we're drinking tea, the spicy kind that smells of autumn and outside, trent collects colors from the garden. orange pumpkins and green zucchinis and tomatoes, red with taste.
we're sipping autumn in clay mugs and talking about halloween. my friend, when she was little, handed out slips of paper for reformation day and i hid behind curtains and bobbed for apples with my siblings. because trick or treating was wrong. we're not sure how it was wrong but we stir in some sugar and the tea makes it better.
our children play on the floor, toys between them and i wonder at the fear of the Lord and what it means to live in perfect love. and how to perfectly love your neighbor, and is it by handing out slips of paper that talk about the saints, or hiding behind curtains? and is trick or treating evil, and isn't the christmas tree, also, and don't most pagan events coincide with christian holidays? and how to do the Christian life in this very gray world?
trent grew up dressing up, his mom taking them around to the elderly to cheer them up. they would sing songs and the elderly would clap and the tea is spicy and this sits right with me. this bringing cheer to others, this living in perfect love, and perfect love casting out fear.
fall fades with the sun, the harvest all picked and piled, its beauty useless unless eaten. i look at our children falling over tired, cookie crumbs on their lips and the tea, loose leaf in the bottom of our mugs and i decide to raise them fearless. to let God redeem october 31. to walk my boys door to door, dressed as dragon and chicken, to show the love that lengthens limb and loosens tongue and makes us radiate with hope.
because it's not about a holiday. it's about God. and he shines brighter than any jack-o-lantern and i have nothing to fear.
for God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 tim. 1:7)
(linking with laura, jen and michelle)
(tomorrow evening, on halloween, we will be taking our boys to the local nursing home where they'll hand out candies, and then off to Grandma's, where they'll get candy :)...)
-what about you guys? what are your thoughts on this controversial day? love to you all...
So many places to land on this Halloween spectrum. But God is brighter and His Sword sharper than any weapon enemy can throw.
ReplyDeletethat is a cool idea going around brightening the day of the elderly....
ReplyDeleteyes really cool idea em...think this is a way to do christian life in a very gray world..
ReplyDeleteMy husband's a pastor, so we're a bit sensitive to the "restrictions" our boys might feel fall to them because of their dad's role. As long as the costume isn't evil, we're all about Halloween.
ReplyDeleteI think there is real fear, which is a tragedy, or play-fear or pretend-fear which we all kinda enjoy, like watching a thriller or playing at being a dragon on Halloween or the knights and swords things that my little boys loved. I don't think it is wrong unless it is real fear or gratuitously violent. Don'tcha think?
ReplyDeleteso thankful God sees the inner man, he sees the heart, intentions, the outer man...... not so much. This is my focus now, took me 40something years to arrive to this place. But it is beautiful, and filled with grace.
ReplyDeleteJust had a similar conversation with my husband today. We both grew up in Christian homes that celebrated Halloween with costumes and trick-or-treat and how we find it funny that many Christians who are anti-Halloween are not anti-consumerism/perfectionism/giftgivingism of Christams. We are choosing to celebrate Halloween with our boys with costumes (and someday trick-or-treat if we live in a safe neighborhood - this year we head to church festivities due to our neighborhood and boys' ages), but we are hesitant to do much with Santa at Christmas
ReplyDeleteGreat post Emily! We too, have been at a place of wonder about the holidays. After much prayer and study we feel for us it just isn't a necessary part of loving and honoring God. We have read scriptures and watched a video on the origins of it all, and just feel led this way. I also know that it is no way right to judge anyone that does ;) just to throw that out there! I do love the idea though of visiting elderly because they miss that stuff I know! have a beautiful day with your family!
ReplyDeleteI too tackled this subject, over at my blog. My thoughts: http://overweightsofjoy.blogspot.com/2011/10/way-we-feel-about-halloween.html
ReplyDeleteFirst...love...love the sunflower...but you probably already know that...I have lived a lot of my life...against so much...thinking it was my job to do it "right"...by God's Grace...only by Grace...I now feel such freedom from that person...I don't think it is an either or any more...just what brings light and love to those around me...
ReplyDeleteBlessings as you and your precious ones go and bring such joy to others....
Love it! Love it! Love it!
