We’re nearing the season where the veil between the living and the dead is said to be thinnest. Across many cultures and religious traditions around the world, connections with ancestors and loved ones lost are felt, honored, and celebrated. We have Samhain, Día de los Muertos, Halloween / All Hallows Eve, All Saints and All Souls days, among others. 

 

I have been thinking of our beloved dead a lot this fall. A private graveside service this Saturday will be the fourth A2U2 memorial since the church year began just over two months ago. It has been a season of significant loss for our congregation, and just as we are a new church each time a new member joins us, we’re also a new church each time we lose somebody. The ripples of our relational nature are profound. 

 

I was deeply moved this past week at the gathering outside the Cumberland County Commissioners meeting Monday night, where a large group gathered to put pressure on the commissioners to end our local jail’s contract with ICE (yes, we have ICE detainees in our jail here in Portland). The event was planned by Presente!, a grassroots mutual aid group led by and for displaced Afro/Indigenous Latines living in Maine. We stood in the dark and in the rain while members of Maine’s latinx community and other marginalized communities shared words of inspiration. One woman, in particular, spoke of the way her ancestors in the struggle for justice in South America were still with her, still guiding her. For some of us, regardless of the season, the veil between the living and the dead is thin. It’s always thin. 

 

In worship on Sunday we’ll reflect on this phenomenon… how those we’ve lost remain present in our lives long after they die. I’ll share a beautiful piece of writing by the beloved late poet Andrea Gibson, who died of cancer this year, entitled “Love Letter from the Afterlife.” And as always we’ll sing, light candles, open our minds in reflection and our hearts in love. Perhaps we’ll leave more closely tethered to our loved ones lost, to our ancestors of blood or spirit. Our children will remind us, too, to celebrate LIFE NOW!, as they travel through the building in costume for Trick-or-Treat The Values. In sorrow, joy, and gratitude, it will be good to be together. I hope to see you there.