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Oct 07
2007
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I move in Christian circles where a lot of people really don't like Halloween. They don't like the fact that a lot of kids dress up like witches and ghosts. They don't like the fact, urban myth or actual truth, that satanists use this nightas a high holiday. They don't like all the teeth rotting candy. So, they organize after school 'harvest parties' at the church social hall under neon lights and with carefully doled out and measured quantities of sweets and healthy snacks. I understand their concerns.
I'd like to offer a different perspective, however. I've got two daughters, 7 and 5. Currently they are in their third hour on a Sunday afternoon of drawing 'maps' of the neighborhood to map out their trick or treating strategy. Halloween is over three weeks away. They have been after me for weeks to find 'fox' and 'bunny' costume making directions online so we can make their costumes. They've also got plans for my costume.
They see Halloween as a night of wonder. I don't say that lightly. It's a night to stay up, to have an adventure (just like big kids), to be creative, to receive gifts of goodwill from neighbors (translation: candy), to give generously (they've already started putting bags of candy in the cart at grocery store visits), to exprience community. What other day of the year leaves you, as a kid, feeling that the grownups in your world are cheerful dispensers of goodwill?
Personally, I find that pretty cool. I love having the chance to tell 100 or so kids who come through our heavily visited neighborhood, "Wow, that's a great costume! You look great! Have a bunch of candy!!" Possible tooth decay aside, I think anything that gets us out of our houses, out from behind our fences and into each other's lives is a pretty good thing. Add to that all of the excitement, 'feeling like a big kid' and joy that goes into it for my kids and I'm willing to endure some extra time brushing teeth and the need to explain that witchcraft is not a lifestyle we support as a family.
If you usually turn off the lights, and hide in a backroom, what if this year you pull out the stops, buy a bunch of bags of candy, carve a pumpkin and have some fun?!
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Steve, I love this story. With your permission I'd like to share it in staff devotions. Too often Christians are defined by what they do not believe in, rather then what they do believe in. For what they are against, and not what they are for. God bless, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Merry Kwanza and Happy Channu... ah I can't spell it.
Joe Antonio
Joe Antonio
That would be fine, very nice in fact.