Weekly parish email for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity: 3 November 2024

Announcements for the Week of Sunday, November 3, 2024

If you are visiting us: Welcome to Christ Church Anglican, Southern Pines! Thank you for being with us. We are very pleased to have you join us for the service, and hope that your worship here is a blessing to you. Please sign the guest book on the table in the narthex, and provide appropriate contact information. Include your email address in order to be placed on our parish email list: you won’t be bombarded with mail, but it’s a good way to keep in touch. And may God bless you!

No Wednesday Eucharist this week (November 6th), as Fr. Tom will be in Maryland – see below.

Fr. Tom in Maryland: I have the honour and pleasure of being asked to officiate at the Baptisms of my latest grand-nephew and first grand-niece. This will also give me an opportunity for a bit of a break, as I have not gotten the chance to take an actual vacation this year. I shall be returning late on Friday, November 8th. Our dear brother George – a licensed Lay Reader in the Diocese of the Holy Cross, and our Acolyte Master – will read Morning Prayer on this day. Many thanks for your understanding! – Fr. Tom

Blessing of the Hounds: Father Tom has once again been asked to officiate at The Blessing of the Hounds for the Moore County Hounds on Thanksgiving Day, November 28th. This is the third time he has been invited to perform this service. This event is open to the public, and a great deal of fun, as well as a tradition with deep Anglican roots in both England and America; it is also a fine opportunity to showcase our parish in the Moore County community.

Holy Days for the Week of November 3rd:

The Octave of All Saints continues through Friday, November 8th.

Sunday, November 3rd: St. Hubertus of Liège*

Monday, November 4th: Richard Hooker, Priest (1600)

Thursday, November 7th: St. Willibrord, Archbishop and Missionary (738)

* St. Hubertus, or St. Hubert, does not appear in the Prayer Book (and in any case would be transferred from the Sunday to an available weekday), but is a fascinating saint: patron of the hunt – both hunters and the game hunted – gamekeepers (and by extension wildlife biologists), foresters, and conservationists, among others. Furthermore, bloodhounds – originally a breed of hunting dogs – are known as “St. Hubert’s Hounds.” Basset hounds are also reportedly descended from les chiens de Saint-Hubert!

Rector’s Ramblings: Thoughts on the feast of All Saints

Wishing you all a very happy, holy, and blessed Hallowe’en, on this 31st of October! Does that seem incongruous, even, perhaps, scandalous? Well, read on! Have you ever wondered why Hallowe’en often has an apostrophe between the two “e”s? It’s because our word “Hallowe’en” is actually a shortened form of “(All) Hallows Even (-ing)”: the Eve of All Hallows, the Vigil of the age-old Christian feast of All Saints Day!

As traditionalist Substacker Isa Ryan commented this morning, “Halloween is a Christian holiday [holy day] that has been co-opted by ‘Satanists’ [and I would add, modern pagans]. Not the other way ’round.” And several years ago, Fr. Brendon Laroche, a Roman Catholic priest and blogger, commented, “this is your yearly reminder that dressing up as monsters to mock the impotence of evil in the face of the victory of Christ’s Cross is medieval and good!”

All Hallows Eve is actually the first day of a three-day period known in medieval and early-modern England (and still, among traditional Anglicans like myself!) as “Hallowtide,” or “All Hallows-tide,” and by our Roman Catholic brethren as the All Saints triduum. It celebrates all the saints (“holy ones”) of the Christian Church, known and unknown, both those of extraordinary sanctity, and those ordinary Christians (such as you and me) whose good works are known only to God.

Of the three, the only one to make it into the traditional Prayer Book calendar was today: All Saints. But of old, and to this day in some churches, especially those of a liturgical and sacramental character, it consists of:

• October 31st: All Hallows Eve, a.k.a. Eve of All Saints.
• November 1st: Feast of All Saints (or All Hallows).
• November 2nd: Feast of All Souls (celebrating all those who have departed this life in the faith of Christ).

