JOIN US ON ALL SAINTS’ DAY – SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND

JOIN US ON ALL SAINTS’ DAY – SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND

Please submit names to be read on our All Saints Day Celebration on Sunday, November 2. Please email or call the office with the information. Also, specify if the name will be read at our 8AM or 10AM service. 

All Saints’ Day commemorates all saints, known and unknown, on Nov. 1. It is one of the seven principal feasts of the church year….All Saints' Day may also be celebrated on the Sunday following Nov. 1.

All Saints Day started in the late Spring as a way to convert the pagan holidays that pre-dated Christianity. It was later moved to the first of November for the same reason. Christians in the Middle Ages wanted to set aside a day to acknowledge those who have gone before us, to root us into our spiritual family.

It isn’t a pagan conspiracy that All Saints Day is held near ancient pagan holidays. Instead, it is a victory. Ancient peoples feared the spirits of the dead. They often tried to appease the spirits, including the spirits of their ancestors. Even Christians can mistakenly engage in a fearful disposition about spirits, like the Apostles did when Jesus arose from the grave.

All Saints Day celebrates exemplary, though not “perfect,” Christians. It recognizes those in whom an aspect of God’s grace shone so brightly that it inspired the acclaim of many. We commemorate the Patriarchs, the Prophets, and Mary, Joseph, the Apostles, and so many other biblical saints. We also commemorate the saints of the Christian Church, including martyrs like Perpetua, teachers like Augustine, and mystics like St. Teresa of Avila.

Later, the church added All Souls Day on the second of November as a way to acknowledge all believers. Many Churches combine the two days into one Sunday Service. This focus on the past helps us gain wisdom for the present. By focusing on these saints, we can learn from them.

On All Saints Day/All Souls Day many churches (including Grace Church Massapequa) read the names of those in the parish, or family members, who have died in the faith. By keeping these names on our lips, we are confessing that the faithful dead are alive…for

God is not a God of the dead, but of the living.

(Source: The Anglican Compass -  https://anglicancompass.com/what-is-all-saints-day /

October Schedule – 2025