All Saints’ Sunday and the Start of Plowshares

Good morning, Sacred Place,

This weekend is thick with remembering. Halloween is Saturday night, and Sunday and Monday hold All Saints’, All Souls’, and Día de los Muertos. Some of us are carrying fresh grief this year, and some are carrying names we’ve held for a long time. Bring them with you.

Sunday also begins Plowshares, four weeks on power and what God asks of it, walking us right up to Advent. We start with a hard story from 2 Samuel: a king who stays home from the war, takes what was never his, and counts on everyone forgetting the people who paid for it. It’s a story about names, which makes it a fitting one for All Saints’. A heads-up for those who need it: the reading includes sexual violence and a death the powerful covered up, and we’ll hold it with care.

We’ll share communion, and during communion we’ll light candles for the saints we carry with us. Come ready to say a name out loud.

One practical note: daylight saving time ends early Sunday morning, so set your clocks back an hour Saturday night. If you forget, you’ll just be an hour early.

I’m grateful to be remembering with you.

If you can’t be with us in person, you can watch live at 11:00 AM Pacific.

Pastor Matthew