At the west end of All Saint’s church in Cuddesdon there is a Victorian stained glass window which looks a lot older.
It shows a depiction of the heavenly city, which shows a remarkable resemblance to the city of Oxford. Above the towers and steeples the ranks of the holy ones rise from townsfolk, to bishops, to holy virgins, to martyrs, saints, apostles, and finally, seated upon his rainbow of light is Christ in majesty. Sometimes, as the sun is setting in these late autumn days, its rays will pierce through this window and cast its colours upon the pillars of the church. As we enter the dark days of winter, November is the time of year when to turn our eyes heavenward and contemplate the great ‘cloud of witnesses’ that dwell in perpetual light.
The feast of All Saints traditionally began on All Hallows Eve or Halloween when poor folk would go round asking for food in exchange for prayers for the dead and pumpkins were put out as reminder of those souls who were in purgatory. Today it has become an opportunity for children to dress up as their favourite witch or wizard and go to discos or head out into the dark on the hunt for sweets. For some the fun of Halloween belies a sinister celebration of evil. However, as a parent of young children who wake in the witching hour of night with dreams of monsters and evil, Halloween helps to shine a light and dispel the fear which lies at the darkest recesses of the human mind. It is interesting that whilst few of us would believe in the object reality of the devil and demons in our rational and scientific world, Gothic fantasy is alive and well.
It is a truism that we do not truly know or appreciate light unless we also experience darkness. From the darkness of Halloween, the light of All Saints flickers forth as hope. On the 1st November we turn from evil to righteousness and those who dwell in the light of Christ. The windows of our churches shine down their names and faces: St Benedict, St John, Mary, St Gregory, Bede and so forth. To us who are still struggling with the toils and cares of this world, they can seem so smug and unhelpful. How on earth can I be like one of them? And yet when we turn to the stories of their lives we find a rather odd and at times ordinary bunch of people, what made them extraordinary is the extent to which they allowed the light of Christ to shine in and through their lives. Being shot through with this light did not necessarily mean they lead lives of comfort and security, often it lead to suffering and sacrifice. Yet to them these were nothing compared with the light and love of God which consumed them and burst out to illuminate and sanctify the world. They stand in our windows now, not as judgements on how we live our lives but as beacons which point us to this light and remind us of our own calling to sainthood.
So we turn finally to the 2nd November and the feast of All Souls, when we remember those we love, the saints we have lived with. No one ultimately knows what that heavenly city is like. We hear from Revelation that it is a place of perpetual light where the blessed see the face of God. All we can hope and trust in is the love of God who assures all that in the end all shall indeed be well.
Emma
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