Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning

Psalm 55 • Psalm 138, 139:1-17(18-23)
Ecclus. 35:1-17 • Rev. 13:11-18 • Luke 12:32-48

As you read this Morning Reflection, there are no doubt many children (and parents) in our midst trying to discern whether there is some way they can celebrate Halloween in 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic making it difficult to go trick-or-treating, attend costume parties, and give in to the craving for sweets, all expected concomitants of the holiday. While I hope that these folks, young and old, can find some way to participate in the revelry, I also hope that they take a minute to recall that Halloween derives from the ancient Christian fast day, All Hallows’ Eve, observed on the evening before All Saints’ Day, when we remember the faithful departed, the saints or the “hallows” that have left this earthly life before us. Today’s passage from the Gospel of Luke helps us to make that connection. 

In the section of Luke 12 that precedes today’s reading, Jesus has told his disciples the parable of the rich fool, the man whose ground had produced such a plenitude of grain that he determined to build a bigger barn, fill it with the abundant harvest, and then simply sit back, eat, drink, and be merry. But God intervenes and warns the man: “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” 

Our passage for today gives Jesus the opportunity to expand on this admonition. “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,” Jesus says, “like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. . . . You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” 

So what’s the Halloween/All Hallow’s Eve connection? At the risk of being cliched, here it is: Life is sweet; life is to be treasured. Celebrate the lives of the saints who have gone before us to God’s heavenly kingdom, and be watchful, be prepared, for we cannot know when our very lives will demanded of us. As we say in the Eucharist, "Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again."

Written by David Jolliffe

. . . who recommends that you find some time to appreciate the Dia de Muertos observances in our neighboring communities.