Yes I know I'm seasonally out of sync, but Like I said in a previous post, things got busy. I have wanted to post on Halloween since, well, Halloween. I have said previously that I don't really get why groups of Christians have such an adverse reaction to it. It always seems a bit, er, petty to me really.
This year I heard people say the same things, 'it celebrates evil' or, 'I really dislike the Americanism of trick or treating'.
Codswallop.
I have never come across a parent who, while dressing their child in whatever monstrous costume, imbibes the message of, 'yes we are doing this so we can learn how good it is to hate and do bad things'.
Instead when we dress our children or , indeed ourselves, we caricature evil on Halloween, we make it ridiculous and laughable, the monstrous becomes less powerful rather than more powerful. As for the 'Americanisms', there is for me, a touch of lazy racism in this. Because it is American it does not make it bad and for parents to accompany children as they visit neighbours and friends and receive sweets; well that seems to me to be a rare moment of building and establishing community links. In sort, a good thing.
As for Christian presence in this, well I think it's ripe for the taking. All Hallows Eve is our festival. Why not own it and cash in on the possibilities of the cultural practices around it?
This year we put on a Halloween party at church. Children from the neighbourhood were invited. They dressed up, we did gory crafts, we went trick or treating. We also took the time to have story; our stories. Our trick or treating was to an old peoples home where they were thrilled to see the kids.
The result. Our Beeline group (which is an overtly Christian group for children aged 6-11) gained 6 new children and our mums and todds group gained around 15 new children. Halloween was a blessing. I reckon God is in most things if you look. God Bless Halloween
I fully agree. But then I suppose I would, being at least 40% evil. There's a good series of investigations into Christian approaches to Halloween here :
ReplyDeletehttp://theflicksthatchurchforgot.podomatic.com/
I hate hearing cliches of any kind, which makes it all the more irritating when otherwise intelligent Christians come out with lazy, half-thought-through nonsense like 'it celebrates evil'. Really? Does it? How?
Anyway. See you at Easter for your thoughts on Christmas.