Jon Acuff asks us what we think of Hallowe’en, and proposes one of three responses.  I have a fourth.

Hallowe’en looms like a black stain on the fall for many Christians.  It is a dark night, full of the connotations of paganism, spiritism, black magic and occultic practices.  In response, many churches have attempted to absent themselves from the holiday by creating “Harvest Festivals” or other activities where kids can approximate the Hallowe’en experience with “good” costumes, free candy, and fun games instead of the door-to-door “trick or treating” and scary decorations.

When our oldest was getting to the age where he might go trick-or-treating, we had to wrestle with this question a bit.  We wrestled even more when the church we belonged to had one of these “harvest fests”.  Now, as a family we have landed in a different place.  We have decided to participate in Hallowe’en.

Whoa!  There goes our prayer base!  No, please, hear my heart on this.  Hallowe’en is not the first pagan holiday that the Church has had to wrestle with.  I am sure you have seen at some point articles on the origins of Christmas and Easter.  I am sure you have at least heard of scholars who have attempted to figure out the “true” date of Christ’s birth and crucifixion, and while they may debate the exact dates, one thing they unanimously agree upon: Easter and Christmas are NOT them!  They are both pagan holidays that early Christians chose to sanctify, to bridge the gap between pagan culture and Christianity.  To them, it was not important the exact date of Christ’s birth, but it was important to celebrate it.  They took the holiday and its trappings (the Christmas Tree, the Yule Log, and so on) and reshaped the traditions to help tell the story of Christ.  Now, the world knows these dates as Christian holidays and give next to zero thought about their origins.  Christ is glorified throughout the world on these pagan holidays.

In distancing ourselves from Hallowe’en we are distancing ourselves from the very people we are trying to reach.  We are the “no fun” lights out houses on the street when everyone else is having fun.  We are the “stingy” Christians who won’t buy candy for kids.  Sure, we encourage non-Christian friends and neighbours to come to our “harvest fest” but really the appeal is small unless you happen to live in a city where the danger is greater due to crime or local practices.  In most communities, there simply isn’t a reason to absent ourselves.

What shocked me most when I began to think about this holiday, is it is unique.  It used to be Christmas was similar, in that people would go out caroling and sharing cider around fires.  The Christmas season used to be a much more community-oriented event.  Now, as consumerism has taken over much of the season, it is a time of stress and busyness, of catching planes to visit family (or get away from family and go to Disneyland or another warm destination) or driving frantically.  Hallowe’en however, is a day wrapped in the idea that everyone’s door is open, every neighbour smiles and chats, and parents of children stroll up and down their streets, watching their children have fun and striking up conversations with the people around them that they never see any other time of year.  The “my home is my castle” mentality is dismantled for a night.  Christians who desire to build relationships that can carry the message of Christ have a chance to get by the barriers of individualism and begin the process of building into people’s lives.  Why do we not see this as the greatest opportunity for evangelism that we will see for 364 days?

Having just declared an evangelism open season on Hallowe’en, I should add one more thing.   I do NOT see this as an opportunity to save children’s teeth and souls by replacing candy with Bible tracts.  My goodness, then instead of being known as the stick-in-the-muds who don’t celebrate Hallowe’en, we’d now be the people who ruin Hallowe’en for children!  No, what I mean is the greatest openness to the Gospel comes from relationship, and this night is the chance to start a whole slew of them.  Or improve on some.  Think about this: that atheist co-worker with kids you know: how likely would they be to come to an evangelistic Christmas play?  Not very.  How likely would they be to come to a Christian “Hallowe’en alternative”?  Even less.  How likely would they be to coming trick or treating with your family – just to hang out?  Then maybe plan to come back to your place to warm the kids up with some cocoa and relax?  Now that has appeal.

In reading Jon Acuff’s comment thread I happened across this anecdote of a truly brilliant, missional approach to Hallowe’en.  I dare you to try it out next year (or if you can get it together quick, tomorrow!)

