As you know October and November form my gratitude season and each year I work to intentionally create gratitude practices that draw me into the presence of God and remind me of the many blessings in my life. I created my gratitude garden a few weeks ago and it provides a great focus for my morning reflections, but as American Thanksgiving approaches I find myself seeking for something more. More than anything I need practices that make me feel a little more intentional about this season of thanksgiving.
Gratitude pumpkin
On Friday evening we painted gratitude pumpkins with our community members. I originally planned to paint leaves. Unfortunately autumn was so slow in coming this year that I couldn’t gather enough leaves to paint. Hence the gratitude pumpkins. It was a fun evening with some serious reflection on gratitude as well. Part of what it made me realize is that I often need fun to ignite my gratitude.
Painting gratitude pumpkins
Another practice I reinstituted this year is a gratitude scavenger hunt. This is adapted from the exercise at the end of the gratitude chapter in The Gift of Wonder. I will focus on a new arena of my life every few days and will hunt for new items that I am grateful for. I think it this a great preparation for the end of the year and our celebration of Christmas. Will you join me and celebrate this important season together?
Here is what I invite you to do.
What Will You Need?
Get yourself a gratitude journal. I like an 8 x 11 1/2 sketch book like this Wirebound, Pentalic Sketch Book, or if you want to do something a little more special, permanent, and decorative you might like to try this Vintage Hardcover Three-Ring Binder .
Get a stack of Post it notes or small cards to label what you are grateful for.
Gather some decorative pens, pencils or crayons. I love paint pens which I think are perfect for the vintage hardcover binder but colored markers will also work and are cheaper. Be aware that they might bleed through sketch pad pages though. The paint pens seem expensive up front but I use them for painting rocks, leaves, and wood so they are lots of fun to have around and seem to last for years. Make sure you get ones that are not water based. I learned by experience that the colours in these run when you spray them with Mod podge or similar acrylic glue.
Gather some magazines and photos that will help you make a collage of your weekly gratitudes.
Get a glue stick. If you like to do craft projects or have a kid who does you probably already have this around the house. Otherwise get the cheapest one you can find as you will only need a little or if you belong to a buy nothing group see if someone has one they no longer need.
What Will You Do?
Read through the chapter on cultivating gratitude in The Gift of Wonder. I have just re-read this in preparation for my own season of gratitude and I hope you don’t mind me tooting my horn a little but I really do think it is an excellent start to our gratitude season.
Set aside time once a week for your gratitude reflection. This is the scavenger hunt part. Over the next few weeks we will work through the different parts of your life hunting for and in some cases uncovering the things you are grateful for. Quickly write each item on a post it note.
Write in your journal. In large letters at the top of a fresh page write Ten things I am grateful for in my… (prompts to follow). Make your list, writing each item in a different color and follow it with a sentence that describes what your life would be like without that item. You might like to break this up through the week and do 2 items for each day of the week.
Set aside another block of time for your creative exercise. You might like to create a collage, write a prayer, create a wreath or write a song.
Sunday is my gratitude day. I usually block off half an hour or more to think about what I am grateful for, but for the next couple of months I plan to spend more time on both the gratitude gathering exercise and the recording exercise. I am not sure how this will work with my busy travel schedule over this time period but I am sure that I can make something work.
Weekly Prompts
Some of the prompts are fairly generic and can be used every week so choose from these and then apply the specific prompts below. Or if other ideas come to mind use those instead (and share them with us for future gratitude seasons).
- Name someone that makes your life better.
- Name something you are particularly proud of.
- What makes you laugh?
- What are you grateful for that you would like to share with someone else?
- What is something unique that you are grateful for?
- Find something that makes you feel safe.
- Find something that makes a beautiful sound.
- What is something unusual you are grateful for?
- Name one beautiful thing you are grateful for.
- What recent lesson are you grateful for?
Week 1 – Gratitude for your life.
- Name an experience from your life you are particularly proud of.
