October 30, 2022

Tomorrow is All Hallows Eve or Hallowe’en – the Eve of All Hallows or All Saints, followed by All Souls Day on Nov 2nd. For the ancient Celts, Oct 31 was the end of the old year – when nature was shedding its fall foliage in preparation for the long winter sleep of so many plants and trees and animals. This period of the end of the previous year’s greenness and fecundity, and the encroaching darkness, was also seen as the ‘thinnest’ time of the year – when the veil between the physical world and the spiritual world grows thin. In many traditional cultures in the northern hemisphere, where 87% of humans live, November is seen as the month of the dead – with places like Mexico starting the month with Dia de los Muertos or the Days of the Dead https://www.cheknews.ca/in-mexico-day-of-the-dead-is.../ My traditional Italian mother honoured her ancestors especially in November -- by paying to have masses said for the wellbeing of their souls; and saying rosaries for them at home while lighting candles in front of their pictures. And she also believed that this was the month when older people or the unwell were most likely to die – to surrender to nature’s overall invitation to stop clinging to what was. As a popular Facebook meme with lovely autumn leaves keeps saying: Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.

I wonder if it was autumn when Zacchaeus climbed that tree so he could better see Jesus, as our gospel tells us today. He certainly ends up letting go of things – letting go of much of his wealth to help the poor and those oppressed by excessive taxes. It’s a sweet story, an old Sunday school favourite of little Zacchaeus, hated by so many because of his being a wealthy tax collector – being welcomed by Jesus in a remarkable way. When Jesus looks up and sees him in that tree, he says: “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” From the most hated to the one chosen by Jesus to be his host for the day! Wow, eh! And of course, there’s grumbling: “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” I love how Jesus does this – he connects with this ‘sinner’ by wanting to sit at table with him – like a friend or brother. And Zacchaeus’ generous response and promise to share the wealth – shows us that Jesus’ instinct for what Zacchaeus needed – was dead on. It sounds like many of the people following Jesus that day thought they were not sinners. Perhaps like the Pharisee from last week’s gospel – thinking that because they were observant in religious obligations – in the minutiae of the law – God was happy with them.

Another infamous group of people who were sure they were not sinners – were the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. In our Isaiah reading today, the prophet speaks to their situation, calling them to hear the Word of God. Months ago we had the reading from Genesis 18 (v16-33) with Abraham trying to save these two cities from God’s wrath by finding enough good people in them. That reading did not make clear what the awful sins of those places were – sins so terrible that God planned to destroy them. As you may recall, the most commonly believed idea over time was that the Big Sin was homosexuality. Contemporary anti-gay American Evangelicals and others – love to point to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as proof that God hates homosexuality. However, in today’s reading from the first chapter of the great book of Isaiah -- a totally different story emerges. God sounds pretty angry alright, but what is God angry about? God is clearly fed up with Sodom and Gomorrah’s religious sacrifices, burnt offerings and incense, etc. “I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity” God tells them, “When you stretch out your hands … I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.” And what is the remedy? “Wash yourselves … remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good”. And what are God’s ideas about the good they should be doing? “[S]eek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”(v.17) And a reminder that the widow and orphan were the poorest people of that time and place … unlike today when we can see the world’s poverty stretched out before us on world news. At Bible study there was also a focus on God’s concluding line in this reading: “Come now, let us argue it out”. God is happy to hear our side of the story and is not afraid of a good debate. It’s good to know that we’re allowed to argue with God – maybe like Jacob wrestling with the angel.

In their celebration of All Hallows Eve, the early Celtic Christians were well aware that there are evil spirits as well as good ones. That’s what the scary-faced turnips and later pumpkins, were all about – to try and scare off those evil spirits that might be floating by when that veil between the worlds is so thin. As I’ve likely mentioned before … I’m against the idea that there’s no such thing as evil – only good and a lack of good. A naively dangerous idea that has us ignoring the many evils in our world, that call for our help in resisting. “Cease to do evil” God says, and “learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed.” The instructions are clear. That’s another thing I like about Hallowe’en – it focuses on scary or evil things and on death – to remind us that both exist – which we who are so privileged in the world, could easily forget. Mother Teresa is often misquoted as saying that “If you want to bring peace to the whole world, go home and love your family” – a quote that easily leads to lack of compassion for the world. But instead, what she spoke of in her Nobel Peace prize acceptance speech was that if we love Christ, we will try and do something for the poor: “First in our own home, next door neighbour, in the country we live, in the whole world.” https://blessedisshe.net/.../things-mother-teresa.../...

So I hope you’ll enjoy tomorrow – I’m glad there’s a seniors’ Hallowe’en party at our park clubhouse – enjoy laughing at death and welcoming good spirits to visit. The ancient Celts called this time Samhain which means summer’s end. It’s a time to turn inward for deepening our spiritual life; and a time to turn outward – seeing with greater compassion the world and all its suffering. May the thin veil reveal our close connection with all that lives and dies, Amen.