Hang on to your hat this weekend, when Catholic and Protestant churches gather to worship the same God in their own ways — just as almost everyone else has been out having fun trick-or-treating!

In 1517, Martin Luther, a Catholic monk and priest in Eisenach, Germany, knowing that All Saints Day — also called All Souls Day — on Nov. 1 was a day of obligation when everyone would be coming to Wittenberg Castle Church, nailed his 95 Theses to the wooden church door for all to read as they arrived for worship.

The ideas on that paper were intended to reform and improve the ministries of the church. Instead, his observations and proposals were taken as “protests.” Hence, the origin of the Protestant church!

In the 18th century, John Wesley and his brother Charles began another movement at Oxford University that birthed the Methodist Church, further expanding the Protestant movement.

Those venerated as saints in the church were people whose acts or deeds were exceptional. However, another understanding simply defines a saint as a forgiven sinner — a definition you might hear in many All Saints Day sermons the weekend of Nov. 1!

This is why Oct. 31 is named All Hallows’ Eve, or Halloween, while it’s also known as Reformation Day — just one day before All Saints Day!

All in all, this year, that’s quite a weekend!

Editor’s note: Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN) contributor Pastor Rod Anderson also serves on the EPLN Board of Directors. He was the senior pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie. 

Interested in contributing a faith-based column to EPLN? Email editor@eplocalnews.org.