It can also be argued that Hallowtide extends throughout the Octave of All Saints, which ends on the 8th of November. Of this observance, Fr. Richard L. Jones comments, “It is the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.

“And while many use this Christian celebration as a time to focus on things that are scary or frightening, we who belong to Christ should take this observance as a time and opportunity to be witnesses to the beauty of eternal life. We do not fear death because we know, as Christians, that death has lost its victory, and the grave has lost its sting. It is only a transition from this realm into the Heavenly realm, which is far more glorious and amazing.

“The world fears death because it lives without hope. But our hope is in Christ, who was raised from death unto life. That same eternal Life is in those saints who came before us, yet who have departed this world and who are now the blessed witnesses to the glory that awaits us!”

Here in the U.S., the Vigil of All Saints, All Hallows Eve, picked up some of the features of what in England and elsewhere was known as “Harvest Thanksgiving,” since our own holiday of Thanksgiving had its own history, customs, traditions, and even what might be called mythology attached. Thus the plethora of pumpkins, apples, and “Indian” corn we see displayed at this season here in the States.

It also picked up some of the elements of “spookiness” that befits a season of growing cold and dark, when all of nature seems to die, or at least go into a season of extended dormancy. Interestingly, in the Old Country, it was not All Hallows that enjoyed a close connection with ghost stories and the like: somewhat surprisingly to our perception, those were more common at Christmastide (see Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” the story of Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future,” or even the eve of May Day, called in German-speaking areas “Walpurgisnacht.”

(It was not until the 1970s that an opportunistic and flamboyant individual named Anton LeVey, founder of the so-called “Church of Satan,” decided to make Halloween one of the supposed holidays of that organization. Thus the comment with which I opened this – that Halloween was not a ‘satanic’ holiday co-opted by Christians, but a Christian holy day co-opted by self-proclaimed ‘satanists.’)

For that matter, All Saints has itself sometimes – especially in the early centuries of the Church – been celebrated at other times in the calendar year. But I find the current arrangement to be entirely appropriate, especially for those of us in the northern hemisphere. Both the bounty of the season and its slide toward dormancy reminds us of our Lord’s reminder that “unless a kernel of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” As was and is the case with the saints we honour on All Saints!

“The Circle of Life” has become a bit of a cliché, but things do not become clichés if they do not have at element of truth to them! On a physical level, the renewal of life utterly depends upon the decomposition of animal and vegetable matter to form soil. And on a spiritual level, it is the death of our own physical bodies that leads to new and unending life in Christ.

Finally, it is appropriate, I think, to have the All Hallows triduum serving as the “last hurrah” of the ecclesiastical calendar before the ecclesiastical “New Year” proclaimed by the first Sunday of Advent: the saints, shining as lights in the darkness of what my dear late mother called “this sin-sick and weary world,” appropriately foreshadow the come of the true Light of the World – Christ Himself – coming into this world of sin and death with His Incarnation and Nativity… but we will talk more about that, at a later time!

In any case, following are the liturgical Propers (Collect and Lessons) for All Saints Day, November 1st, as found in The Book of Common Prayer 1928. Wishing you all a happy, holy, and blessed Hallowtide!

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Fr. Tom

Propers for All Saints Day.

The Book of Common Prayer 1928.

The Collect.

O Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord; Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

¶ This Collect is to be said daily throughout the Octave.

For the Epistle. Rev. vii. 2.

And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying. Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

The Gospel. St. Matt. v. 1.

Jesus, seeing the multitudes, went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: and he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Another prayer:

O God, the King of saints, we praise and glorify thy holy Name for all thy servants who have finished their course in thy faith and fear: for the blessed Virgin Mary; for the holy patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs; and for all thine other righteous servants, known to us and unknown; and we pray that, encouraged by their examples, aided by their prayers, and strengthened by their fellowship, we also may be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; through the merits of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.