Halloween: have we missed the point?

31st October is fast approaching, which means that once again the supermarket seasonal aisles are full of witches hats, pumpkins and skeleton costumes and Christians across the country are gearing up to condemn Halloween parties as hotbeds of occult activity.

Over the last few years, as I have observed how a number of non-Christian friends celebrate this time of the year, it has become increasingly obvious to me that Halloween is one of those issues where many Christians take a position that is based more on an imagined caricature than real life.

 

Before you stone me as a heretic - allow me put my cards on the table: I do not like Halloween. At all.

Why on earth anyone would want to celebrate death, demons, darkness, gore and evil baffles me. Young children trick or treating with their parents is one thing, but I don't welcome the excuse Halloween gives for gangs of older teenagers to engage in antisocial behaviour: banging on front doors, intimidating and frightening pensioners, and verbally abusing or egging those who refuse to meet their demands for treats.

In Philippians 4:8 Paul says: ‘whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.’

To my mind, Halloween is none of these things!

HOWEVER... while I think Halloween is unsavoury and unpleasant, for most of my non-Christian friends it is no more than a night of harmless fun, another opportunity to dress up, let their hair down and have a party.

No doubt there will be some who dabble in the occult on 31^st October, and that is a cause for concern, but in my experience Halloween is a lot more innocent for the vast majority of people than many Christians imagine it to be.

According to one blog I came across this week (which is actually a transcript of an evangelistic lunchtime talk organised by Durham CU), the roots of Halloween are more Christian than we might at first think. The word ‘Halloween’ is simply a shortening of ‘All Hallows’ Eve’.‘All Hallow’s Day’ or ‘All Saints’ Day’ has been celebrated on November 1^st for several hundred years. All Hallow’s Eve was the night before: 31^st October.

‘So why did celebration of All Hallows’ Day and All Hallows’ Eve emerge? What did they originally mean? In short, they were a celebration of the victory of those who trust in Jesus over the devil and over all evil...’

 

What has happened for centuries on All Saints’ Eve – or Halloween – is quite simple. God’s people act out a drama – a drama in which the demonic realm tries one last time to achieve victory, but is seen for what it really is. What is the means by which the demonic realm is seen for what it is? In a word: mockery.

 

According to the Bible, the devil’s great sin (and our great sin) is pride. And so, to remind themselves of Satan and the evil realm’s ultimate defeat because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, Christians ridicule them. In fact, this is why the Medieval custom arose of portraying Satan in a ridiculous red suit with horns and a tail. Nobody thought that the devil really looked like this; indeed, the Bible teaches that he is a fallen arch-angel. Rather, the idea of portraying him in this way is to ridicule him because he has lost the battle with Jesus and he no longer has power over us.

 

Similarly, on Halloween, the custom arose of mocking the demonic realm by dressing children in costumes. Because the power of Satan has been broken once and for all, children can mock him by dressing up like ghosts, goblins, and witches. The fact that Christians dressed up their children in this way shows our supreme confidence in the utter defeat of Satan by Jesus Christ – there is no fear!

 

This same principle explains the emergence of another phenomenon. If you go up to old churches, you’ll often see gargoyles: grotesque little figures attached to the outside of the building. Again, there’s a lot of misunderstanding today about why gargoyles were originally included on these building. Again, they had the same meaning as the original meaning of Halloween. They symbolized God’s people ridiculing the enemy. They stick out their tongues and make faces at those who would assault God’s people. Gargoyles represent Christians ridiculing the defeated demonic army.

If you want to read the whole blog/talk follow THIS LINK- it's certainly an interesting new perspective on Halloween!
 

However the fact remains that neither Halloween-as-pagan-festival-celebrating-evil or Halloween-as-Christian-festival-mocking-evil is the main motivating factor behind most contemporary Halloween parties.

I wonder if as Christians we train our guns at the completely the wrong target and miss the real issue when it comes to Halloween.

Think about it for a moment: what is it that has fuelled the dramatic growth in Halloween over the last few years?

Answer: commercialism.