Given the boatload of reading I was doing last year, working on my graduating essay on church planting in resort communities, I think I am positioned to take our group in a more exploratory posture deeper into the idea of missional living.  What does that mean?  It means taking seriously the reality that if we actually mean to follow Christ, we must be about his business – and his business was bringing about the Kingdom of God on earth.  We must be doing what he did – making disciples, each of us, personally, in the place where God has put us.

I love my church, but I recognize that they, like me, have long been poisoned by this idea that doing church is for clergy.  That they are the ones who evangelize, teach, make disciples, baptize, and otherwise grow the church.  That our only obligations are to sing some worship songs to God every Sunday, say Grace before every meal, and do whatever our pastor asks us to do in the name of humility and service.  What a weak, anemic faith that is!

I picked up “Breaking the Missional Code” by Ed Stetzer and David Putman as some thing to read while in the hospital, and it has been good so far because it is putting legs to ideas that need to be explained.  I hope to use ideas from that book as topics of conversation in our Community Group.  They ask some very good questions that we, who hope to reach people for Jesus in our neighbourhood, need to ask ourselves.

One startling thing that they point out is that as a church increases its “evangelism training” the actual evangelism of that church goes down.  Conversely, it appears the most effective evangelists are new converts, with no training.  A comparison is drawn to the Woman at the Well that Jesus met – who went back to town and told the whole Samaritan village about Jesus and saw great numbers believe in him as a result.

Evangelism training has a place, but it really seems that the most effective means of engaging people with the gospel is in two respects – relationally (which takes no training really – but does take a lot of emotional and temporal investment), and holistically.   What I mean by holistically is that your faith needs to be lived out.  It needs to inform your actions, choices and way of life to the point where Christianity is not your religion – Christ is your life.  When this happens barriers start to come down.  Hypocrisy is mitigated, because you are not acting one way and talking another.

How does this happen?  It happens when you are being encouraged, supported and motivated towards greater wholeness in Christ.  It is a happening that I really want to see in our Community Group this fall.

¹⁸“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’^[b] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. ²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. ²³He who hates me hates my Father as well. ²⁴If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’^[c]

- John 15

I was thinking about my class on the Gospel of John that I am teaching right now at church.  I am introducing a family and a friend to the truth about Jesus and what he taught us to believe in the Gospel of John.  It’s already been an exciting journey with them and I have been praising God for their enthusiasm and interest.

I was doing my prayer/dog walk this morning and I began to think about how it is important that as they recognize what Jesus us calling them to, and decide to follow him, that I be clear about the consequences of that decision.

In other countries around the world, the cost is clear.  In many countries the cost is brutal – government harassment, persecution from Hindu or Muslim extremists, jail, even death.  What we face here in Canada is not nearly as bad (though it is proceeding apace with restrictions on public speaking about the Bible where the Bible disagrees with “accepted truth” about certain things.)  However there is a cost.

It got me thinking about my own life and the cost that I have paid to follow Jesus.  To be sure, there have been many – far too many – instances where I have to my shame not stood up for Jesus.  Yes, I avoided consequence for that for the moment, but it weighs on my heart and drives me forward today to live my fiath more publicly.  In that way I can sympathize with Peter’s denial, and how it drove him into leadership in the church, never wanting to feel that shame of denial again.

But I have paid several times.  I remember the first job I had after my paper route – at McDonald’s.  I had worked there 6 months, and I had fallen into the trap of following the crowd.  We had developed a routine of snitching small things to eat while on shift – we were supposed to pay for all food (at a small discount).  I don’t absolve myself of guilt on that count – I made the choice to break the law.  However, one day, we got caught.  The assistant manager lined us all up and asked us to own up to the theft (of a Chicken McNugget to be sure).  I was the only one who confessed, though I knew others had done the same that day.  A week later I was out of a job.  I could not lie about it, and I can only blame the Holy Spirit for convincting me of that.

