So I’ve read a few blog posts today about Fall Festivals and how they take people away from their community. Here is one that I really liked.
“I have the opportunity to greet every person in the neighbourhood. I have the opportunity to introduce myself to the family who moved in just down the row a few weeks ago and to greet some other people I have not seen for weeks or months. At the same time, those people’s children will come knocking on my door. We have two possible responses. We can turn the lights out and sit inside, seeking to shelter ourselves from the pagan influence of the little Harry Potters, Batmans and ballerinas, or we can greet them, gush over them, and make them feel welcome. We can prove ourselves to be the family who genuinely cares about our neighbours, or we can be the family who shows that we want to interact with them only on our terms. Most of our neighbors know of our faith and of our supposed concern for them. This is a chance to prove our love for them.”
So often Christians will decide to gather together on Halloween because they think it is too pagan or unsafe or some other reason. But this is just removing us from the world that needs the Light of Christ in their life. It’s doubtful that on that night someone will be saved, but it gives you the opportunity to show your love and care for your neighbors. So if you live in a neighborhood where people are out and about asking for candy then I encourage you to spend that night at home showing that you care for your neighbors.
But this cultural disengagement we see with Halloween is part of a larger problem. Christians tend to disengage from the communities and culture they are in and it is getting easier and easier for Christians to go their whole week without meeting a single lost soul. We have bookstores and coffee shops and rec centers and weight rooms and baseball fields and so many other things that are now starting to be part of our church campus. Instead of engaging the culture around us we are retreating. We are ignoring Christ’s command to go and tell and hoping that the world will come and see.
So I think that instead of retreating to our churches for a fall festival tonight, we should stay home and be there for our neighbors and show them we care. Then in the larger picture we need to remember that we are to go and tell people about Christ not hope they will come and see. Instead of going to church for coffee go to the local Starbucks or coffee house. Engage the culture you are in with the light of Christ; don’t hid it under a bushel.
