My daughter has just returned from a trip. The trains were delayed, so she walked into the house around 4:30pm instead of the early-afternoon time-slot she had envisaged. “You can tell the clocks have gone back!” she called to me. I looked up. Yes indeed. It was quite dark. And so begins a time of year which can feel quite depressing. It won’t be long before the light we have gained in the morning by putting the clocks back will have disappeared, too, and we will all be spending a lot more time without the blessing of the sun’s warmth and illumination.
Today, of course, is one of the darkest days of the year. Not because of the position of the sun, but because of what our culture has deemed it appropriate to celebrate. Now I rarely go to the cinema, but I did earlier this month, to see a film called “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot.” This is the true story of a community in Texas which, encouraged by the pastor of the church and his wife, adopted a lot of hard-to-place children. It was a challenging watch, further ramped-up by the film’s closing scenes in which the real-life pastor of the church in Possum Trot delivers his challenge to the cinema audience to take action in respect of the thousands of children who need hope and security and love. Challenging indeed. But it was a positive film. The community (mostly the church, I think) gave love to children who had been seriously hurt by the people who were supposed to have been looking after them. Unconditional love, manifesting itself in extraordinary patience and humility, overcame the darkness that had engulfed those precious little ones. Sure, there were still open questions as the credits rolled, but the story ended on a real high.
Then, as I walked out of the cinema, I was confronted with images of the latest horror films that were being promoted ready for “Halloween Season.” On the walls all around me were invitations to draw close to the kinds of behaviour that had been the cause of the damage to the children in the film I had just watched – invitations to feel the fear and be repulsed by barely imaginable wickedness. I had just seen what it cost to bring peace to hearts that had been troubled and broken by such things. Love overcame, but its victory did not come cheap. And yet here was the world almost celebrating the existence of evil.
Tonight, there will be innocent(ish) children, made in the image of God and called to reveal his beautiful character to the world, dressed as zombies and other ghoulish creatures so as to hide their own beauty and speak more of death than of the one who gives life. And thus bedecked, they will roam the streets collecting sweets and other goodies on the premise of a threat – “Trick or Treat!” They surely do not need any encouragement to learn that it is sometimes possible to get what you want by promising to inflict evil on others if they do not comply with your wishes.
I know some people say Halloween is harmless fun, but I’m really not sure. Our God’s way is the way of love – love which was prepared to endure the deepest betrayal, injustice and violence for the benefit of others – so any “celebration” that is rooted in values contrary to this is at best unhelpful. In John’s Gospel, Jesus reveals himself to be the light of the world. John’s four word observation about Judas’ departure from the gathering of the disciples at the Last Supper is about more than just the time of day. “And it was night,” he tells us (John 13:30). Judas was walking away from the light of the world. Where else could he go but into the dark? He thought that what he was doing was okay; that it was appropriate or justifiable. But he was mistaken.
So let us pray for the children who are involved in Halloween festivities – for safety as they go from door to door and for their hearts to be protected from the creeping evil that lies beneath the surface of society’s latest excuse to make money. Let us pray for homeowners, particularly the elderly, who find Halloween a frightening night, fearing what will happen to their property if they do not answer the door. Let us pray for churches which put on alternative activities with more positive foundations. And let us pray for ourselves – that we would always keep in step with the Spirit, and show forth in our lives those transformative attributes of a true Christian discipleship which bring light into the darkness: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control (Galatians 5:19-25).
Image by Markus Friese from Pixabay