- What or who has made you want to laugh this week?
- What is one talent you are grateful for?
- What is one thing about your body you are grateful for?
Week 2 – Gratitude for your family.
- Name your favourite childhood memory.
- Name a special attribute of a family member you are grateful for.
- One thing you recently learnt about a family member that you are grateful for.
- One way God has blessed your family that you are grateful for.
Week 3 – Gratitude for your friends.
- Name one friend who makes you laugh.
- One thing you have learned from friends that makes you feel special.
- One way your friends have helped you grow.
- Name the friends who have stuck with you through good times and bad.
Week 4 – Gratitude for your home.
- Describe something that smells amazing.
- Think of something you used today that you tend to take for granted that you are grateful for.
- One thing that represents your culture that you are grateful for.
- One thing with words on it that you are grateful for.
Week 5 – Gratitude for your workplace.
- Name one person who makes you smile.
- One aspect of your work you are particularly grateful for.
- Name one lesson you learned this week that you are grateful for.
- Name one characteristic of your workplace you are grateful for.
Week 6 – Gratitude for your community.
- Name one of your neighbors you are grateful for.
- Describe one aspect of your community you are grateful for.
- What is your favourite community site that you are grateful for.
- What is one thing about your community that makes you feel strong.
Week 7 – Gratitude for your place of worship.
- What is one thing about your place of worship that you are grateful for?
- What is one thing about your faith community that encourages you?
- Name one place in your place of worship that makes you feel close to God?
- Name one thing in your place of worship that shows a vibrant color you love.
Week 8 – Gratitude for nature.
- What is one of your favourite beautiful places?
- What is one particularly good taste for you.
- What about the current season are you grateful for?
- What place in nature of gives you rest?
Once you have written your lists take time to reflect on what you have written. Allow the Holy Spirit to reach deep into your soul and bring a response. Decorate your list. Create a collage from appropriate magazine images and photos. Write a prayer or a song. Paint a picture. Whatever rises up within you, DO IT.
P.S. You might also like to check out Ten Tips for Expressing Gratitude.
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It’s almost time to get those jingle bells ringing – let Godspace be a resource to you as you prepare! We offer many devotionals, gifts, prayer cards, free downloads, retreats, and more. Check it out in our shop under the category of Advent! You will also find many resources for Celtic Advent, traditional Advent, and Christmas under our resource page Advent, Christmas, New Years & Epiphany
A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taizé. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers. This service is provided for your enjoyment by St Andrews Episcopal Church in Seattle. The church also hosts a live Taize style service on the first and third Sunday’s of each month. The next live service will be November 5th.
By Tom Sine
Christine and I recently celebrated our 30th anniversary. We reflected back on the early days of our marriage here in Seattle. We also celebrated our wonderful three decades of life, marriage and learning how to share God’s generous hospitality with good friends in Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the United States and Canada. However since the pandemic began our traveling has cut back and we do miss the hospitality of our friends in Britain and down under.
I suspect many of our friends don’t know that when Christine and I began our journey together over three decades ago we decided to make hospitality as a major part of our shared life. When we settled in Seattle we bought an ancient house that was built in 1910 before the First World War and the first global pandemic. It was surprisingly inexpensive back then. It consists of three two bedroom apartments stacked on top each other. Christine did a great job of directing a little remodeling on all three floors.
Christine lived in community on Mercy Ships, before we were married, where she headed up the medical ministry. I lived in community with a small household for Christian men. Not surprisingly we purchased this three apartment house to create a modest Christian community we call Mustard Seed House.
Mustard Seed House Oil Lamp
For 30 years we have been inviting younger couples to live in the other two units. We always offered them reduced rent which is becoming increasingly important for Gen Y and Z as rent prices are soaring in Seattle. Christine and I have so enjoyed life with our new friends as we all tried to help one another life our best lives as people of faith. So many good memories.
