THANK YOU for a wonderful Trunk or Treat event yesterday! We had about 220 visitors + Holmeswood folks there for fun and festivities. The costumes were so entertaining, as were the trunk hosts. A special thanks for Mission Council, Family Ministry Team and Kylene Campbell for making is a faBOOlous event!!

This week is FULL of holy days.

Celebration, remembering loved ones who have died, and honoring the coming together of churches. With all of this, I leave you with a poem by Jan Richardson. We have used some of her texts during Lent, and this one in particular speaks to the holy time of honoring loved ones and saints before us.

ENDURING BLESSING

What I really want to tell you

is to just lay this blessing

on your forehead,

on your heart;

let it rest

in the palm of your hand,

because there is hardly anything

this blessing could say,

any word it could offer

to fill the hollow.

Let this blessing

work its way

into you

with its lines

that hold nearly

unspeakable lament.

Let this blessing

settle into you

with its hope

more ancient

than knowing.

Hear how this blessing

has not come alone—

how it echoes with

the voices of those

who accompany you,

who attend you in every moment,

who continually whisper

this blessing to you.

Hear how they

do not cease

to walk with you,

even when the dark

is deepest.

Hear how they

encompass you always—

breathing this blessing to you,

bearing this blessing to you

still.

—Jan Richardson

from The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief

Image: “A Gathering of Spirits”

© Jan Richardson

November 6 – All Saints Sunday

• Annually, we remember in Worship saints who have died in the last year, particularly church members and those making a difference in our community. A special activity for the children to give to families whose loved ones have died will be made and gifted, and this is also a time to talk about grief with children in a safe, age-appropriate way that will give families tools for conversations in the present and future.