Halloween… I am against acknowledging anything about Halloween. With Halloween’s roots steeped in paganism, I am aware that allowing innocent minds to be allowed to participate in the worlds festive practises, without teaching and offering alternate ideas, we are then agreeing with the practises and beliefs of society.
That being said, I’ve watched children taking great delight dressing up. Our own grandchildren love their dress-up box. Whether it be Grandpa’s old suit coat or Nanna’s glittery princess like dress, to the cowboy, transformer, ninja turtle, or princess warrior. Also what child doesn’t like eating candy of some description?
I’ve seen many parents torn, trying to avoid it altogether or whether to let their children take part in what they only see as dressing-up, eating candy and having fun.
What a subtle way the enemy tries to come in and steal our joy, our peace, put confusion and compromise in our path. Our children don’t want to feel left out, so how do we not let the enemy have the power to steal our children’s joy over something they don’t understand.
It’s an age-old question: should Christian’s celebrate Halloween? Ultimately, Christian participation in Halloween is a matter of conscience before God. Whatever we choose, we must honour God by keeping ourselves separate from the world and by showing mercy to those who are perishing. Halloween provides the Christian with the opportunity to accomplish both of these things through the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What better time of the year is there to share such a message than Halloween?
With Halloween falling on Saturday this year I realise we have a great opportunity to teach our children on Sunday with an object lesson involving the pumpkin, allowing Holy Spirit to open their eyes and ears to an alternate idea from the deception of “the gospel according to Halloween” to the power of “the Gospel according to Jesus”
Kids love craft, getting messy, stories, eating and having fun.
Thank you to the world wide web I found the perfect story to tell, with the messy craft, adding some food to the mix, we will have fun.
The Story goes like this:
Once there was a Gardener who planted seeds in His garden. Each day the Gardener cared for the seeds. He watered them, pulled weeds from around them, and sheltered them from the heat of the sun. The seeds grew into seedlings, which developed into plants, until one day, they produced fruit – pumpkins! The pleased Gardener looked out at His garden and said, “It is good!”
One day, the Gardener went out into his field and picked a special pumpkin. It was a bit dirty from laying in the garden, so he brought it inside and gently wiped it off. Now the pumpkin looked clean on the outside, but what about the inside?
The Gardener took a knife and cut open the top of the pumpkin. And what did He find? A bunch of slimy, yucky goo! The Gardener wanted His special pumpkin to be beautiful, so He carefully scraped out all of the goo inside until the pumpkin was as clean inside as it was on the outside!
But the Gardener still wasn’t satisfied with the pumpkin. He decided it needed a face! So, He carefully cut out two eyes, a nose, and a big smiling mouth
Now the Gardener’s special pumpkin looked clean AND happy.
But the Gardener still wasn’t satisfied with the pumpkin. So, He put a light inside of it. The pumpkin glowed so beautifully! The Gardener’s special project was complete.
When friends and neighbours saw the Gardener’s special pumpkin, they marvelled at how He took something ordinary from His garden, cleaned it inside and out, put His light inside, and made it something extraordinary!
Explanation:
We are like pumpkins and God is the Gardener. God created us and cares for us. He “chooses” us from all of the other pumpkins, but inside we all have the yucky goo – which is called sin, which is all our bad choices.
(Read Rom. 3:23 and Rom. 6:23)
Just like the Gardener cleaned out his pumpkin’s goo, God wants to clean out all our yucky stuff too – like hate, greed, fear, doubt and all the things that we have done wrong too. That’s why God sent his Son Jesus to die for our sins, to take the punishment we deserved.
(Read Rom. 5:8, John 3:16, and 1 John 1:9)
Just like the Gardener gave the pumpkin a new face, God makes us a new too!
(Read 2 Cor. 5:17)
Just like the Gardener put His light into the pumpkin to make it shine, so God gives us His light to shine through us!
(Read 2 Cor. 4:6 and Mt. 5:16)
So, when we let God clean out all our yucky stuff called sin, He then changes us from the inside out so that we can shine for Him! And when others see our light, then they might want to learn how to have a light of their own, too!