To join us in Mustard Seed House Community we ask them to share a meal with us once a week where we share about our faith and issues in our lives and faith, and we garden together once a month and share the produce from the garden. Last year we harvested and shared 100 pounds of tomatoes and 400 pounds of apples. Before the pandemic we enjoyed offering hospitality to large groups of other friends.
After we stepped down from Mustard Seed Associates which we ran out of our garage, we deeded over our 40 acres on Camano Island to Circlewood headed by James Amadon as a Christian Environmental Study Center.
Then Christine started her new blog site godspacelight.com in 2008. I have been surprised and delighted how people all over the planet so enthusiastically not only started tuning into this site on spirituality, prayer and community but also posting on her site. I don’t know of any other Christian sites on prayer and spirituality that engage over one to two thousand Christians a day from all over the planet.
I plan to start posting on Christine’s site virtually every week. Much of my posts will be about Gen Y & Z that I call “the Good News Generation.” Many of the young in our churches that are a part of the Good News Generation, are not only keen in their spiritual practices but they also care much more about issues of environmental, racial and social Justice.
For example, Rebecca Conner, who is Christine’s newest assistant, is a member of the the Good News Generation and is also an active member of the Covenant Church. Like many in her generation she is particularly concerned about the daunting changes facing the environment. She earned a BS in Environmental Science and a BA in Philosophy at North Park University in Chicago. Rebecca has just returned from Fairbanks Alaska where she worked a leader in a Flora Field Crew in an environmental project before coming back to Seattle to work with Christine.
I also am a big fan of Gen Next. In fact in my most recent book 2020s Foresight: Three Vital Practices for Thriving in a Decade of Accelerating Change that I wrote with my co-author Dwight Friesen, I describe a number of the good news generation who live in co-housing to reduce their living costs so they have more discretionary time to work in neighborhood empowerment projects to extend hospitality to people who have been displaced increasing waves of severe weather.
I recently did a Futures Creativity Workshop with a Presbyterian Church outside of Seattle. These church leaders knew their congregation was graying like many mainline churches. However, they hadn’t noticed they no longer had any young families. During they work shop one of the five creative groups came with a creative new way to offer hospitality to young families. This group remembered that they had a large building that was under utilized.
They came up with the creative idea of offering an art class to elementary school students after school to reduce child care costs to young families…which is likely to be very popular and provide a community service.
If you and your congregation are interested in my leading a Creativity Workshop in your church or share how you create innovative ways to both be a difference or make a difference in these turbulent times you can contact me at twsine@gmail.com or 206-524-2111.
This is your invitation to join the good news generation in creating new ways to both be a difference and make a difference expanding God’s hospitality in times like these.
Did you know? Godspace has many resources available for the season of Autumn and the season of Thanksgiving! From harvest helps and reflections, holiday guides, an online retreat, litanies/liturgies, prayers, and more – check it out on our Seasons & Blessings page!
I am a huge fan of Fall! This week we have cooler temperatures in Nashville and it actually looks and feels like Fall for the first time! I had a great time driving out of town a bit and seeing all the trees with their colorful leaves. I am so grateful! It reminds me that Halloween and Thanksgiving are not too far away! I know that our Canadian friends have already celebrated Thanksgiving but we can all use some practical ways to practice gratitude and thankfulness, especially with everything going on in our world. I know I do! And as November begins next week, we all get a fresh start, a chance to begin again and draw closer to Jesus. Here are a few ways I am connecting with God and practicing gratitude and gratefulness this season.
WRITING DOWN and REMEMBERING THE GIFTS: One of my daily practices is to write down the GIFTS of the DAY each morning. I take time to remember the gifts of the day before. I have a small journal where I make a list of the things I am grateful for…from the cold weather to a new job possibility, to a new friend or a good cup of coffee. No gift is too small to write down. I find that taking the time to pause and look back over the day before helps me start the new day with a much brighter point of view. This is like a mini PRAYER OF EXAMEN.
