It’s a liturgy whose goal is to show God’s hand in all things. That’s part of the message of the Hollow Me Out, Lord, service that the Rev. Sallie Schisler, vicar at Christ Episcopal Church, led the congregation in Wednesday night.

The liturgy was one Schisler’s two sons participated in when they were children and she went on a search to find it to share with the Ironton church.

“It is very sweet,” she said. “It kind of connects the pumpkin with the holy.”

The closest church holiday to the secular Halloween is All Saints Day, which is traditionally observed on Nov. 1. However in modern times, it is most usually observed on the first Sunday in November.

“All Saints Day is a time when we remember the saints that have gone before,” Schisler said.

Halloween is a contraction of All Hallow’s Eve, which in ancient times marked the end of summer.

It was a time of harvest and death, when livestock was butchered and fields were turned over for the fallow time during the winter season.

As each part of the Jack O’ Lantern was carved the participants in the informal service recited a passage such as “Take out the seeds, cords that hold me back from full relationship with you.”

“This helps us maybe connect what is a traditional, popular culture event and the sense of the holy,” Schisler said. “All of life whether it is in the church or out of the church is holy. It is how you approach it.”