All Saints

Connecting with the True Wonder of All Hallows Eve

(an excerpt from The Storyteller chapter 5 The Hidden Treasure)

“Vale of Tears” by Gustave Doré

On the 31st of October 2019, we did something we had never done before. We gathered with our new church for a simple midnight service that honoured the One who ‘descended to the dead’, the martyrs of the Church and loved ones who had died. It was All Hallows’ Eve (sometimes called All Saints Eve - the day preceding All Saints Day) and this was a first ever for us. It was Halloween.

Who knew that this evening of costumes, pumpkins and trick or treats was rooted in such marvellous theology? All my life, every church I’d been part of had failed to capture the opportunity to talk victoriously about death and the dead with their kids. Why hadn’t anyone told me that All Hallows Eve was a celebration of Christ’s descent to the realm of departed souls and that he was there to proclaim his good news. That he was there because, just as in the parable of the lost sheep, ninety nine aren’t enough - he has to seek even the last lost one. No wonder it is called All Saints Day!

That evening, with our friends from Commoners Church, we celebrated that extraordinarily good news; and we honoured the martyred dead - countless men and women throughout history who were not afraid of death. Saints who, where others saw only darkness and despair, saw broken gates and new beginnings.

I’d learned from Ben Myers that the ancient Church was so steeped in the message of Christ’s triumph over death that they would assemble for prayer in tombs. It was a practice in Roman civilisation to bury the dead miles away from their cities so that the living were not contaminated. But the Christian’s erected their church buildings over the remains of the martyrs and housed the dead in their Cathedrals. They made it so obvious - death has no victory, death has no sting!

That evening at Commoners Church, Suzanne and I remembered and honoured our son Regan who at sixteen years of age had joined the dead. There was nothing ghoulish about our service that night. It was gratitude, it was remembrance, it was worship and it was quietly triumphant.

FOOTNOTE: I've had a few posts turn up in my social media feed about Halloween. Some warning me about devils and demons, witchcraft and satanists; others promoting their church's Halloween alternative (e.g. light party), etc. Not one of them revealed they had any idea at all about the power and beauty of All Hallows Eve. All representing lost opportunities to tell the next generation about Christ's triumph over death and hell, to craft a deep appreciation for the martyrs of the faith, and to incorporate with affection loved ones who have died yet still live.

The Storyteller by David Collins