PRAYING THE PRAYER OF EXAMEN: Another practice is the praying the longer version of the PRAYER OF EXAMEN. TRY the extended PRAYER OF EXAMEN on your own. This one is based on the one led by FATHER MICHAEL SPAROUGH whom I met on a retreat the year before covid.
1. Place yourself in the Presence of God. Open your entire self to to God’s Love.
2. Review your day in Thanksgiving. “Savoring the goodness not just counting my blessings”. What made my heart smile today?
Picture Jesus smiling at you!
“Behold God Beholding You!”
3. Reviewing the Emotions and the Feelings of the day. What did you notice as you woke up? Were you grumpy? Grateful? Already stressed out? What surprised you? What delighted you? Did you lose your temper? Did you have conflict? Did you feel lonely or afraid?
Give these feelings to Jesus!
4. Prayer of Review…LISTEN
Jesus receives the negative of the day without judging you! Jesus receives your emotions, fears, sorrows, despair.
BEHOLD HIM BEHOLDING YOU
5. Turning Towards Tomorrow! Looking forward in HOPE. What has the Spirit taught you?
As you look towards tomorrow what good things from today do you want to take into the new day? Ask Jesus for the GRACE you need for tomorrow.
What do you need Jesus to provide for you so you can “BE CHRIST’S MIRROR to the World” ?
Based on Father Michael Sparough’s Examen: LISTEN HERE
Last year at our Season of Gratitude Retreat, which you can still watch and participate in, we created a Grateful Jar. I created a Gratitude Jar Kit that you can download for free at Freerangeworship.com.
You can do this on your own or with your small group, family or your entire church community. Each person or family will need a jar which can be decorated, or you can use a gift box instead of a jar. Each person/family will need a set of the words/phrases printed out and scissors to cut out the words. The idea is to create a Grateful Jar with words and phrases to help you pray and practice gratitude each day. You put the phrases in the jar and each day you randomly pick one out. I close my eyes and let the Holy Spirit choose for me. Read the selection and consider how you are grateful for this and thank Jesus for this. You are free to print out or send out the PDF to your community, just let them know you got it from freerangeworship.com and Lilly Lewin!
You can also use the drawing of the Grateful Jar as a prayer response during worship with your church community or in your small group. Each person will need a picture/handout of the jar and a pen or pencil. Invite participants to consider all the gifts of this week, all the things you have to be grateful for in your life today…
WRITE these things on your jar. Ask Jesus to show you.
Give people time to actually write down these things. After they have finished writing, have participants hold the paper and pray together. If you use slides, you could do this as a corporate prayer, praying this aloud together. If you are using this with a small group or youth group, you could have people share in pairs what things they are thankful for. The prayer can be something like this:
“Lord we thank you that you fill our lives with Good Things.
Even when things are dark and confusing, you give us things to be grateful for each day.
Thank you for all of these things!
Help us to notice and pay attention today and everyday to the good gifts you give us!
Thank you Lord. And all God’s people said “AMEN”
We’d love to hear how you use the Grateful Jar, so send us your stories and pics! And since it’s Halloween on Monday, save a few piece of candy and you can pray with it as a family, individual or a group! Check out Praying with Chocolate and get the free handout here.
Grateful for all you do each day to love and serve others! Thank you!
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin inspire ways to get geared up for the coming season of gratitude in this popular online course! Sign up for 180 days to enjoy this retreat at your own pace – including craft tutorials and print-outs plus much more. Check it out in our shop!
Winter is upon us. According to the ancient Celtic calendar, winter begins November 1. It makes sense to me to mark the beginning of winter in November rather than December 21 as the Julian calendar suggests. This Celtic season of winter, called Samhain, means “summer’s end.” In the seventh century Samhain was Christianized as All Saints’ Day, also known as Hallowmas or Hollantide, or later in history as All Hollow’s Eve which has morphed into the present Halloween holiday.
