Involving Kids in 'Normal' Church Services part 2

free pic from dreamstime.com

During the All-in service today, there was another small win.  There's a little fellow, about five years old,  who has taken a shine to me, and each Sunday he sits with me at the front of the church, while mum minds baby sister.  He has a bit of a reputation for being wild, and he loves to talk, not very quietly.  Usually he's off to Sunday school before the Bible readings, but today he was sitting there with me, chatting about a toy umbrella he had with him.

An idea came to me, that I must have read somewhere - I know it's not one of mine!  He can't read very well yet, but he's confident with counting.  So I scanned the psalm we were about to read together, and noticed that it mentioned 'children' a few times;   I asked him to listen and tell me how many times we said children.  That worked well, so I looked for words that occurred a few times in the next passage - 'brothers and sisters', and 'love'.

My young friend also came up the front with me when I stood up to preach, and stayed there for almost the whole sermon (his mum took him away for a few minutes, but he returned with a bounce).  And I was delighted, on two counts: he made little comments on the way through the sermon, and every one showed that he was listening;  and afterwards people told me that the others kids took extra notice too, because he was there.

Involving Kids in 'Normal' Church Services

I believe that we have a responsibility to include children fully in the life of the church, and to teach them how to use their gifts and knowledge to contribute to the growth and encouragement of others, just as we expect adult Christians to do.  Today I think we had a bit of a win.

This Sunday we had an All-In service to give the leaders a rest.  I didn't want to shoo the children into a back corner to colour pictures while the real business of meeting together with God was going on.

So two weeks ago we did some preparation:  the Sunday school kids were asked to contribute prayer requests for today's service; they all gave ideas, and the oldest group, Grades 5 and 6, created a powerpoint presentation of their suggestions, complete with animated words and pictures.

Free photo from dreamstime.com

While the older kids were working on the (borrowed) laptop, the rest - 4 years and up - worked on illustrating today's Bible passage, the parable of the ten virgins.  Each week the Bible passage is shown on the data projector screen (which the older members like because it means they don't need to remember to bring their reading glasses).  I read the parable to the kids a verse at a time, and asked them to strike poses to illustrate what was happening, while one of the leaders took photos.  Later I added the kids' photos to the powerpoint slides of the passage.  (Credit for this idea goes to  Phil Day, who works for SU Victoria).

I think it went pretty well.  There was a gratifying silence while Matthew 25:1-13 was being read, with a few quiet chuckles.  Most pleasing, the kids were listening;  one little boy near me watched entranced, and even repeated a few of his poses as the slides flicked up.

At prayer time, the leader read out the children's prayer requests while the slides were played, and I could hear little murmurs as children or parents recognised topics.

Feedback afterwards was positive - someone even sent me an email with an appreciative comment about the Bible illustrations, and a mum said her son was excited to come to church today because he had contributed.

I've two hopes for today:
- That kids realised they helped other people to understand the Bible better, and helped them to pray
- That they realised that what happens in 'big church' is just as much for them as it is for the adults

There's further to go - I'd love the kids to feel comfortable and confident to walk up to the microphone and lead us all in prayer themselves.  Still - baby steps.

Useful Article About Halloween from Soul Fuel

Free image from Dreamstime 

I subscribe to group called 'Soul Fuel' which is a great resource for youth ministry.  They send me articles every week or so, and the most recent one is called 'Shining your light long after Halloween's over' - it briefly explains the Celtic belief behind Halloween, that there are 'thin places' between the world of the dead and the world of the living, and then makes comparisons with the Christian belief that 'thin places' occur between God and people.

It's written for youth to read, though a bit long in my opinion, but might be good to recommend to your keener young folk, to use as the basis of a youth talk, or to read yourself for ideas.

The same link above will get you to Soul Fuel's archives, so have a browse for other useful stuff!

To Halloween, or Not To Halloween?

Free image of skull candle and spider from Dreamstime.com

I walked into a cheapish variety store yesterday,  and was nearly bowled over by all the scowling masks, spook costumes, colourful wigs, broomsticks, fake cobwebs and plastic pumpkins.

When I was a kid, Halloween was something I read about in American novels, all a bit mysterious and foreign.  It wasn't something we did in Australia.  Which meant my parents didn't need to wrestle with decisions about whether our family would celebrate it or not.  Recently I've read that actually some people - mostly Irish immigrants - did celebrate Halloween in Australia, before it was big news in the US.  Clearly they didn't make much noise about it, or not in my town anyway.

I suppose the question really is, how do you decide which festivals you are going to celebrate with your family?  Various people, according to their family traditions and personal beliefs, celebrate Hanukka, Chinese New Year, Saints Days, Parinirvana, Ramadan.  They also celebrate Grandad's birthday and Mum and Dad's wedding anniversary.  It's pretty normal for different people to have different festivals and celebrations, and mostly that doesn't cause a problem.  We celebrate the ones that have meaning for us, and we don't bother about the rest.