The rise of Halloween has been fuelled primarily by commercial interests: retailers playing on our need to escape the mundane, by creating yet another red letter day that will tempt us to spend more money on associated merchandise.

In 21^st Century Britain, Halloween is as much about materialism and hedonism as it is spiritualism.

Which is why I think most of us Christians miss the point – and the opportunity – that Halloween gives to point others to Jesus.

For most non-Christians, Halloween is not a doorway into the occult, it’s a window into modern priorities.

The best Bible passage to address Halloween is therefore not Deuteronomy 18:10-11 (which denounces sorcery and witchraft), but Matthew 16:26:

What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

I suspect the rise in the popularity of Halloween is largely due to the fact that we live in an increasingly secular culture, which says: ‘the whole point of life is to enjoy as much of life as you can while you can’. All retailers do is take advantage of this by providing us with more and more ways in which we can escape the mundane.

And so the new ‘Winter Catalogue’ from Next, the new iPad Mini from Apple, and Halloween are all just symptoms of a much deeper issue: that people have forgotten that the whole point of life is to be connected to God and to enjoy a relationship with him.

Halloween does a  unique thing: it brings our neighbours to our doorsteps. Is it possible that our negativity toward Halloween only alienates the people we are seeking to reach?

Perhaps we should stop bashing Halloween so much and start talking about Jesus a whole lot more.

Dundonald Church has produced a really helpful video 3 minute video with advice on how to do this better - see below. Also, don't forget our own evangelistic 'Light and Bright' Party at Woodgreen this Wednesday for all the family.

 

 

 

DIRECT LINKS: http://peterdray.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/why-god-loves-halloween-part-1/

Dundonald video: http://vimeo.com/50976620

Learning from our Past

On Sunday we give thanks to God for being part of a community of believers that has existed in Worcester for 130 years.

 

While the shape, make-up, and  location of this community has changed dramatically during this time, the fact remains that a faithful Gospel witness has been maintained throughout these years, and that is a cause for great thanks to God. 

 

One of our long-standing church members, Ron Maddocks, has put together an exhibition of the history of the church that will be on display on Sunday and if you're around, please take the time to look at this and read the amazing history of the church. Ron has also written a booklet that recounts God's faithfulness over the years. God-willing, we hope to make this available soon.

 

Who would have thought that the small group of railway men who met to study God's Word together in the Passenger Guard's room of Shrubb Hill Station on July 2nd 1882, would grow over time, in God's grace, to be a community of people meeting in a purpose-built church, serving a modern housing estate of 5,000 homes situated to the north-east of Worcester?

 

God is so good!

 

As I have learned about the history of Woodgreen in these last few weeks it has occured to me that there are some vital lessons we need to hold onto as we look to the future.

 

Here are just three.

 

1. Mission is part of our DNA

 

In 1882 a man called Thomas Beechey invited a small number of Christian railwaymen to attend a meeting in the Passenger Guard's room of Shrubb Hill Station. Because of the long and irregular hours worked by men on the railways, they were prevented from attending church services. So, in order to reach out to this specific people-group, a work was started: not in a church building but on a station platform!

 

Innovative outreach and a passion for lost people to come to know Jesus, has been part of Woodgreen's DNA  since the earliest days of the church. Until 1959,  the church was known as the 'Worcester Railway Mission', because outreach was at the centre of church life. It was this passion to proclaim Jesus that led the church to eventually move to Warndon Villages, with a desire to reach the new housing development being built there, and to release two groups of believers to plant churches, first in St Johns and then in Perdiswell.

 

We must learn from  our past!

 

Mission has always been part of Woodgreen's DNA, because that is what Jesus told his disciples they were to do: to go and make disciples. British culture has dramatically changed over the last 130 years, meaning that the methods we use to reachout have had to change and adapt. However the Gospel has not changed.

 

And so as we look to the future: considering the possibilty of a coffee shop on the premises; seeking to engage positively with our local community; and running various numerous outreach events and Holiday Clubs (for young and old alike), we need to be as committed to the Gospel as our founders were and as innovative and creative as they were as well.