As a Christian who embraces Celtic spirituality, I find it helpful to celebrate the four seasonal festivals on the Celtic Calendar AND the holy days on the Christian calendar. I celebrate the Feast of All Saint’s on the first Sunday following All Saints’ Day (November 1) at my local Episcopal Church. It is important to me to give thanks for all the lives of saints as well as dear family members and friends who are now in the nearer presence of God. Christian communal celebrations strengthen my faith. Yet, I find that observing the four Celtic festivals of the year also enrich my spiritual journey.
Samhain is believed to have marked the beginning of the Celtic New Year. Thus, it is an appropriate time to acknowledge endings in our lives as well as new beginnings. We can align ourselves with the season of harvest not only in an external way but also in a spiritual way. It is a time to separate and allow to die that which is no longer useful or relevant in our lives. What old habits and attitudes need to be released? Ritually observing Samhain gives us the opportunity to practice letting go of the old, and embracing new seeds of hope and love yet to be incubated and born at Christmastide. Mara Freeman, in Kindling the Celtic Spirit, writes,
In the country year, Samhain marked the time when the final harvest was gathered. Animals destined for the table were slaughtered and their bones were burned in the November bonfires (i.e., originally bone-fires). The bonfire also provided an island of light within the oncoming tide of winter darkness, keeping away cold, discomforts and evil spirits long before electricity illumined our nights.
Before I retired from full time parish ministry, I offered Celtic services that marked the four festival days, the solstices and the equinoxes. The first year that I offered a service for Samhain I wanted to include a bonfire as part of the service. Alas, snow and bitter cold outdoors made it impossible. As I thought about the “bone-fires,” it struck me that the original point of the fires was to burn the dregs of what was no longer useful. Poking around cabinets in the church, I found dozens of candles that had enough wax left to burn and yet had been sitting there for ages. No doubt they had not been used because they were no longer looked attractive enough for ritual use. Not surprising, there were plenty of advent wreath candles! Here was my opportunity.
Several of us gathered up the candles and some brought the dregs of their candles from home. We placed them all in a circle on the floor in the hall and gathered around them. It was an eclectic and beautiful fire to behold. It was snowing outside but the warmth and beauty of the bonfire lightened our hearts as we celebrated the beginning of the season of frost and fire.
I still do this ritual at home. Sometimes I have done the ritual on Halloween night, which has restored a sense of spirituality that once was part of All Hollow’s Eve. In earlier centuries of the church, ministers and lay people alike donned white vestments (symbols of resurrection life) and carried lighted lanterns through the church’s cemetery to bless the graves of beloved members “departed from this life in faith and fear” (Book of Common Prayer).
Praying around my home bonfire connects me to Samhain, the tradition of the church, and the joy of welcoming trick-or-treaters. It also helps me clear out space for the new candles of Advent and Christmas!
To me it feels as if we are entering this year’s dark season in the midst of the darkest times. It is easy for me to feel overwhelmed by the many wars, violence, climate disasters, national saber rattling, political polarization, economic stress–the list could go on. Gathering around my fire helps me to face my own Shadow, blind spots, fear and negativity. Facing my own inner darkness helps me not to project it onto others. It also enables me to face the world’s darkness with hope and a renewed desire to see the light and beauty in the most disparate situations of despair. Rather than turning away from the darkness, I want to be resilient enough to pray for the suffering and those who cause it.
This year I will celebrate Samhain on November 1 with a few friends. They will bring the dregs of their candles and we will build our bonfire together. We will offer prayers, sit in silence, participate in a ritual of letting go, and meditate on this passage from John’s Gospel:
Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.’ [John 12:23-26]
I invite you to observe and create your own festival for Samhain. It can be done anytime between the “thin spaces” of October 30 and November 2. You can create your own bonfire of candle dregs, read the passage from John’s Gospel and include a ritual of letting go. Here is a copy of Mara Freeman’s ritual for Samhain:
A Ritual of Letting Go
For this ritual, you will need a piece of yarn, string or cord with enough length so that that three knots can be tied.
