even be that 'All Soul . . .' that shows the way to Christ in another individual's life.

Something to think about.

Rob