Light on a Dark Night

We were asked this year how a group of Jesus' followers could participate in such a dark holiday as Halloween.

Well All Hallow's Eve, like Christmas and Easter, does have roots in a pagan holiday. However, again like Christmas and Easter, it is a time when the Church has also made an attempt to try and redeem the day. We see the evidence of this, with all three holidays, in the pagan symbols mixed together with Christian ones (ghosts and martyrs, evergreens and mangers, bunnies and crosses).

So, what would it look like for Church to try and redeem this day again?

Well at the House of Grace Ministry Center, the doors were open, and people were available to play games, sit across the table and eat with, and even take you on an educational scavanger hunt through the "Cemetary of Saints". What better place for teens, single moms, and scores of kids to spend this night. Opening our doors and ourselves to the community we tried to be light on this dark night. This was the second year we held a party at the church building, and we were overwhelmed this year with easily over 200 people. Our sign-in sheet revealed addresses that were almost entirely from within a 2-3 block area around the church. I am again grateful for the folks from the church (many of whom also live right in the neighborhood) who were on hand to help us bless our neighbors.

St. Paul, one of the many saints we remembered and celebrated in our "Cemetary of Saints", told us, "shine like stars in the universe..." Whenever we find ourselves surrounded by the darkness of night, may we all find ways to shine bright.