A Harvest of Blessings
This time of year can be a struggle for Christian parents. Halloween seems like such a fun holiday for kids. You dress up and visit the neighbors, shouting “Trick or Treat” when they answer the door. They toss a bunch of candy in your bag and you count your haul once you get home.
However, celebrating the night the Celts believed the ghosts of the dead returned to earth, may not be high on a parent’s to-do list–no matter how cute those jack-o-lanterns look on the everyone’s front steps.
Churches often acknowledge this challenge by holding their own type of celebration. Ours was called “A Harvest of Blessings.” All the activities and games centered around the kids, Bobbing for apples, bean bag tosses, Twister, etc. were set up at stations where each kid who participated received candy. Each station also had a Bible memory verse. The children were allowed to dress up in appropriate costumes, but usually they got tossed aside as they immersed themselves in the fun. Not once did we hear a child complain they felt left out of trick-or-treating.
As the children in our church grew, we were able to combine the activities and games with a potluck supper, so that all church members could enjoy the fellowship before the busyness of the approaching holidays.
What alternative harvest time events does your church coordinate? Does “A Harvest of Blessings” give you some ideas for your church? Have you ever struggled with explaining why you don’t celebrate Halloween with your kids? How did you explain it?
Wishing everyone a beautiful and blessed season.
They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest; he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased, and he did not let their herds diminish. (Psalm 107:37-38)
