They are not gone from us, but gone before us

Our Christian tradition in the month of November brings us into conversation with Souls and Saints. November is a quality time with all who have walked the road of life with us as friends, neighbours, family and companions. In the communion time that marks November all over the world, we gather again with all who have gone before us into the Rising Sun, where the end of darkness reveals the breath of dawn. In this deeper than deep space of encounter, we begin to grasp the message in the cross, the extended arms of a timeless love. In November we join the Souls and Saints of our journey to remember together, to taste the endless Light.

From the earliest days of the Christian religion the Church has honoured with great reverence, the memory of the dead. Inscriptions going back to the first three centuries contain prayers for those who have died. The whole month of November is an interesting time of prayer as the very air is filled with human longing to reach beyond the finish line and to re-connect with a soulmate. Even the Halloween ghosts carry the burning question behind their masks and everywhere the heart-to-heart conversation resounds with the hope of meeting again. Belief in the resurrection of the dead is an essential part of Christian revelation and a belief we share with other major religions. It implies a particular understanding of the mystery of death. Death is the end of the physical enclosure of our earthly life, but ‘not of our existence’ (St. Ambrose).

For your faithful, O Lord, life has changed not ended…

November is a time of Presence. In these days of remembering, the moon and the stars keep company with us and at the darkest hour they move into our night. November is like that, a meeting place of loss and discovery where Souls and Saints keep watch with us, revealing the holy presence, the fullness of the vision beyond the sunset hour. Remembering is filled with Presence. The Presence is real and emotional, an experience of old friends writing footprints  for eternity. The Presence is everywhere. It is in the stillness of the village cemetery and in the smile of the evening star. This is the connection that reassures us of the life – stream, carrying us to the full embrace. Remembering aligns us to the great mystery where every ending is a new beginning.

I will never forget you my people. I have carved you on the palm of my hand.

The Covenant is signed in remembering. The theme of remembering holds the story together and faithfulness in remembering is the description of the relationship between the people and their God, between the Souls and Saints. In a COVID-19 world we are brought face to face with the consequences of forgetting as the Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor beg for a lighted candle. As the month of November marks our calendars once again in 2020, the community of Souls and Saints gather for prayer. Together we seek to restore the relationship of love between dying and rising, between now and forever, between earth and heaven. Together, we will remember.

Do not let your hearts be troubled.
I am going now to prepare a place for you,
and after I have gone and prepared you a place,
I shall return to take you to myself,
so that you may be with me where I am. 
John  (14:1-3)                 

In the rising of the sun and in its going down,
we remember them.
In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter,
we remember them.
In the opening of buds and in the rebirth of spring,
we remember them.
In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer,
we remember them.
In the rustling of leaves and in the beauty of autumn,
we remember them.
In the beginning of the year and when it ends,
we remember them.
When we are weary and in need of strength,
we remember them.
When we are lost and sick at heart,
we remember them.
When we have joys we yearn to share,
we remember them.
So long as we live, they too shall live, for they are now a part of us,
as we remember them.

by Rabbi Sylvan Kamens and Rabbi Jack Riemer

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