Monthly Spiritual Practice
June 2022
Every first Wednesday of the month, instead of a study or lesson, I hope to present a practice. Find a quiet time and space to lean in. Light a candle, maybe. Take a deep inhale. Hold it for one heartbeat and then exhale and begin. This month, we practice honoring our ancestors with an Ancestral Dinner.
Marietjie Henning – Gogo and The Ancestors
To Unfold
into a receptacle for holding joy, entrust your tender heart to another.
Look. We are more than our scars. We hold the memory of trauma
in our roots. And still, here is a moment of pure joy. See how our chests
shake the air with a trust manifested from generations of resilience?
Reach for each other. Embrace. Grow flowers with your lungs.Excerpt from Imaginary Photo Album or, When We Die, Our Polaroids Speak to Our Living Descendants
Ancestral Dinner
Spiritual practices of ancestral celebrations are ancient and hosted throughout the world. Perhaps the most well-know example of this comes from Mexico’s Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, when families briefly welcome back the souls of their deceased loved ones with their favorite food, music, and stories.
Though evangelical Christianity has closed the door on any ancestral celebration save memorializing those who fought in wars on Memorial Day, other denominations have opened the gate between the living in the dead in truly God-honoring ways.
Catholics have a long tradition of praying to saints and ancestors, as well as celebrating All Saint’s Day (aka Halloween). Though protestants never shared the faith tradition of having loved ones intercede for them, they did used to celebrate All Souls’ Day.
I mention all of this because I know many of you will think that honoring our ancestors or believing that they intercede on our behalf is completely taboo, and maybe even a tad macabre or evil. But if we believe in an afterlife, why don’t we believe in its ability to bring heaven on earth? After all, Jesus did instruct his friends to pray for “heaven on earth”, and before ascending into the heavens he told them, “Lo, I am with you always.”
And I know you’re thinking, “That was Jesus and he was divine.” But didn’t Jesus’s friends witness him talking to their ancestors Moses and Elijah?
Let me be clear: I am not at all suggesting that we invoke the spirits of our ancestors or try to reach them. Not at all. The last thing I want to do is disturb my ancestors' rest! But I do think there are better ways to honor our ancestors – and more than just the ones who served in the military. I can honor each of my ancestors personally by setting a table that they themselves would have enjoyed.
Lastly, we’re talking about honoring our ancestors, not worshipping them. Paying tribute to them can bring great healing and encouragement to the living.