A year later, I was working at Little Caesar’s Pizza.  I was the day shift guy, on solo most of the time.  One afternoon, a man came in with a 4 year old boy, and the boy had to use the bathroom really badly.  The only bathroom we had was in the back of the store, and we were not supposed to let anyone behind the counter for any reason.  I took pity on the kid and let him come back there to use the bathroom.  A month later, my boss told me that the same man had returned to the store with his kid and asked to use the washroom again.  When he was refused, he got offensive, yelling that he had been allowed to before – a quick deduction by my manager labelled me with the offense, and I owned up to it immediately.  It cost me my job again, though my manager in this case was much more sympathetic and wrote a glowing referral letter for me.

I say this because I recognize that hardship has come from my decision to make Christ Lord.  I don’t hold perfectly to anything but I do my best.  That best will conflict with the world.  The world wants me to compromise, to not rock the boat, to cheat, to deny, to be “safe”, to not offend.  Jesus wants me to love him and love his people.  Jesus want me to do good, and to accept consequences without grumbling, for I know what I deserve.  These two cases are part of a much broader journey of employment, and caused me for a long time to doubt my worth as an employee.  In some ways I still struggle with doubt.  But I have confidence that as Jesus taught, that in the world I will have trouble, but I take heart because he has overcome the world, and one day this will all pass away, and I will receive the crown of glory that he has waiting for me.

1. A high demand for schools means growth, and young families.  We relate, and that is a big segment of the people we are hoping to reach.
2. It sounds very much like they have a good shot at getting some more schools.  They mention in the video that specifically, the Hamptons and Ranchlands and Southridge need schools – what do you know?  Those are our most likely targets for planting!
3. New schools means an opportunity to rent space.  While it isn’t guaranteed by a long shot, and from reports like our friends, the Wilks’, it may be difficult to comply with school district rules but… with new schools means new opportunity so we can be prayerful for that.

Last week, I had two people contact me through Facebook whom I didn’t really know that well, who came to me for advice and I was able to share much of the Gospel with each of them.  It was amazing.

Then around the same time, my sons got invited over for the first time to the neighbours who live kind of behind us.  They have a couple of girls (which kind of explains why they never got invited over – young boys and girls typically run in different circles with different interests), but this time they did and that opened up an opportunity to build a relationship with that family.  We sent them cookies as a thank you, and they lobbed back with some brownies (which Cheryl said were excellent) and we now have their phone number and their names.  Cheryl and I are plotting our next move…

Now, with our membership classes kicking up, Philip has put me in charge of our Gospel of John study, meant to introduce people to the truth about Jesus.  I will be leading an entire family through this class (a husband and wife, both of Catholic background and their two teenage daughters) and another lady I have known for years.

It is such an honour to be used for such a task.  But what I am really feeling the weight of is doing well – the one place where I have been uncomfortable with this journey towards church planting is bearing fruit in terms of sharing my faith.  I really haven’t had a lot of practice or opportunity in my life to date.  Recognizing that if you are going to start a church from scratch, you need to be telling people a LOT about salvation, has caused some trepidation.  So I pray that these opportunities would be blessed, and that my comfort would grow through these challenges to the point where it becomes second nature.  I want to plant a church that saves people, not a church that offers a “better brand” than the other churches in town and attracts disgruntled people who are looking to “get the most” from their church.

On the ground, there is a recognition that to start something you need something.  Life does not come from nothing – it comes from a seed.  A church plant needs a core – a seed to synthesize and reproduce.  When Philip and Beth came to Surrey to begin Community of Hope, they had no seed – they needed a seed.  They recognized that it is hard for people to visualize the community that was to come unless there already was a microcosm visible that they could use and model.  Our first core group was that model.  But it needed to be bigger.  But let me step back for a second.

