November 22
Scripture focus: Your kingdom is a kingdom eternal; you never get voted out of office. God always does what he says, and is gracious in everything he does. Psalm 145:13
When my children were young, they loved Halloween. Their Nana made them cool costumes like Indiana Jones and Star Wars characters. We weren’t too keen on witches and such, we tried to enjoy the festivities without celebrating the macabre.
One of our church friends disagreed with our decision to celebrate Halloween with our children – which was of course her right. She was pretty vocal about how as good Christians we were sadly missing the mark by allowing our children to go and collect candy at our neighbors’ homes while dressed in costume. I appreciated her caring enough to try to set me straight on something she was convinced I was doing wrong. I’m still not sure that we made the right choice, but we made our decision prayerfully, thoughtfully and after seeking much counsel.
I don’t think this particular friend ever quite got over our making this decision. She seemed to think that we were pretty lousy lovers of God from that point forward.
Pete and I ultimately concluded that followers of God had a lot of different and sometimes conflicting views on how to raise children in this world while teaching them to love God with all their hearts in this world and the next. Rather than committing ourselves to the passionate pursuit of the “right” answer, we have chosen over the years to try to take the next right step, realizing that God is gracious and even our best intentions don’t always result in doing the “right” thing.
God is clear and does what he says – graciously.
As we seek healing, transforming and the ability to conform to the will of God – I pray that we’ll be as gentle with ourselves and others as God is with all of us. Only God knows it all – the rest of us are simply trusting him with ourselves.
Recommended reading: Jeremiah 7 - 11
1 comment:
ah, the old "participation of christians in non-christian holidays" flap. a former pastor, whom i dearly love, once proclaimed from the pulpit that haloween was the only pagan holiday that christians had never been able to "christianize". personally,i think haloween is one opportunity for parents and children to get to know their neighbors a little better. after all, doesn't the community we live in have folks in need of recovery, and isn't our own present recovery based on our learning to love by being loved by others who are a ways ahead of us in recovery? our communities need the gift we've been given. maybe trying to "christianize" pagan holidays was a big mistake. just maybe, christianity was "paganized" instead. isn't it possible that, in an attempt to make christianity palatable, it got watered down? as i grow slowly and painfully, i think that there is a possibility that performance and obedience has been confused. performance doesn't cut it. if i think i am performing adequately, i will most assuredly judge others. if i am seeking His guidance to be 'obedient' i become aware of how much mercy i need, and as i receive mercy, i want to pass it on. a 'nanny' mouse
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