 Todays daily meditation from Richard Rohr…On these “thin days,” as the ancient Celts called them, All Saints Day and All Souls Day (Nov. 2), we are invited to be aware of deep time when past, present, and future time all come together as one. On these pivotal days we are reminded that our ancestors are still in us and work with us and through us. Protestants thought it was about “worshiping” saints, but that largely missed the point.
Actually this is a Christian meaning for reincarnation, which Christians also called “the communion of saints” in the Apostle’s Creed. This was the common and corporate notion of the human person. It realized that our ancestors are indeed in us and with us (as modern DNA studies can now prove), and then early Christianity added maybe even for us! We were quite foolish to make fun of many Native and Eastern religions, which we dismissed as “mere ancestor worship” who usually had the more corporate notion of personhood, far removed from the myth of modern individualism. All Saints Day is a celebration of all of us precisely in our togetherness, which is why the New Testament (in twenty places!) called all God lovers “the saints.” Discuss …. |
The Shiny Headed Prophet
a space to talk about faith, church, god, society, our journey and all that real stuff that matters in a post modern world … or just the ramblings of a bald post modern pilgrim! I must stress the postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent the views of the Diocese of Chelmsford, the Bishop of Chelmsford, the parish of St Barnabas Little Ilford, the Church of England or anywhere I may happen to be working. These views are personal!