Reflect on the following questions. Think about one thing that you would like to release in response to each question.
- What old habits, patterns, and way of being no longer serve you and your relationships?
- What things from the past adversely affect your family or your community’s well-being and would best be forgiven and forgotten?
- What does our planet need less of to make it healthier?
Be clear about the three items for each question that you genuinely wish to release. Now take the piece of yarn, string or cord and make three knots in it, one for each issue. As you make each knot, visualize each situation clearly, and imagine every aspect of it being firmly bound into the knot. Bury the knotted cord where sun, wind, and rain cannot touch it, and let it rot away (Mara Freeman, Kindling a Celtic Spirit, p. 305).
However you choose to cross the threshold between October and November, may you remember the old Irish saying, “It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” May it be so for all of us. Amen.
Prayer cards are available in the shop for many occasions and seasons–from everyday pauses and Lenten ruminations to breath meditations and Advent reflections, enjoy guided prayers and beautiful illustrations designed to delight and draw close. Many are available in single sets, sets of three, and to download–even bundled with other resources!
Back at Easter, I was wondering what on earth I had to contribute to the Godspace blog’s next theme: ‘Living as Christ lived: towards justice, love and peace for all creation’. What do I contribute towards? Do I even remember I am supposed to be living as Christ lived – in any concrete, detailed, particular sense – to the betterment of our world, to the building of the Kingdom of God?
As a writer, poet, blogger, contemplative photographer and visual artist who lives with chronic illness, who is often house and/or bed-bound, of course I hope I increase the amount of love in the world; of course I hope I pray for, and act for, peace. Yet what do I contribute towards justice: towards making my immediate neighbourhood, or the various local/national/global communities I tangentially touch, less unjust? Do I even understand what ‘justice’ might be needed by the people I live amongst?
Part of the work of justice, it seems to me, is making openings for those who are marginalised – unseen or unrecognised by dominant cultural narratives – to tell their own story in any way they choose. Not just so that the voice of an individual, a group, or a nation can be physically heard; but so that within the act of telling healing might begin. Healing which will lead to grief, pain, anger, poverty and all the other consequences and emotional reactions to trauma of any kind, anywhere, being transfigured so that lives can be lived and released each according to their calling.
This makes telling an integral part of Justice, making it about recognition and release, celebration and gratitude. Each telling is unique: God’s created world and peoples are infinitely, wondrously varied. If the stories of trees and stones are revelatory gospels where Spirit can be read, how much more so might the Spirit pour out in loud acclamation from the stories of precious people who currently do not know how to make their voice, their story, their gospel, be heard?
“the only way to seek justice is through the power of stories”
Leslie Marmon Silko
… It is now Autumn. That piece for the summer theme was never finished due to brain-fog. I could think of nothing I had to say. The current theme on the Godspace blog is ‘Gratitude as Guests of the world’, so I am trying to work out how to finish what I wanted to say! The link is about stories.
This year, extremely tentatively, I have begun sharing my own story using the medium of my ‘digital one-finger paintings’. As I explained in Godspace’s Artful Julybilee a few months ago, these paintings are made whilst I am experiencing seizures which (at the moment) are a daily occurrence of the Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) with which I live. In so many ways these seizures are unwelcome ‘guests’.
Those are the bare bones of the story I have to tell. And I’m beginning to get the message that I do have to tell it! Anyone might be helped, for whatever reason, if they are given the means to express themselves. In this case the means are an iPad or similar and a £10 to buy the app. It sounds simple – and it should be – but for tech poverty and financial poverty: both of these might be holding back someone from telling us a story, releasing a testimony which might change the world.