You can, as a pioneering church planter, seek to start that core using new converts.  You could bring people to Jesus, lead them to salvation, then disciple them to the point where they are good models of the type of Christian you want your church to be filled with.  It takes much time and energy for this to happen.  But looking around inside and outside of churches, I think the pragmatic has to recognize that even though the Reformation sought to do away with the Augustinian idea of the invisible church – a church of true believers within the larger church which may or may not include the saved – it is nonetheless still true right up until today.  Even Jesus said that not everyone who cries, “Lord, Lord” will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

The longer I serve in church the more I realize that there is more to this walk than the simple saved/unsaved dichotomy.  There is also the whole scale of sanctification that people work through as they work out their salvation with fear and trembling.  To characterize, there are mountains of people, in solid, evangelical churches, who feel no need to pursue instruction – to continue their discipleship and deepen their walk with God, outside the occasional shopping trip to the Christian Bookstore and the purchase of “Your Best Life Now” or “The Purpose Driven Live” which will then collect dust on their bookshelf whilst they read one of  Barack Obama’s biographies or the latest sequel to “Twilight“.  There are still more who are content to simply come on Sunday, listen to the sermon, sing a couple of songs, and go home and watch the football game sunday afternoon without any conception of the importance of service, in the sense of the one they claim to follow, who “came not be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many“.  These people, too, need a church plant to revitalize, activate, and engage in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Who are these people?  They are legion.  And they are wasting space in our churches – swelling the numbers and making leaders feel like successes, when in fact they are presiding over the dead.  The church is to be a light in this world, not a weekend social club, or at best a religious Elks community service club.  When people aren’t discipled properly, they think a stunted, dwarfed faith is complete and healthy and that is just sad.  I fully agree that the church is there to proclaim the Gospel to the lost, but the Great Commission says to make disciples, and if there are people who have a knowledge of Christ, and may even claim to be saved, but are not exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit, are living as the world does, and do not follow Jesus with more than lip service, then they need our church plant too.

So a church plant must seek to share the gospel with the lost AND teach his disciples to die to themselves and follow Jesus.  A withered, weak vine will produce few fruit, but a strong, healthy, vibrant vine will produce abundantly.  Keeping a vineyard is not just about planting seeds, it is about pruning, watering, harvesting, and protecting the living vines that grow as well as the new sprouts you seek to start.

That is what I think has been happening largely at our church plant.  Initially we found ourselves meeting many people who you might call nominal Christians.  We ourselves, the core team, was in many ways nominal.  We were stunted and immature.  We have spent a lot of time and resources in maturing and growing in health.  When we were unhealthy and stunted, we produced little fruit.  But as we mature, we will produce more and more.  That is why I expect great things at our church this year.

I am excited, because when we go to plant our own church, we hope to take a cutting from a healthy vineyard.  We pray that we ourselves are part of that cutting.  Starting a new church with a healthy, vibrant core should allow us to start quicker and reach more people for Jesus sooner than even Community of Hope has – not because we are better, but because we will benefit from all the nurturing and all the nourishment that Community of Hope is providing us now.  That too is very exciting.

Last Saturday we got a call that my grandfather had two strokes in quick succession and was now in intensive care at the University of Alberta Hospital.  We quickly made the decision to travel to Edmonton in our minivan, risking wintery conditions in the mountains and spending money we don’t really have to be with my family and my grandfather in a time of crisis.

He’s an 84 year old World War II veteran, and proudly independent.  I knew he would take this hard.  But I also had some concern because while I know he grew up Catholic, and I know his second wife was a devout 7th Day Adventist, I don’t know if he ever truly made faith in Christ his own.  I also knew that I wanted to see him again, if these were his final hours.  I haven’t seen him since he moved to Alberta 2 years ago after Grace died.

God truly opened a number of doors for us to enable this trip, from providing financially for the expenses, to providing help to cover for us in our many responsibilites, to providing friends to take care of our two cats.  He cleared our path in front of us – we didn’t meet with any storms on the Coquihalla, and made it all the way to Revelstoke the first day, and even found a pet-friendly room for us all to bunk down in.

By Monday we were in the Hospital, and he was all hooked up to tubes and things.  He was unable to speak, the stroke having damaged the speech areas of his brain.

