One of the church’s oldest real traditions is remembering the dead. A firm belief in the resurrection of Jesus and reliance on his promise that we too would rise with him means that those who have died are not lost to us forever. They live with God in a way that the living, who see “through a glass darkly,” cannot fully understand.

The lectionary has a plenitude of readings from which to select Scriptures that will speak to this community in this time on this day. Perhaps there’s been a great natural disaster or a terrible war or pestilence or hard economic times; those who survive must keep alive the memories of those who did not. And we need to remember not only those we have loved but those who have died alone, unloved and unmourned.

Those who choose the community’s readings for today need to work together (well in advance) with those who choose the music, so that the music and Scriptures can reinforce each other most effectively.   

Faced with death and loss, we still sing. In the face of a single death or as witness to a holocaust, we sing—to give one another courage. We sing to remind ourselves that death truly has no dominion. We sing to make hardship and sorrow bearable. Not least, we sing to celebrate the new life God has in store for each of us.

M.D. Ridge