 

 

2. Bold steps of faith are part of our heritage

 

In 1896 the fledgling church plant moved into a purpose-built building in East Street, near the city centre. The church was to meet there for 99 years before moving to the current premises on Warndon VIllages.

 

The story of how God opened the door for this move is remarkable.

 

By 1987 the church congregation had outgrown the East Street premises and so Sunday morning services moved to Rose Hill School in Warndon.

 

A building team was formed to try to secure land on the new housing development to the north-east of the city. However there was dismay when the local council informed them that the final decision was in the hands of the developers. The potential plot of land that had been identified was worth £200,000. A meeting was therefore arranged with Charles Narburgh, the Director of Bryant Homes, at the company's headquarters in Birmingham.

 

When the church's ambassadors were greeted with the phrase 'Come in, brethren', they sensed that God had gone before them. It turned out Narburgh was a Christian who was as enthusastic about the possibility of a church on the new estate as they were!

 

In the end the plot of land that should have cost £200,000 was secured for just £2,000.

 

God had blessed the church's bold step of faith.

 

We must learn from our past!

 

Woodgreen's history illustrates that when God's people step out in faith, with a desire to see his kingdom extended and his name honoured, he blesses. He doesn't promise that the journey will be easy or straightforward, but he does promise to bring glory to his name.

 

And so as we look to the future, what bold steps of faith should we be considering? The great thing about audacious steps of faith is that all the glory goes to God. What opportunity will we give him to get himself the glory in the years to come?

 

 

3. God will supply our every need as we trust him

 

Although  famous names such as Mr Cadbury, the Earl of Plymouth, Mr Lea and Mr Perrins  and Rev W Awdry (creator of Thomas the Tank Engine) have all contributed to church building funds over the last 130 years, as an independant church, the overwhelming majority of money needed to build and  maintain the work of the church has come from those who attend regularly.

 

The building in East Street cost £1050, a very signficant sum at the time. However  99 years later, final cost of the current church building on Warndon VIllages amounted to nearly £1 million. On top of this has been a steadily growing budget to maintain the outreach of the church and employ pastors, youth workers, overseas missionaries and those training for Christian work.

 

And yet the wonderful testimony of the last 130 years is that God has provided for our every need through his people's sacrificial and joyful generosity.

 

We must learn from our past!

 

As we look to the future and see more opportunities than we have the financial resources to meet, we should remember that God is able to supply our needs. It was in the context of giving that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Cor 9:8)

 

As we look to God to guide us into the future, we also look to him to meet our every need, so that by his grace we, like those who have gone before us, can continue to abound in every good work.

 

By a strange coincidence, Woodgreen hosted one of the FIEC's many 90th birthday celebration meetings last Wednesday. The FIEC's National Director, John Stevens, wrote this week on his blog (HERE) about the right and wrong way to learn from our past. In the light of our own anniversary, I found his comments very helpful:

 

We may learn from the past, but that is very different from seeking to relive the past. There is a great temptation and pressure to preserve, restore and maintain it for nostalgic reasons, as if the church was some form of living history museum rather than an army on the march to victory...

 

It is all too easy for Christians to live looking back to the glory days of the past... and to assume that we are being faithful by preserving our heritage... As I was reminded when I was preaching on Sunday evening from Romans 8v18-27, Christians ought not to be backward looking people, living with a nostalgia for a vanished past. Instead we ought to be those who are living for the future, pressing forward and straining ahead looking for the glory that is to come with eager expectation. In the meantime we need to make hard choices to ensure that our limited resources are put to best use in advancing the gospel in the present time, fighting the battle where it is raging.

 

As we celebrate God's faithfulness this weekend, may God help us to look back with gratitude, but then press on with a determination to use our resources to advance the gospel in our day and age.

 

 

DIRECT LINK: http://www.john-stevens.com/#!/2012/10/vulcan-to-museum-why-we-shouldnt-waste.html

When our heroes let us down

 

 

It's been a week of fallen heroes.