ReplyDelete:) it's awesome how He gives us perspective :)
Our older kids didn't trick-or-treat. We took them to our church's Harvest Festival where they got to dress up and get plenty of candy. After the church quit hosting it, we reevaluated and decided there was nothing inherently evil about soliciting candy door to door ;) The kids have been taught the history of Halloween. We don't glorify evil and take the opportunity to clarify the truth. Once we started trick-or-treating we discovered what a wonderful opportunity it was to get to know our neighbors and be a part of the community.
ReplyDeleteI grew up not, and that went along with so many rules and erroneous thinking that I have let God kiss away over the years. I've learned it's a bigger thing and Love really does bind it all together. We do with our boys--though one has long abandoned the tradition and this is probably the last year for the other--because it's just plain fun. I grew up with the lack of traditions in the name of God and now I delight to create our own. It's a beautiful thing and, I believe, God-honoring.
ReplyDeleteLove the way you honor Him too, Em.
It's all about God, sister. That's the truth -- oh and I love the idea of lengthening limbs --long arms that embrace the world and the kids next door.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate and respect the traditions of those who don't participate, but here in our house, we put on our costumes and knock on doors guilt-free.
ReplyDeleteI think Halloween is fun. Our biggest fear about Halloween is that Daddy will steal all the good candy. :)
We also stop by the nursing home on our route. Lots of fun visiting all the Grandmas and Grandpas.
I went out once. Then my parents "saw the light" and even kept me home from school on party day.
ReplyDeleteNow? I'm mostly not in to it, but increasingly contemplative. Your words here make so much sense. I love the idea of redeeming the day. Mostly though, I don't know if I care enough to put it on my radar at all. Costumes sounds like a bit of work that I could probably do without! ;)
I think it's just a day to let the kids dress up, have fun, and eat too much candy. It's nothing more.
ReplyDeleteSuch a hard topic. . .i think the older I get the more gray the world becomes and the more I need to see the world thru Grace colored glasses!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post. It warmed my day because I have been struggling with this topic all day. My three little boys are dressing up and are going to enjoy all Halloween has to offer tomorrow....and I started to feel that mommy guilt....should we really participate in Halloween? That little voice kept saying. This post pushed the guilt away and reminded me that I am doing the right thing by letting them enjoy this holiday and be kids. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm with mama zen, I grew up enjoying dressing up and going door to door. Mostly to those people that I was related to or family friends. I grew up outside the city with few neighbors so we had to drive to friends and family.
ReplyDeleteI never asked my parents what Halloween was really about, I guess I didn't care (probably because of the candy). And I guess I will talk to my kids when they ask and if they ask. It's a fun get together with family and friends for them. For the last 6 years we've piled up on a trailor full of hay and traveled around my brother's sub-division. I don't see evil in that at all.
Living here in Australia I have to say Halloween is not really practiced/celebrated in a big way BUT I do have mixed emotions about it....fearing it is pagan & Godless, of the Devil somehow....I have outright told my son its bad & now you havem e questioning my motives.....has this been born out of fear?? Hmm...I like your approach, your thoughts and your sentiments. After all I celebrate Christmas with all its gaudiness, trees, decorations, Father Christmas - the whole shebang - so what is the difference?? Thankyou for making me think & question why I do things...TK xx
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this post. I love how you write, your heart for God, etc. I'm sharing it.
ReplyDeleteI grew up going trick or treating, and I think it is for each family to decide. For now, we stopped trick or treating, not because I think we are more spiritual, because you are right, most Christian holidays do collide with the pagan ones... but because I felt like we were sending a mixed message... with the spooky, witchcraft message...
but oh how you are right,whether you go trick or treating or not, we need to share God's love... His heartbeat. Well said. Love you, Traci
Love how you articulated this...have fun today bringing cheer to others and enjoying a bit of chocolate :)
ReplyDeletevisiting from Jingle Poetry Community blog.
ReplyDeleteHappy Halloween,
Thanks for your support to Jingle Poetry in the past, we loved your talent,
bless you.
welcome back any time.
I feel the same way. Because I never had to face evil, I ran from it when it rang my doorbell. Now I know better. How can we help the hurting if we are afraid?
ReplyDeleteLOVE this!
