Hazelwell Weekly Contact 3rd November 2024
1 Nov 2024 • Weekly Notices
Hazelwell Morning Worship
Led by Shannon Moore
Please pray for
The residents of Hazelwell Fordrough & Edwin Road
Give thanks for all former members of our church family who have helped to lead us on our spiritual journey.
Please remember in your prayers Val, Louise, Chris, Elaine & Nuala
Update
THIS SATURDAY: All Welcome
Admission by ticket or pay on the door
All Saints' Day
(from a reflection by Dean from Scottish Episcopal Church, Murrayfield, Edinburgh)
What are we doing today as we commemorate the saints and remember our loved ones departed? Simply put, we are remembering with gratitude those who we have known and loved who have died and gone to God before us and we are giving thanks for those deemed to be saints and asking for their prayers as we try to live a good Christian life.
The saints are those named by the church as being good examples to us of how to live a life dedicated to the service of Christ and to God’s people. They range from the obscure and eccentric to the known and remembered. They are remembered by the Church and us today as an encouragement in how we attempt to live our lives in the light of Christ. Like us the saints are flawed and all too human but that I think can be more of a help than a hindrance as we can see in them ourselves and we can be, as I say, encouraged in the lives we are trying to live.
As helpful as these comments may be they do not, however, remove the pain of loss and separation that we feel when our loved ones die. That pain is often raw for a long time and I actually think that one never really gets over it but learns to live with the pain better as time passes. The one thing we never do is to forget those we have loved and lost – they remain alive in our memories, hearts and consciousness.
Our commemoration today encourages us to remember our loved ones both with smiles and sorrow and it tells us not to squander the time we have left. I also think it says to us not to worry about what we may or may not leave behind either. For what we leave behind is ultimately decided by those who are left, for it is they who remember what is important to them about us. The saints did not know that they would be declared ‘saintly’ - it was after their death that others decided their lives merited that honour. This does not mean that we should not try to live a good life, far from it in fact because I suspect we would all like the memories we leave behind for others to be good ones and who knows thy might think us saintly too!