 

Each new day has brought new allegations of abuse of under-age children involving the late Sir Jimmy Savile.

 

The Metropolitan Police are now investigating 120 separate lines of enquiry with a possible 30 victims. The public outcry led Savile's family to remove and dispose of the headstone at his grave this week and the Prime Minister has suggested that he might lose his knighthood. While the allegations are not proven, the sheer number of people coming forward has led most commentators to assume there is some truth to them.

 

Until his death last year, Savile was one of Britain's most established showbusiness figures and a prolific charity fund-raiser.The country's first pop disc jockey, he was also a seasoned television presenter, the iconic Mr Fixit, a marathon runner, Mensa member, wrestler and fund-raiser.

 

But the allegations that have emerged in recent weeks have eclipsed any of the good he did in life, at least in the mind of the public. The trustees of the Jimmy Savile Charitable Trust have even said they are considering whether to change its name.

 

It seems that a British hero has fallen.

 

And then on Thursday, the US Anti-Doping Agency's long-awaited report into allegations surrounding 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, was published.

 

It was unequivocal, describing the performance-enhancing methods he and his team-mates used 'the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen'.

 

The report labelled Armstrong a 'serial cheat' who not only used drugs himself, but also coerced younger riders to do the same.

 

While Armstrong denies the allegations, he has said he will not contest them. This is perhaps because the evidence in the 1,000 page report is overwhelming,  including as it does, testimony from eleven of Armstrong's former team-mates who apparently go into great detail about the doping regime he employed.

 

It seems that an American hero has fallen.

 

 

These two examples of fallen heroes remind us once again of the dodgy ground we stand on when we put our hope in sinful men and women.

 

Apart from the sickening nature of the abuse Savile has been accused of, and the blatent cheating that Armstrong is accused of, it  strikes me that we tend to have one of two reactions to the heroes we look up to, each of which has a common root.

 

We either idolise our heroes or we become disillusioned with them.

 

Part of the reason for the strong reaction there has been this week, is because both men had become icons in their respective realms: Savile was a media and charity icon, Armstong was a sporting icon. As a result, many of those who idolised them have been terribly disillusioned by what has emerged.

 

And the reason for that is because both idolisation and disillusionment have the same rotten root: hope in men.

 

We put our heroes on pedestals because we think they are gods and cannot disappoint us. We tear them down because we thought they were gods and they did disappoint us.

 

But the root of both is the same: trust in men.

 

No wonder then that the psalmist says:

'It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.'
(Ps 118:8-9)

In our celebrity-obsessed culture it's so easy to trust in the 'princes' of today.

 

And similarly, as Christians, it is so easy to put our hope in high profile celebrity preachers or teachers, or perhaps to a lesser degree, in local church leaders, elders or pastors.

 

But here's the brutal reality the psalmist reminds us of: all our heroes will let us down.

 

Both idolisation and disillusionment are sinful, because they reveal that we have been pinning our hopes on men rather than God.

 

How then should we respond when our heroes fall?

Firstly, we should turn in repentance to God, asking for his forgiveness for putting our hopes in sinful men or women, and asking for his grace to help us trust in him alone.

And secondly, we should remember again that there is only one man worth worshipping and only one hero who will never disillusion or disappoint us.

Fallen heroes should cause us to turn in renewed worship, commitment and allegiance to our resurrected hero: to Jesus. Because he will never let us down.

FIEC Leaders' Conference

As I did with the Evangelical Ministry Assembly in June, I'll be tweeting highlights and photos from the annual FIEC Leaders' Conference this week: 'Aliens and Strangers'.

Sign up to my twitter account if you want to get these: richard_lacey

John Stevens (FIEC National Director) has given a sneak preview of what to expect from this years conference on his blog: CLICK HERE.

Direct Link: http://www.john-stevens.com/2012/02/fiec-news-leaders-conference-2012-sneak.html#!/2012/02/fiec-news-leaders-conference-2012-sneak.html

Christian Peace: what we should and shouldn't expect

One of the few blogs I subscribe to is written by Christian Pastor and Author Tim Chester. On Monday he wrote a very helpful  piece on the meaning of peace in the Bible that I've been turning over in my mind these last few days.

