Just a few tweaks to update this week’s nondenominational worship service for the day after Halloween, All Saints Day or All Souls Day.

As always, this service is suitable for older adults with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. I really love this service, and it tends to surprise elders (and others) to have a Christian theme that’s appropriate for Halloween.

Watch the 44-minute church service for All Saints Day here.

And here’s the written agenda for the All Saints Day worship service.

HISTORY OF ALL SAINTS DAY

I like to include a little background for this service, in case any elders are concerned about celebrating a holiday that’s often associated with darker forces.

According to church tradition, the end of October and beginning of November signal a time when the veil between this world and the next is especially thin. That’s why various cultures celebrate Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day around this time.

More than 2,000 years ago, the Celtic harvest festival Samhain (pronounced sow-INN) observed a time when the spirits of the departed were believed to mingle more freely with this world.

According to History.com, by the 9th century, Christianity’s influence blended with Celtic rites, including Samhain. “In 1000 A.D., the church established All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. The All Saints’ Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse, meaning All Saints’ Day). [The] night before, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-Hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.”

In some parts of Latin America, this between-worlds celebration is now the highly decorated Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) to honor and remember relatives who’ve passed on.

For Christians, remembering the saints of old (and saints today!) gives us the chance to thank God for their example and to remember what we’ve learned from them.

Peace be with you,

Photo by Neven Krcmarek on Unsplash