Monday, November 1, 2010

Trick or Treat

Think on this…we don’t celebrate All Hallows Eve or Halloween. We understand its origins and it’s not something we endorse. We don’t judge people, or even Christians who do; it’s just not our thing. There are no ghouls and goblins on our door, or scarecrows in our yard. But, we do give out candy to the neighborhood children. I know that it might seem slightly contradictory, but read on to get a better glimpse into our reasoning. Think about it, when else will children from all over the neighborhood come to our door? So we see it as a chance to love on those in our community.

When I was a child I remember trick or treating. I am from a small town where many of the homes are right next to one another, that provides for great candy collection. We would forgo the traditional plastic bags or buckets, because bag snatching was a big thing and they simply could not hold all of the goodies we would collect. I would come home with a pillowcase full of candy that would take us hours to sort. The one thing I remember vividly was the homes that would give us the best candy. To this day I still see one house in particular. I am in my 30’s and I still remember a good Halloween house. Someone had an impact on my life because they gave me candy! That is crazy, but my point exactly.

We believe whole-heartedly that we are to touch the live of those around us. To be honest, it’s a bit creepy for a grown man to strike up conversation with children. So, now that we are the cool candy house both our neighbors and their children know who we are, that we care, and we are safe. We didn’t go cheap on them, we gave out full size candy, and it caused a ruckus. After our house kids were saying, “full sized” in the street. One young lady said, “You’re my new best friend”. Now that we are BFFs maybe they will read the scripture card we attached. I know that some would argue the pagan nature of the holiday and I would agree and simply remind you of the pagan nature of our Christmas trees and Yule Logs (look it up). We are not opposed to using this holiday to touch the lives of our neighbors. The Bible says, I became like a person weak in faith to win those who are weak in faith. I have become everything to everyone in order to save at least some of them.” 1 Cor. 9:22 The alternative is to hide in our home making a statement nobody will ever hear…Just a thought.

No comments:

Post a Comment