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St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

505 West Market Street, Newark, NJ

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Africa and the Apostles

Please join us for Fellowship Hour & Adult Discussion group with refreshments after the service! November 8^th We present the feature film The Story of Ruth (1960) Directed by Henry Koster. With Stuart Whitman, Tom Tryon, Peggy Wood!

The Rev. Rogelio Panton Celebrant and Preacher

Louise Meggett, Senior Warden,

Ellen Moore, Junior Warden

Forrest Drennen, Director of Music

E-mail StBarnabasEC@optonline.net

"See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." Revelation 21: 3-4

Today (November 1^st) is The feast of All Saints and the church celebrates this great commemoration of all who have preceded us in this life. All Saints' Day is a universal festival of the Church. This festival day directs our attention to the richness of Christian history and the varied experiences of the grace of God by lifting up the lives of the saints. The commemoration of all the saints in November is said to have originated in Ireland (ca. 835 A.D.), spread from there to England, and then to the continent of Europe and Rome. All Saints' Day is classified in the Book of Common Prayer as a Principal Feast falling 4th in importance, behind Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas. It is designated as an especially appropriate occasion for baptisms. It is also an occasion for the reading of a necrology - a roll call remembering the saints who have gone on before us.

This week the church celebrates All Hallows' Eve [popularly called "Hallow e'en" or "Halloween"], the Festival of All Saints (Sunday) and All Souls day, a tridium (a three-day celebration) of commemorations of the dead dating back to pre-Christian eras. The BOS (Book of Occasional Services) provides a form for a service on All Hallows' Eve (Oct 31). This service begins with the Prayer for Light, and it includes two or more readings from scripture. The options for the readings include the Witch of Endor (1 Sm 28:3-25), the Vision of Eliphaz the Temanite (Job 4:12-21), the Valley of Dry Bones (Ez 37:1-14), and the War in Heaven (Rev 12:[1-6]7-12). All Saints Day is one of the seven principal festivals of the church year instituted to honor all the saints, known and unknown, and, to supply any deficiencies in the faithful's celebration of saints' feasts during the year. All Saints day is celebrated on Nov. 1. The last day of this Christianized commemoration of the dead is known as All Soul's Day, falling on November 2nd. On this day, the Church remembers all of the faithful departed who died peaceable deaths with the expectation of Christ's promises of eternal life. Together this tridium celebrates the Communion of Saints - a fellowship of the Holy Spirit encompassing the living and the dead.