Hallowe'en

Yesterday was Hallowe'en. We had 17 kids knock at the door in total, although often in groups. What does one do?

In the morning I preached on the subject, and if you are really interested, your can hear it at
www.laindonbaptistchurch.org/sermons/halloween2.mp3 (the Scripture readings are heard first).

We prepared a little leaflet which we gave to the parents of those who called, and offered the children something from our basket of "goodies", which included little books with Bible stories, pencils and rubbers with either a Bible verse, or "God loves you" written on them.

The little leaflet read:

As Christians we have reservations about celebrating Halloween. We believe that it is better to celebrate things that are good and ‘light’ rather than concentrate on dark things. However we do not want to disappoint children who call at our door so hope you will allow them to take something from our basket and accept this short explanation of our views. If you want to talk further please call again or get in touch via Laindon Baptist Church.

Whether or not the leaflets were read, only God knows. But it made us feel a little happier about a rather dubious evening in our society's calendar. As I said in the sermon, at any other time of the year, if a parent allowed their child to go around knocking on the doors of complete strangers and demand gifts to prevent vandalism, they'd be reported to Social services.