Free image of two black cats against the moon
from dreamstime.com

So I'm curious to know why there is so much pressure now for Australian families to participate in Halloween.  And most odd, it seems that one of the main sources of pressure is from schools and day care centres.

I understand schools teaching children about different faiths and world views, and in keeping with good teaching practice, offering them hands-on experience of various practices associated with each.  I remember celebrating Bastille Day as a school kid, learning the Marseillaise, and enjoying a wonderful feast of French cuisine under a riot of hand-made French flags.

But I haven't yet heard of a school teaching children what the world view behind Halloween is.  In fact, I suspect part of the reason it's so popular is because most people have no idea what world view it comes from, they just like all the lollies and dress ups, and if they are really enthusiastic, draping the place with cobwebs and carving pumpkin lamps (which do look really cool).

Maybe it's a bit like Sunday school spending weeks on Noah's Ark - it's so easy to think up crafts that go with it.  Halloween has endless craft possibilities - all that lovely black and orange paint, making masks and costumes, face-painting, trick-or-treating baskets;  even people who can't draw can manage a pumpkin or a bat.

Free image of bats flying across the moon
above a graveyard from dreamstime.com

But why should we feel compelled to celebrate it?  Especially if it's not part of our family's heritage?  Is it because the retail sector has decided it's a money spinner, so the shops are full of Halloween gear, and we're programmed to buy?

I have heard people lump Halloween in with Mothers' and Fathers' Days, as celebrations imposed on us to make us spend more money.  But at least each of those has an element of urging our community to express appreciation for each other.  I don't think I've ever heard a community announcement suggesting that we should encourage our malicious spirits by throwing them a party on October 31st.

Someone I know to be a well-educated and thoughtful person surprised me very much by saying that she was disappointed to discover that kids 'trick-or-treating' her house didn't know any jokes to tell her.  Apparently her understanding was that the 'treats' were a reward given in exchange for an entertaining 'trick'.  She criticised parents for allowing their children to basically scab food from the neighbours.

Well, here's the bad news.  That's exactly what they are meant to be doing.  Halloween isn't about sweet neighbourliness.  It's about a spiritual protection racket.

I don't pretend to be an expert on Halloween.  These are a few sites you can visit to do your own research about the history of it, and the significance of dressing up, carving pumpkins into lamps, and trick-or-treating.  There are lots of relevant articles in Wikipedia, of course. But here's my potted summary of the origins of Halloween:

Free image of ghost from dreamstime.com

Behind Halloween is a Celtic celebration called  'Samhain' (pronounced roughly 'Sahvin' or 'Sowin') which means 'November' (or according to another source, 'the end of summer').   The Celtic year was marked by four significant transitions:  the first day of summer or Beltane; the summer solstice; the end of summer or Samhain; and the winter solstice. The Celts believed that at each of these transitions, the boundary between our world and the world of the dead gets weak, so that the spirits of the dead are free to walk among us. The worst of these transitions was Samhain, which marked the beginning of winter, the 'dark' half of the year.  Malevolent spirits would attack people, so Samhain was all about trying to protect yourself and your family.

People dressed up as evil spirits in an effort to fool the real ones into leaving them alone. They left gifts of food on their doorsteps to try to appease spirits that came to their homes.  If there was no gift - no 'treat' -  then the spirits would play very nasty 'tricks' on your household - like inflicting disease, sterilising farm animals, blighting the crops, and bringing bad luck or even death.

All of the harvest needed to be gathered and secured in time for Samhain, because if it was not, it would be spoiled or destroyed. All household fires had to be extinguished, and as the new year began, the priests would light a new fire,  and people would collect a burning brand and carry it through the dark to start the new hearth fire in their own home.  Some sources say that the Druid priests would use the bonfire for sacrifices to ward off evil for the new year, and for purification rituals, and people would bring gifts to throw into the fire, in hopes that the spirits or gods would grant their prayers.

Free image of Jack O'Lanterns from dreamstime.com

The pumpkin lamps - Jack O'Lanterns - are an Irish tradition, probably originally to explain the sight of mysterious lights people saw moving about over the peat bogs at night.  They represent another mean and restless spirit, which is why they are deliberately ugly.  A horrible man called Jack was due to die, but when the Devil turned up to collect his soul, Jack (obviously a gifted conman) convinced him to go away for another year.  When the Devil returned Jack tricked or trapped him into promising never to take his soul.  But of course God wasn't having a bar of him, so Jack was condemned to roam the earth, with only a stub of candle, or possibly an ember from hell, shoved into a rotting turnip to give him light.  He became known as 'Jack of the Lantern'. People carved a replica and put it in their windows, to keep the malicious Jack away. Irish immigrants to America found that turnips were less plentiful, but there were plenty of pumpkins, larger and easier to carve.

