All Souls' Day

Once again All Souls' is upon us. And once again our main question is - what do we believe we're doing?

At the brainstorm we held last week we found problems with all the symbolism people wanted to use. Little paper boats to be dropped into the brook, to sail away downstream until we saw them no more. Chinese lanterns that would drift off on the breeze (not least because we lost the Doily Shed the other year doing similar). Rolling oranges downhill into the spinney.

All suffered from the same problem. Sure they're comforting, they emphasise that the dead have continuity with the living in a Community of saints. But they all minimised the pain and separation of death and the profound change it makes. A loved one is with us: the body ceases to function; the loved one is with us no more. They have not wandered round the corner into another room, nor drifted into the sunset. Something total annd awful has come between us. Death is something, after all.

So today we're going to throw pebbles in the duck pond. They will shine in the light for a moment and then, hitting the water, disappear from our view. We will trust that they are safe where they settle, until the pond silts up and the farmer ploughs it. Or until that day when the earth dissolves in ashes and everything is changed.

But we'll still read out the names of those who've gone before. It's important to remember.