I've read so many posts about this today and I remain ambivalent on the subject of Halloween. I despise the money people spend on a "holiday" and begging for candy doesn't thrill me. Dressing up and practicing my sewing skills on costumes was FUN. Creating a joyful experience with costume and facepaint and joy to bring to neighbors and friends. All good. Adorable dragon, I must say. :)
ReplyDeleteReformation Day is a reminder that Jesus died for the redemption of ALL things, despite how it is misconstrued by legalistic churchgoers. A reminder that we are saved by grace and not by works, and that we are not to be held in bondage over "religion". We will be going trick-or-treating (we are superheroes this year) after a "Reformation Day" grill-out with our church family. We are making a childhood of memories for our children- one that involves the love of God and the enjoyment of innocent fun. Love, not legalism. Grace, not works. Amen!
ReplyDeleteI grew up loving the costumes that my mom sewed up for us - lions and pumkins and cats (we loved cats.) We "trick-or-treated" in our friend's neighborhood (we lived too far out in the country and had no close neighbors.) It was fun and friendship and community. Now I live in a neigborhood where parents take their kids out for some costume and candy fun, where folks light their front porches and sit outside to compliment the kids and pretend they really ARE superman or a fairy princess for the night, where the kids say "thank you" for the candy. I don't think that's wrong.
ReplyDeleteI know all the negative connotations, and I don't like the scary masks, but there are all kinds of masks, and I think you're right to love your community and open your heart to them.
I think it a wise, wonderful decision Em. Have a joyful time!
ReplyDeleteHaving grown up not trick or treating either, I agree with you here. We do a little of both...giving and receiving. :)
ReplyDeleteAMEN! We're thinking on the same page today. I posted about this as well. I love that line about God redeeming this day--so true.
ReplyDeleteMel
I'm an 18 year-old Senior in high school,and I'v grown up in a home where Halloween was just sort of ignored. I went trick-or-treating for the first time last year, and while it was fun, I felt really convicted of it. I'm not judging anyone, just saying that I'm not so sure Halloween is something that should be celebrated, least of all by Christians. I've done my own research and just cannot get past the origins of this holiday. It's a day that was invented soley for the glorification of Satan and his followers. Just because we've taken it and made it all about "candy and dressing up" doesnt mean that it's glorifying to God. Christmas is about the birth of Christ - and though it has become a day of gift-giving and christmas trees and santa claus to the secular world, it also opens up ways for people to be ministered to. How is Halloween like that? Can we go up to someone and say, "The real meaning of Halloween is 'Day of the Dead' and it was made so that we could celebrate Satan" and have it be an example to those around us who are not Christians? How does that reflect on ourselves and on God?
ReplyDeleteI don't know. I just can't get passeed it all.
@alyssa, actually Christmas was originally a pagan holiday celebrated by the Romans called Saturnalia which was a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. On the last day of this holiday, the 25th, they would brutally murder a chosen victim, thinking that in doing so they would be destroying the powers of darkness. In that week of celebrations, alot of unmentionable things went on. So we celebrate christs birthday on a day that was much like Halloween many years ago, it's origins were pure evil. Yet, we have redeemed it into a celebration of the birth of Christ!
ReplyDeleteI loved the post Emily. You capture my thoughts so well.
I remember when all of the anti-Halloween ruckus came about years ago. I got caught up in it somewhat too--although my kids were never forbidden to trick or treat. But I now share your perspective. Thanks for articulating it so well!
ReplyDeleteWe have an "safe alternative" at our church each year, and this is what my children did. If I had to do it over? I'd do both. The neighborhood has such community on Halloween. What a waste of opportunity. All in the name of love or fear? This is an awesome perspective.
ReplyDeletebeautiful post (always!), emily. and i enjoyed the comments, too.
ReplyDeletehaving grown up in the north, (in a Christian home, btw), i didn't even know that some people thought halloween and trick-or-treating and costumes were sinful, only once i moved south 20 some years ago.
i have amazingly wonderful memories of a loving mother hand-making (sometimes, sewing, sometimes glueing or painting or tieing or whatever) costumes and us helping when we could, grabing my sisters' hands and playing w my friends. i remember parades and parties and neighbors and hot spiced cider and popcorn balls. i even remember collecting for UNICEF one year instead of candy for me.
i consider all of those memories blessings.
xo
I'm with Mama Zen. Honestly, I have never given it a second thought. It wasn't until I became a Christian blogger that I realized some don't participate in this silly holiday. And this year is the first I've heard about handing out verses or tracts or whatever for Reformation Day. It's all new to me.
ReplyDeleteI simply just love the excitement of my kids putting on their costumes. And I just love to smile at the little ones ringing the doorbell as I drop candies into their plastic pumpkins.