So how did it become 'Halloween'?  From the fourth century there are records of a day when the lives of 'all saints' were celebrated in Christian churches.  The reason for an 'all saints' day is probably that so many people had died for their faith, especially during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian (AD 284-305), that there weren't enough days in the year to commemorate them each individually.  Originally it seems to have been celebrated in May, but in the eighth century Pope Gregory III chose 1st November for All Saints Day, or All Hallows Day, from the Gaelic and Gothic word for holy men.  There is apparently no evidence that either of these decisions had anything to do with pre-exisiting pagan traditions.  However, it meant that the celebration of Samhain fell on the eve of All Hallows Day, and so became known as All Hallows Even, or Halloween.

Free image of barefoot beggar lady
 from dreamstime.com

Apart from the change of name there doesn't seem to have been much Christianising of the Samhain traditions; Christian practices associated with that season, like Harvest Festivals, have remained separate.  There seem to be a (very) few exceptions in some places.  The day after All Saints' Day is All Souls' Day, when in the Catholic tradition people are supposed to remember the souls waiting in agony in purgatory for the paying off of their spiritual debts;  prayers for the dead could shorten their time in purgatory.  In Scotland beggars would come around at Halloween, promising to pray for the souls of dead relatives in exchange for food and people would prepare 'soul cakes' for them.  Some claim this is the origin of 'trick or treating' - but I find that unconvincing:  there's no 'trick' involved, and for the beggars the soul cakes were essentials not extras.  Also, surely it should be a case of 'trick AND treat', if the cakes were given as payment for prayers said.

There is a stark contrast between the teachings of Christianity and the world-view behind Halloween.  We believe that the disease and famine and grief we experience are not the doing of malicious restless spirits, but part of this fallen world, which will pass away when Jesus returns.  We believe that Jesus has conquered death, and overcome all evil, and he has promised to be with us until the end of the age.  So Christians don't need to hide from ghouls, nor do we need to buy off evil spirits.  We believe that Jesus' blood provides all the purification we need, so annual rituals and sacrifices aren't required.  We are allowed speak directly to God about our needs,  all heaven is silent while he listens, and he loves us and provides generously for us;  so there's no reason to throw bribes into a fire.  And we are confident that there is a life of glory and joy waiting for us beyond the grave, so whatever our fears are about this life, they are slight and temporary.

Halloween is a thoroughly pagan festival.  And I think I have a bit of a purist objection to trying to sanitise the nastiness out of it - there's richness in knowing our history, as far as we're able from the scraps that have been handed down.  It's useful to understand that this festival came from a time when people living in England, Ireland and Scotland had good reason to be afraid of the bitter winter months, when the weak just didn't survive;  their lives were hard and earthy, and they had very few reserves to buffer them against a winter that dragged on too long, or against illness or injury.  Maybe this festival encouraged them to be needlessly afraid, or maybe it gave them a kind of explanation and a kind of hope.

What then?  I have some suggestions:

1. There is no need to feel obliged to join in Halloween celebrations, and it shouldn't be a big deal to explain why.  I don't celebrate Yom Kippur, because I am not Jewish.  I do not celebrate Halloween, because I am not pagan (ancient Celtic religion falls into the category of paganism).

2. If you are going to celebrate Halloween, I would encourage you to do some serious thinking about what your reasons are.  Is it because you are confident that the practices are so empty of spiritual meaning that it really is harmless fun?  Is it because you would rather save potentially offending the school/childcare/local community for more important issues?  Is it because participation may help to build positive relationships with your community?  Is it possible that participation may allow you to communicate some of the more hopeful, joyful message of Jesus?

3. Whether you decide to participate in Halloween celebrations or not, teach the kids what it's really about.  Explain that it comes from a particular ancient religion, and it's morphed over the centuries with different influences.  Explain how much of it you do or don't agree with.

4. Some churches celebrate Halloween with a 'Light Party', or 'Hope Party', focusing on the truth that Jesus has conquered death and is the Light of the world who came to do away with darkness and evil. Such a party could include lighting candles or sparklers, remembering particular Christians whose lives encourage us in our faith, even dressing up as Biblical characters or historical Christian figures.

Free image of trick-or-treating child
from dreamstime.com

5. Maybe you could try suggesting a different kind of trick-or-treating in your community, that will help your kids to have more empathy with people who live on the edge like those ancient Celts.  Instead of dressing up as ghouls and going door to door asking for lollies, which may encourage selfishness and rotten teeth, why not choose a community, or a charity, that needs support, like the people living in the Horn of Africa at present, dress up to represent them, and go door-to-door asking people to contribute change to that cause?

6. If children come to your door looking for lollies, you could choose to disappoint them and become known locally as the party-pooping Christians.  Alternately, you could have a treat ready that will tell them something about Jesus.  There are simple tracts for kids, which explain the gospel in cartoons, which you could hand over with a killer python. Or have a stock of super-bounce balls with 'Jesus Loves You' printed on them, and skip the lollies altogether.

A website or two with lots of ideas for Christian alternatives to Halloween: MinTools.com  Hem of His Garment.  (I haven't checked all these out in any detail, so please do not assume that I agree with everything you will find there.)