What are you going to be for Halloween? Usually kids have their costumes picked out for several weeks prior to this holiday. I am always amazed at how creative some folks are with their costumes and that in 2006, we spent $4.6 billion on costumes just for Halloween, not counting the candy we bought.

If you search for the history of Halloween, you learn it comes from the Celts, who celebrated a holiday they called Samhain, the name of the God of Death.

On the last day of October, (when the harvest season had ended and the days were getting shorter and colder) the God Samhain allowed the souls of the dead to visit the homes they once lived in.

On that night, folks would leave their homes and gather together in a field where they would build a huge bonfire to scare away all the evil spirits and any ghost, goblins or any other demons that may be roaming around in the night. The need to ward off the harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks.

Eventually, the Celt religion was replaced by Christianity. Somewhere around 800 A.D., the Christian church declared Nov. 1 as All Saints' Day to honor all the Saints who did not have a special day of their own. The Catholic Church also made Nov. 2 All Souls' Day to honor the dead by praying for the release of any suffering they may have on their journey Home to God. The Mass said on All Saints' Day was known as Allhallowmas.

The evening before, Oct. 31 became known as All Hallow Eve. Over time, the name has been shortened to Halloween. (History taken from "The Halloween Book" by Sharon, David and Marilyn Mets)

Halloween being on the eve of All Saints Day puts me in touch with the mystery of resurrection and eternal life. Lately, there have been many commercials from financial companies wanting us to regain their trust for security for our future, and when I hear them I am reminded of the only place we have security.

I mean, complete security, and that is in Jesus Christ. When we are baptized, we are marked with the sign of the cross and marked as Christ’s own forever.

As the scripture from Romans reminds us, there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

We belong to him forever.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8 38-39

On Nov. 1, we celebrate All Saint Day, and this has been one of my favorite feast days in the church. This holy day reminds me to give thanks for those who God has placed in my life, and gifts of joy and love they have brought this world. It is so powerful to remember we are connected to all those who have died in the hope of the resurrection.

We indeed have a great cloud of witnesses who have persevered in faith in this life and who now live with Jesus. And these saints continue to cheer us on so we can stand firm in faith each and every day until we depart this life and take Jesus by the hand for all eternity. What a powerful reminder of the communion of the saints and that our relationships with one another in Christ are indissoluble, they are ties that last forever.

I end with the words of a hymn I have loved since I was a child, “I Sing A Song Of The Saints Of God"

“ I sing a song of the saints of God, patient and brave and true, who toiled and fought and lived and died for the Lord they loved and knew. And one was a doctor, and one was a queen, and one was a shepherdess on the green; they were all of them saints of God, and I mean, God helping, to be one too.

They loved their Lord so dear, so dear, and his love made them strong; and they followed the right for Jesus' sake the whole of their good lives long.

And one was a soldier, and one was a priest, and one was slain by a fierce wild beast;

and there's not any reason, no, not the least, why I shouldn't be one too.

They lived not only in ages past; there are hundreds of thousands still.

The world is bright with the joyous saints who love to do Jesus' will.

You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store, in church, by the sea, in the house next door; they are saints of God, whether rich or poor, and I mean to be one too.”

The words to this Christian hymn were written by Lesbia Scott and first published in 1929.