November

A Month for Remembering

Greetings!

When I was a child growing up in southern Minnesota, November was often the overlooked month between October and December. It didn’t have the exhilaration of Halloween or the frenzy of Christmas. Of course, there was Thanksgiving Day and my birthday, but those days were quickly overlooked by the activities of October and December. Even the weather was dull. November was historically the cloudiest month of the year. Occasionally, there was snow, but mostly not. Oddly, as I grew older, I came to appreciate the month in a whole new way. For me, it is a month of remembering.

November begins with All Saints Sunday when we remember the faithful witnesses in our lives who shared with us the Christ’s promise of life everlasting. Remembering the saints is one of the most important tasks of the church. It is a confession that no Christian stands strong alone. We are supported by a host of saints who support and encourage us in our own journey. The following Sunday at Lake of the Isles, we celebrate Remembrance Sunday, an occasion for remembering those who died in war. 30 years ago, when I was a missionary pastor in Latvia, I was introduced to the British Remembrance Day on November 11th. I was drawn to the scripture readings and music and decided then that I would honor my own father, a WWII veteran by remembering those who offered their lives in war. Remembrance Sunday has become a cherished part of my Novembers.

For years Thanksgiving Day has been more of a time of remembering the blessings of the past year than a single meal. When I was serving as a supervisor for teachers and missionaries in Central Europe, it was not unusual for me to host five Thanksgiving dinners in different cities, and none of them was on Thursday. I gathered with the various missionaries in their different communities, and we always began our meal by remembering the special blessing of the past year. That was actually the origin of our Thanksgiving worship service at Lake of the Isles with the personal stories of God’s blessings in the past year. It was all about inviting the guests at our tables to remember God’s blessings.

Finally, at the end of November we turn to the season of Advent and we remember Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem to save us. No, the Salvation Army song we sing at Lake of the Isles on the First Sunday in Advent, hasn’t always been a part of my November celebration. As missionaries in Latvia and Lithuania, we travelled to Sweden every year for Christmas shopping. On one of those occasions, we happened to be in Stockholm on the First Sunday in Advent and we heard the church filled with the sound of the Salvation Army hymn. I was so struck by the joy and the hymn’s call to remember Jesus’ story of salvation, I knew I had to find a copy of the music. The rest, as they say, is now history.

Dear friends, I pray that your month of November can be a time for poignant, reflective, healing and joyful remembering.

Peace,
Pastor Arden Haug