Life is rapidly getting busy. I am starting to plan events around Christmas, and we've not reached Advent yet. We have a Carol Service to prepare for the 17th December, the Friendship Group will hold a Christmas Celebration when they've worked out a date, and Our Place wants to hold a Christmas Lunch on Friday 15th December.

I suggested that they might like to combine with the Friendship Group, but they explained that they did not want any religious input; the Christmas Lunch was just an excuse to get housebound people out of their houses and into some form of friendly community. It was a way of building trust between people who care and those who are trapped in bad boarding houses and other low standard accommodation. It was a way of helping people with social and mental disorders to find some companionship and friendship. Christmas was only the excuse for this gathering, it was not a gathering to celebrate the birth of Christ.

But the more I think about it, the more I think how close to the gospel it is. The prophet Isaiah says "On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food and he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death for ever. Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth."

It seems to me that the LORD of hosts and Our Place have the same idea in mind, to bring together at St Luke's, which is, after all on top of a hill, all people, the hungry, the grieving, the depressed and those living with the shadow of death about them.

This gathering together of all people is actually one of the most important parts of the gospel. When we say the Apostles' Creed we say, "I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen"

The Holy Spirit is given to us by God, to bring us together into community, as St Paul says, "just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and we were all made to drink of one Spirit."

When we say the holy catholic church we mean the church of God which includes all faithful people. Holy means that the church belongs to God, and catholic means that it is inclusive. Everyone is welcome to the table of the Lord. It is only human stupidity, pride and fear that keeps us apart.

The forgiveness of sins means that everything that divides us from each other, from God or from our true selves is washed away. True reconciliation happens and the human community, God and God's creation are restored to true fellowship.

The resurrection of the body means that each one of us is completely restored. It's not just our soul which God has redeemed, it is every part of what makes us human, every scrap of what makes us who we are. Our bodies will be changed of course, they will be restored completely to what God has in mind for us.

And the life everlasting means that we will be united in fellowship with God and each other in joy and peace for ever and ever. In the book of revelation God says, "I am making all things new. Write this, for these things are trustworthy and true." And God declares, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end."

Now the church has a special name for this great community, it is called the Communion of Saints, which we believe in. We become part of this Communion in Christ at Baptism and we continue sharing that life together, beyond death, to the end of time.

We speak of this community each time we pray at Mass when we pray for the living and join our prayers with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.

When we baptize a baby we welcome him or her to the communion of saints. And when we attend a funeral we know that the one whose life we are celebrating is now moving from the company of the blessed on earth to the company of the blessed in heaven.

From the day of its beginning the church emphasized community. After Pentecost, the apostles went out to share the Good News with others. They gathered together in homes to celebrate the Eucharist, which made them one. They saw themselves as establishing the reign of God in the world. They cared for each other, worked for each other, died for each other. They were one community in Christ, whatever languages they spoke or wherever they lived or whether they were male or female, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free.

It was understood that all Christians were bonded together and had obligations to each other. When one is hurting, the whole community bears the hurt with them, when someone rejoices, the whole community shares their joy. The communion of saints includes all people, living or dead, not only those who are called "St Somebody", but also all those who have died. It keeps us connected to our beloved dead. We pray with them and we ask them to pray for us. It is in the celebration of the Eucharist that the communion of saints is best shown. As we gather around the altar the whole church is united. The Eucharist joins Christians with the entire Christian community, living and dead, through those physically present at the celebration and those absent.

The communion of saints brings together the present, past and future and makes sense of life. We celebrate the feasts of All Saints and All Souls today. In this feast we rejoice with the saints and we celebrate also the entry of our loved ones into heaven and look forward to the joy of our reunion with them.

While we are waiting, it is important for us to build the links we want to celebrate. Like Our Place, let us take every opportunity for fellowship. Let us grab the chance to tell those we love that we love them; let us worship God here on earth as joyfully as we would in heaven; and let us give thanks for those who have gone before us.