I cannot believe we are already in November. Are you feeling the relief of cooler temperatures and decreased humidity? Or are you feeling a bit of melancholy as we watch the trees grow more barren, and experience the morning chill and graying skies? Are you anticipating all the activities and responsibilities between now and the end of the year?
November is a thin place of death and judgment and mercy. Yet, at the table of Jesus, every week, we step into a thin place where the living and the dead are close again; we are one with the communion of saints, one in the body and the blood. I see that veil open up every time I am able to commune the “other” among us. And it reminds me how easily Jesus can bring the walls down that divide us.
We begin the month with All Saints Day falling on a Sunday, the day after All Hallows Day. This is a time when we look more closely at death, we think more about those dear ones who have died, and we contemplate our own eventual death. We remember the veterans and celebrate the harvest in November. November reminds us that there may be empty places at the tables of this year’s holiday gatherings. But our texts these weeks in November give us solid reason to hope: “God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:9). God has called us, the baptized, to important labor: to “encourage one another and build up each other” (1 Thess. 5:11).
As we enter this holy month of November and share this holy meal together, may the eyes of our hearts be enlightened so we may perceive the hope to which God has called us.
Blessings in your journey,
Pastor Patti