For All the Saints

Hallowe’en is a pretty big deal for lots of people. And why not? It’s fun, kids and adults dress up and have a good time. There’s pumpkin carving, candy, decorations, trick or treating, candy,  parties, fringe benefits like the littlest ones dressing up and visiting seniors, candy, Hallowe’en “parades” at school, stopping by the local Legion or community hall for hot chocolate or hot dogs while you’re out and about. And candy. Some people even make their own costumes. Did I mention candy?

Sure, some people object to it on religious grounds, citing the connection to pagan festivals, and how some have used the opportunity to promote horror (the bad kind) more than fun. But it is what we make it, and if that’s an enjoyable opportunity to meet people, share some kindness (and candy) and create community, then let’s make it that. After all, it may have become mostly secular and we can argue about its roots, but religion started it right? The clue is the apostrophe.

Hallowe’en comes from All Hallow’s Eve. Like Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, it’s the night before a big day, All Hallows or the more familiar All Saints. Formally, it’s actually the first day of three: All Hallow’s Eve, All Hallows (or All Saints) and All Souls. Basically - and please learn more about it - that covers the getting ready (Eve), all the formal saints (Saints) and everybody else (Souls). It’s really about remembering people that are important to us, the historically saintly and the personally saintly.

So, let’s take a moment and wonder about what makes a saint. 

I don’t think it has anything to do with being properly religious, whatever that might be - and there are a lot of opinions about that. I don’t think Jesus thought that, either. In fact, I think, Jesus had some really good ideas about that and lived a life that showed us.

One of the things that’s key to all of it, though, is wrapped up in that expression we commonly call The Golden Rule. “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Jesus uses it and he’s not the first or only one to do so. It’s a principle that appears in almost every tradition and culture.

Thing is, I think we understand that to mean a certain mutuality, that there’s some reciprocity to the expression. In other words, do to others as you’d like them to do to you in order that they will do to you as you’d like them to do. That sounds convoluted, but essentially we do it with the expectation that we’ll get something in return. The better we treat them, the better they’ll treat us.

But I don’t think Jesus means it that way. In keeping with living God’s love into the world - Gods love which is unconditional - I think Jesus means for us to “do to others” the same way. It’s about how we live, not about the expectation of what we might get back. We should love because we love, not so that we’ll be loved. We should be kind because we are kind, not so that others will be kind to us.

I think we find it so challenging when Jesus says things like “love your enemies and do good to those who hate you” because we want our love to change them. We have an expectation of its effect on them. But that’s not what it’s about, Jesus would say, it’s about its effect on you.

Loving, caring, living the good that’s in us into the world, without an expectation of return. I think Jesus would say that’s saintly.