We spent a couple of days with Cheryl’s family in Red Deer, and then brought the boys the rest of the way to Fort Saskatchewan, to see my parents and brother and sister.  Friday I went back to the Hospital and saw Grandpa again.  He had improved again, but was groggy initially, and in considerable pain in his abdomen.  I prayed with my mother and him, and then we left him to sleep for a bit.  When we returned an hour or so later, he was much more alert than he had been and the pain was gone.  He wanted to go for a ride in the wheelchair, and we were excited to see him demonstrate his strength and mobility.  His coordination seemed very good in both hands, despite his still not being able to talk.

God definitely wanted to use us on this trip.  In Red Deer, we had a long talk with Cheryl’s grandmother and mother about churches and about why we do the things we do.  We had a great talk about honesty and transparency and community.  I think thay are typical in that most Canadians view church as something to do on Sunday, a quaint custom from a more superstitious time.  If they still even believe in God as a concept, they have never truly understood the kind of life that Jesus calls his followers to – a whole life of love and fellowship and support.

Then with my family, my grandfather, though he was limited in what he could understand, I believe he did get what I wanted to say to him, to just invite him to talk with Jesus as he recovered.  To remind him he doesn’t need to speak to speak with God and begin or renew that relationship once more.  At my parents’ house, we had several opportunities to talk with Steve, my sister’s husband, who claims a staunch atheism.  His inquisitiveness was enjoyable and revealed a desire to understand more about the faith we have.  I was very excited at the non-confrontational conversation and to learn that he had recently tried reading the Bible (to little success – he made the same mistake I did, starting in Genesis!)  I wish we lived closer so we could spend more time helping him to understand the message of the Bible and of the Word.  But it is a beginning.

Of course, I would be lax to not praise God once more for his watch over our travels home which we pushed through in one day – 14 hours of driving.  Strangely the cold weather followed us all the way to the coast – blowing snow and sub-freezing temperatures looked bizarre and prairie-like was we pulled in our driveway here on the coast.  It’s supposed to stay this cold for at least a week too!

So, a few days ago, you read here that I was convicted about begging God for money all the time.  Yesterday on my morning prayer/dog walk I prayed that God would use me that day at work.  Lo and behold, a conversation about the Al-Qaeda issuing a statement likening President-elect Obama to a “House Negro” twisted into a brief discussion about racism in Arabic cultures, and from thence to a discussion about whether or not all religions are based on punishment avoidance.

This gave us a fantastic jumping off point to talk about the difference between a a capricious god who demands “submission”, and a loving God who sacrificed his Son to restore us to our proper relationship with him as his children.  It gave me a chance to teach about a heavenly father who loves us and gave us the freedom to choose to love or not love him, knowing the pain that it would cause him when we do not choose him.  But more than that, loving even those who hate him so much that he will ultimately give them what they want, even though he knows that they will not like it.  Like the Israelites crying out to God for a king, even after God explained that they would not like the choice, many in this world scream at God, “Go away”, not understanding what that really means.  I explained that hell is a place where God is not – that’s what makes it hell.  And when you die, God isn’t “punishing you” by sending you to hell, he is, in love, allowing you to choose eternal separation from him.  He loves you so much he will not force you to be with him if you spent your life wanting to be away from him.

They (my two atheist friends) still at the end did not grasp this difference – they still viewed separation from God as a punishment inflicted on them for not choosing God.  But I can’t change their hearts – only God can.  They can think about that and I can pray that they realize how childish that view is – though it is systemic of our political systems these days – that you can make a poor choice, but not suffer the consequences because a “loving” government would protect you from your own stuidity and obstinacy.  Apparently, they apply that same understanding to God – that he should allow us to indulge and then when we face the consequences, protect us from them.  He does do this, but he only gives us one life to come to him, and choose to repent.

But what I got out of the conversation was when one of them challenged me with the question, “what happens if you’re wrong?  You will have missed out on all the fun you could have had in this life.”  I said to him, “What will I have missed?”  The things that I have given up for Christ are sin – and I challenged him to find one sin in the Bible that does not either hurt myself or others around me.  He tried to some up with something but the best he could do was suggest that sins that only affect yourself are ok.  And I just said, “Why would it be fun to hurt myself?  I don’t feel I am missing that at all.”  Perhaps that part of the conversation was the most important part.  I really feel blessed to serve Jesus today because of that conversation.  I have given up nothing to serve Jesus.  What fun is it to hurt myself or others?

