October 31, 2025
Good afternoon,
As evening nears on Hallowe’en, many are getting ready for trick or treaters… and hopefully one more win by the Jays!
But for some individuals and societies, there is a sacredness in this coming weekend which begins with All Hallow’s Eve and concludes with All Saints Sunday, an invitation to take pause in the thin places of our lives — a time of remembering, gratitude, and hope. I share with you a poem by Jan Berry called “Between the Worlds”, whose words, I think, beautifully capture the sacred thresholds we inhabit:
“Between the Worlds”
by Jan Berry
Between the worlds of night and day
we meet the spirits in dusk and twilight.
Between the worlds of darkness and light
we play with the dancing shadows.
Between the worlds of sleeping and waking
we follow the signs of our dreams.
Between the worlds of silence and speech
we hear the murmuring voices.
Between the worlds of stillness and action
we tremble in the balance, poised and waiting.
Between the worlds of remembering and forgetting
we grasp the fragments of what we have learned.
Between the worlds of the named and the unknown
we recognise the glimpses of mystery.
Between the worlds of receiving and giving
we hold in trust what we own and are.
Between the worlds of the forbidden and the safe
we encounter risk and freedom.
Between the worlds of the past and the future
we are present in this moment of now.
Between the worlds of the dead and the living
we encounter the Spirit who weaves our lives.
This Sunday, we will gather for All Saints Sunday worship, a day set aside in the Christian year to give thanks for the great communion of saints—those who have gone before us in faith and those who still walk beside us. It is a time to remember with love, to honour with gratitude, and to find renewed hope in the promise of resurrection.
Within our worship, there will be a time called “Remembering the Saints Before Us,” which will include an act of remembrance for those interred at the Hanwell Presbyterian Cemetery. A video will be shared showing names and photos of those resting in our church cemetery, as well as members of St. James no longer with us. This annual tradition continues to evolve as we find meaningful ways to tell the stories of faith that connect us across generations.
Following the video, family members will be invited to take a rose and place it on their loved one’s headstone, a simple and tender act of remembrance that affirms love’s enduring presence and the bond we share in Christ, who is Lord of both the living and the dead.
The session and cemetery committee are always grateful for donations toward the perpetual care of the church cemetery. If you wish to make a donation, you may include a designated amount (marked “cemetery”) in your offering envelope or in a specially marked envelope. If using a separate envelope, please include your name so that it can be recorded with your annual givings. If sending a donation by e-transfer, please indicate it is for the cemetery when you send the e-giving to [email protected].
As we move from All Hallow’s Eve into All Saints Sunday, may we find ourselves between the worlds of remembering and forgetting—holding in trust the love, faith, and witness of those who have gone before us, and living now in the light of the One who weaves all our lives together in grace.
Blessings,
Rev. Wendy