The room is lit only with banks of candles on a central table as all enter and are seated in a circle. Autumn decorations of leaves, bare branches and gourds (away from the candles, please!) decorate the space. The mood is serious but not morose. Good opening hymns -- The earth, the air, the fire, the water, return to We Are a Circle.

The worship leader speaks

Welcome and good morning. It is good to gather in our circle of family and friends and congregation. We sit today in a circle because like the circle we have no top or bottom, just a round warm ball of people. One of the things we do together is watch the year change from season to season. Have you ever wondered why summer has to end? Or why winter doesn't stay forever? Lots of people have and some of them have made up stories about it. I have one to tell you.

The worship leader tells the story of Demeter and Persephone, with as much drama and histrionics as they can muster. The story concludes with the following words:

And thus it is that life departs and life returns and life departs and life returns... season after season and year after year. And so we in this circle and of this season of life, must depart and must return.

Gentle music plays in the background for quiet reflection. Music ends and the worship leader peaks.

We are here together today to celebrate the holiday of Samhain, which comes from the Celtic people and is still celebrated today all around the world... Now, a long time ago, in what we call Europe, North through Denmark, South through Spain and Portugal, West to Switzerland and parts of Germany, and East through France to the Islands of Britain and Ireland lived a race of people called Keltoi or Celts. They were farmers and craftsmen and metal workers, warriors, poets and priests.

Life was hard, even for the wealthy, and it was often short. Who in this room is between 5 and 10? (Hands are raised.) If you had lived three thousand years ago you would be responsible for tending animals, gathering wood for the fires at the ironworks, and perhaps accompanying your chief into battle. Who in this room is between 10 and 15? (Hands are raised.) If you had lived three thousand years ago, you would be doing the work of an adult, mining, farming, fighting and caring for a family of your own. By the middle of your teenage years, you would have been an adult. Now who in this room is over 30? (Hands are raised.) You would have been considered very old by the standards of the time. Most people didn't live to be much older than that.

Living in that way, the religion of the Celtic people was very concerned with life and death. And the year was divided into two parts: light and dark. The light time of the year, beginning in the spring, was the time of life, of crops and harvest. After the last harvest, at the end of Autumn, this time of year, people moved into what they called the dark time, when everything seemed to be dying and lifeless. And there was one day, the holy day of Samhain, when the great wheel of life shuddered and turned. This day was the time when people stopped between worlds, between light and dark, between life and death. The day when they looked both backwards and forwards.

And what of us? What does this have to do with people who live in warm houses, full of food and who can expect a long life? Samhain is still around, and people still celebrate it, even if they call it Halloween, or Hallows Eve. The leaves are falling off the trees, the gardens are turning brown and dry and the days are getting shorter. Tonight darkness will come earlier than ever before this fall.

A few Sundays ago we talked about the circle. And just like the people who lived all those years ago, our lives too are a circle. Think of the year as a circle. Spring to summer, to fall, to winter, and back to spring again. It happens over and over again all through our lives. Think of yourself as part of the circle. You wake up, you play or work, you sleep, you wake up again... and start all over. Think of life as a circle. Babies are born, grow up, grow old, and die, and babies are born, grow up, grow old, and die. It happens over and over again. You and you and you and you are all part of the circle as I am. Becuase we are part of the circle of life, we know that endings are part of it too.

Close your eyes and think about a time when you were sad. How did that feel? Did it feel like a rainy day? Did it feel like a cold dark night? Did it feel like a time when nobody was around to give you a hug? Sadness is the other side of happiness. Both sadness and happiness are part of the circle.

At Samhain people let themselves be sad. We have lots of reasons to be sad. When a friend moves away, when you lose a job, when a mom or dad has to leave, when you leave a favorite school. But the saddest thing of all is when someone you love dies. Maylbe your kitten or dog, a friend's mom or dad, or one of your grandparents. We're sad because they made us happy when they were alive. We're sad becuase we miss them. We're sad because we loved them. So at Samhain we remember all of the people and animals who have lived and died, because as long as we can remember those whom we love, they are alive in our hearts and our minds.

Today we are here to remember. We have lit candles for all of the people and animals we loved who have died. I'm going to ask you now to spend some time thinking and remembering and if you would like to say a name out loud, please do and let us all remember together. (Names are called out and the candles extinguished one by one.)

When the last name has been called, the worship leader speaks.

We remember today and we remember on other days. Because what is remembered...lives.

The worship leader allows silence to fill the room for a period of silent remembrance. When the paper noise and scuffling begin again, the worship leader speaks.

The wonderful thing about the circle is that it doesn't stop. It keeps going around and around and around. There is no beginning and there is no end. So even though the circle of life has endings, it also has beginnings. Although Samhain is the end of the summer, it is also the first day of the New Year. Everything becomes New today, everything starts again. Even with winter coming, we know that the seeds that fell off the plants are going to be new plants next spring with flowers. The bare tree branches are going to be covered in leaves again, and I have a pregnant cat at my house who's going to have babies in November.

We aren't always sad. Happiness is a part of the circle, too. Close your eyes and think about a time when you were happy. Did it feel like a warm blanket wrapped around you? Did it feel like sitting in front of a fireplace? Did it feel like a hug from you mom or dad or best friend? Did it feel like spring? The candles that we have put out need to be lit again. And I am going to light them for all of the beginnings that you can think of. New parts of your life, things you are beginning, ideas, plans, and all the new babies who will be born...starting over again. If you think of something new to light a candle for, and would like us to be happy with you, please say it.

As names (some of babies who won't be born for months!), engagements, graduations, projects, and plans are called out, the candles are relit, one by one. When the naming is over and the candles relit, all sing "No End to the Circle." The worship leader offers closing words.

We live inside the circle, the circle of time, the circle of life. In the circle we are born, live, and pass from this world. In the circle we love and are loved. In the circle we have come here together to laugh and to cry with each other...our friends, our families, our beloved community. And because we have each other, no sadness is too much to bear, and no happiness is celebrated alone. In the circle I bid you peace and blessed be.