If, at the end of my life, I find out this is all a fallacy (I know it isn’t, but hey, we’ll pretend there is an outside chance), I will not feel like I missed a thing, because I know that I will have spent my life doing good for people and myself.  There will not be a moment of regret that I didn’t cause someone else pain for my own momentary pleasure.  And it is sad that my friends are so lost that they still see someone else’s pain as their gain.

I thought I was on top of things in the moment I got up.  Lots of time.  Daylight Savings and all.  I head downstairs at about 6:30am, take care of a few things, and “Waaah!”  Baby is awake (he usually sleeps in until 8am or so).

Spend the next half hour cleaning him up, changing his outfit, apply cream for the nasty rash he has right now, and attempting to feed him.  Then the other boys all get up.  I still manage to get out the door to take the dog for a walk, with 25 minutes to spare and the baby stapped to my back (Mommy was into her bathroom prep time).  I get back, and lo and behold, the boys are not ready.  Rush rush, cram them all in the van, get to church with about 1 minute to spare.

(First prayer skipped – breakfast)

Church goes fine actually.   Everything that happened at church was smooth.  My Discover Hope class went well, good discussion (with only one or two brain cramps).  The sermon was fun – Adam had the unenviable task of explaining Daniel chapter 7.

We leave church and the kids are hungry, but Cheryl wants to take them shopping.  Not my favourite activity, but shopping must be done from time to time.  We hit the Talize for some slightly used pants for the boys, then Wal-Mart for some nice shirts for them.  I figure we can do a cheap lunch at McD’s as I wasn’t hungry.  I tried to use McD’s as an incentive for behaviour, but Aydan is defiant, or forgetful, and by the time we get done with shopping, he has lost his drink, his fries and his sandwich.  When we sit down to eat and he realizes that nothing is for him, I finally see him react.  He gets it.  He goes very quiet and sad.  After a few minutes, I decide that he’s been remorseful, so I share my fries and drink with him.

(skipped prayer at lunch, too)

By the time shopping is over, I am getting edgy and I don’t know why.  What my subconcious knew that my concious didn’t was that we had a ton of stuff planned for Awana, but hadn’t prepared at all.  The list went on and on – November Newsletter, coffee and milk, cups, treats, all needed to be prepared in addition to the normal setup routine.   We had no indication as to how many children to expect to our “bring a friend” night.

By the time we got home, I was focused on the newsletter, but at the same time there was much else to do.  Housecleaning, making supper, picking games (because I was covering for our games director who was away) were all burdening me.  I managed to churn it out then I realized I would have to leave early to get it printed at the church office.  Then I get a call from one of our leaders, who couldn’t make it.  That’s two down.

I attempt to get out the door early but I wind up loading the gear for my wife as well.  We feed the boys pizza pockets, and I head out the door after some less than pleasant words with Cheryl, over codifying the points we give out for Awana clubbers as an incentive.  I was thinking it should be an easy task to delegate, but she felt totally unprepared to come up with anything.  We were both wrong, which is what happens 90% of the time we butt heads.

I get to the club and start setting up on time miraculously – I am there at 5:30.  I fix tape in the gym, then I notice that nobody is here but Shane.  5:45, still nobody.  Not even my wife.  Ed and his family show.  That’s good.  Mitchell is around – I guess he always was but I didn’t see him.  Adam and Susie show up.  It’s 5:52 when I finally see most of my leaders, and my wife pulls up with the gear.

Prayer before starting Awana skipped.  We should have loaded the kids into their seats in the sanctuary ten minutes ago.

I survey the land – we have two cubbies (normally our largest club).  Our T&T’ers, who I expected to bring the most friends – not a single new clubber.  No new parents at all.  Wow.