 

As Christians we often claim the promise of Philippians 4:6-7 when we go through tough or trying times:

‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’

But what does this really mean?

 

I think we often assume this means that if we just work hard enough at prayer and trusting God, we will have an otherwordly sense of tranquillity and serenity in the midst of the storm-trials of life we experience.

 

But is this what we should be expecting?

 

There is no doubt that many Christians can testify to having had freedom from anxiety as they have trusted God in the midst of trials that would otherwise have sunk them. But, continuing the nautical analogy, is Paul promising here that a 'faith-filled Christian' won't  even feel the rocking of the boat or the spray of the water, as we endure the storms of life?

 

I'm not so sure that's what Paul promises.

 

In fact, I wonder if we can sometimes misuse the promise in Philippians in a way that can increase the sense of guilt and failure  those we're trying to help may be feeling.

 

When we face crippling financial difficulties or an overbearing boss at work or a family crisis or a severe illness - either our own of a loved one - or the heartache of bereavement, it is entirely natural and normal for us to feel a lack of peace. These sorts of trials occupy much of our thought-life and drain our emotions, precisely because they need our attention and won't just fade into the background or go away. Resolving the challenges life throws up at us often requires struggle and toil - that's one of the consequences of living in a cursed world (Gen 3:17-19).

 

In addition, as Christians, we live in a sinful world in which we do not belong and that we are at odds with.  We should not expect to walk through life feeling peaceful all the time - we are in a battle after all! If we remain unmoved by the heat of the battle,  then we should ask ourselves whether we're in the battle at all.

 

As a pastor I sometimes hear well meaning Christians use the 'peace card' as an excuse for either ducking a demanding call to service ('I have no peace about this course off action); or as a justification for unwise or sometimes sinful decisions ('I feel peaceful about this so it must be right.'). However as God reminded Jeremiah: our hearts are deceitful and so it's both dangerous and unwise to allow  our feelings to hold the trump card when we make key decisions (Jer 17:9).

 

This is one of the ways we are called as Christians to be different in our culture  which is so heart-led. Our culture says: 'If it feels good, do it.' But as Christians we are called to test God's will by using renewed minds (Rom 12:2). Furthermore, God rebuked his people in the Old Testament for  feeling peaceful when they should have been troubled by their spiritual state (Jer 6:13-14, Ez 13:9-10).

 

So what does the promise of peace in Philippians 4:6-7 mean then?

 

This is where I found Chester really helpful:

 

Christian peace does not mean tranquility. It means we have changed sides in the battle.

We have changed sides because we are no longer at war with God. The peace we have is reconciliation with God. But we are still at war so we still experience life as a battle. Indeed we often experience more turmoil because we can no longer simply acquiesce to the world, the flesh and the devil.

This, I think, is how we should read the promises of peace in the New Testament. We are not promised tranquility. Indeed in John 16:33 Jesus says that in this life we will have trouble. But we have the joy of knowing that through the cross we are now at peace with God. He was our enemy, coming against us in judgment. But now he is our friend and our Father. And that means we can rest from our striving for righteousness and the fear of judgment.

...[In] Philippians 4:6-7. Paul is not promising an easy life or even feelings of serenity. He is saying that knowing that we have been reconciled with God – and therefore that God is now for us – will guard our hearts from anxiety.

 

 

So... the peace we can know as Christians in the storms of life is not neccesarily SERENITY (although God may graciously grant us this), but rather CERTAINTY.

 

It is the settledness of heart that comes from knowing the One who has promised he will steer us through the storms of life, and be with us every step of the way, and get us  securely to the other side - even our circumstances and feelings say different.

 

To return to the nautical metaphors: in this life, we cannot expect to avoid seasickness, but we can find rest of heart in the certainty that one day our Captain will - without a shadow of doubt - guide us safely into harbour.