At the flag ceremony I don’t even bring up the lack of friends, and hence, no bonus rewards for clubbers.  But I am still way off my game.  I start the Awana song before we even do O Canada.  The kids call me on it.  I give a lecture on rewards and get some Awana bucks into the hands of the T&T Director. The Sparks director rolls in about 3/4 of the way through the flag ceremony.  Though I feel on the edge of snapping, I decide to err on the side of grace, since the guy had a migraine all day, despite all the lateness shown by pretty much everybody around me.  I can’t really be that upset – though I am on time this week, I have been tardy myself a fair amount and haven’t set a good example.

Relieved, I slink out to the foyer, where I start working up a points structure so we can actually figure out which team is winning.  By the time that is done, I have about 20 minutes to pick games.  I start flipping through the book, looking for games without beanbags as ours went missing about 3 weeks ago and haven’t turned up.  Every single game involves either food or beanbags!  Gah!  I finally find 3 games and with all of 3 minutes to spare, I head into the gym.

Short staffed, short patience, short wits.  Short of peace, short of fruit.  But the victory was I got through the day in one piece, and learned once again the importance of prayer.

Every morning, at 4:45am I walk my dog.  I actually appreciate this time because it gives me a chance to pray and talk with God.  Usually it’s a one-way thanks and praise session and I wonder sometimes that I don’t have a chance to listen to what he has to say.  But maybe he is enjoying what I have to say.

Anyways, today, I was rushed so I didn’t do a full walk with the dog.  Late night with my lady, enjoying some tickets that were given to us to the Vancouver Theatresports League.  I determined to listent to a little Praise 106.5 and pray while driving.  (Useful tip: if you pray while driving, DON’T close your eyes!)

Well, on the local Christian radio station in between songs they start saying, “Well, It’s Hallowe’en today, but it’s Reformation Day to me because today is the anniversary of Martin Luther posting his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenburg chapel and starting the Reformation.  Today we’re going to be talking about alternatives to Hallowe’en – Harvest Festivals, or whatever terms you use.”

I listened to this, and I started trying to pray.  I would get to “O God” and then my mind would get twisted back to Hallowe’en, and the fact that this Sunday night is our first “Bring a Friend” night.  Then God starts pointing things out to me.

“Hey, you’ve never really reached out to your neighbourhood here.”

“But God, I live so far away from church!  Nobody around here will want to come that far.”

“How do you know?  You do.”

“Well yeah, but…”

“Why don’t you hand out Awana invitation cards to all the kids tonight when they come to your door?”

“I guess I could, but they won’t come.  The cards will just get thrown away.”

“How do you know that?  Why don’t you try it?”

“But God…”

“Look.  Last year you had more than 200 kids come to your door.  At least a few of them, their parents may be looking for something more wholesome to send their kids to for an activity.  You don’t know.  This is the one night a year when you can walk up to people’s doors and knock and ask them for stuff and people don’t think you’re crazy.  It’s one night a year that children take candy (and anything else) from strangers.  Why are you wasting it?  You want to hear from me, here I am talking to you.  Now get to it.”

So I get to work and I mention this to a Christian friend of mine at work.  I tell him that it seems like a colossal waste that Christians withdraw from our culture on Hallowe’en because of its roots as a pagan holiday.  He agrees.  He says, “You should give them some candy for coming too!”  I was like, “Well, we were going to for the bring a friend kids anyway, but you’re right!  I should stick an Avery label on each card saying, more candy for new kids who attend!”

So now I have a plan of action for tonight.  And this weekend.  200 invitations, directly distributed only to families with kids in the ages we serve.  How easy is this?  And to think, Christians don’t like Hallowe’en.  I wonder how many of them consider the lengths the early church went to, to “take over” pagan holidays?  I mean, look at Christmas, Easter.  They are both in origin pagan holidays, co-opted by the early Christians.  I am not saying we need to do the same for Hallowe’en, but there are elements of Hallowe’en that provide fantastic openings for us as Christians who wish to share our faith.  Why not take advantage of them, instead of shaking our collective fingers at secular society, “tsk, tsk”ing the whole time about witches and dead things?