My art is not political in any conventional sense of the word, though I suspect that everything we do has seen or unseen political ramifications somewhere. In this case, my art is political by the very means by which it is produced. Not only am I privileged enough to have been able to afford the tech (secondhand), although I may often feel socially isolated, I am fortunate enough to have a thoughtful friend who had given me an app store voucher for Christmas (which exactly covered the cost of the ArtSet 4 app I use). Yet, for all that this technology has freed me to tell my story, at what price does that telling come? What about the impact this tech has on the planet? Suddenly my art is part of a discussion about rare-earth minerals and who mines them, controls access to them, and what happens when they run out. These are all political hot-potatoes. They are justice issues too – for people and for the planet. Who decides if the resources necessary to release a person’s story so that healing may begin, so that Kingdom may be built, are ‘worth’ the cost? I wonder, are there different ways I can tell my story which are more responsible and more responsive to the needs of other peoples and our planet?
Suddenly my little digital finger paintings are looking highly political! All too often, the Gospels tell that when Jesus encounters individuals the personal is political. Jesus rapidly makes it apparent that to flourish as a beloved child of God we should challenge every single received opinion and lifestyle choice we have ever made or will ever make.
And so, before I jump ahead to the complex question of resources, I find myself asking this question: Is offering encouragement to others, urging them to tell their story, an act of justice? Is that small invitation, “tell me about it, show me how it is for you”, only applicable in the end for those with the means (financial, social, educational, emotional, physical, technical etc) to provide themselves with a way to connect to that ultimate citizen-broadcast medium: the world-wide-web? Surely not.
(‘encouragement as justice ii’ will follow…)
Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin inspire ways to get geared up for the coming season of gratitude in this popular online course! Sign up for 180 days to enjoy this retreat at your own pace – including craft tutorials and print-outs plus much more. Check it out in our shop!
Halloween is still a week away, but by the Halloween costumes, candy and gruesome house decorations appearing, and the horror movies ready to launch, I would say it is very much on peoples’ minds here in the U.S. So it is time to think about what you are going to do. Now I am not an advocate for Halloween. When I grew up in Australia it was not really celebrated and it always seems weird to me that Christians celebrate it as much as non Christians but here in America it is such a part of the culture that we really need to think about creative faith-based ways to celebrate. And I must confess that carving Halloween lanterns can be fun.
jack o lanterns
I am not going to get into the theology here. Some Christians see this celebration as evil and like to stay home with lights off. Others feel we should participate in ways that engage and redeem the culture. I am of that persuasion and so thought that you might like some resources to help you too:
Verge Network has a useful article Twelve Simple Ways to Be Missional this Halloween
Another helpful article from Grace to You: Christians and Halloween. It includes some historical perspectives as well as some suggestions for alternative celebrations like harvest or Reformation festivals. They also point out that there are some not so good alternatives like Hellhouse evangelism. I particularly love the idea of taking acts of mercy out into the community and treating treating” needy families with food baskets, gift cards, and the gospel message.
One alternative is to hold an All Saints Party. Rather than celebrating Halloween celebrate All Saints Day November 1st. Have kids dress up as their favourite person or saint. Finding Truth in Halloween is a good article to start with. It has some great ideas for All Saints/Halloween party with downloadable coloring pages for kids.
This is a great alternative way to share stories (maybe of the saints that have most influenced you life), decorate pumpkins if you must but also consider some alternatives like decorating window panes with non-toxic paint markers, making Christmas decorations and wreaths. This article from Christianity Today is a thoughtful approach. You may also like to look at: Should Christians Celebrate Halloween and Should Christians Celebrate Halloween (yes 2 different articles with the same name) which are good articles about this.
One of my favourite ideas is Reverse Trick or Treating: The goal is to publicize the fact that most chocolate sold in the US is tainted by child slavery and exploitative conditions for adult workers. Fairtrade eliminates child labour and ensures healthy working conditions with a living wage for workers.
Thousands of groups of Trick-or-Treaters in the United States and Canada will unite to help:
- END poverty among cocoa farmers
- END forced/abusive child labor in the cocoa industry
- PROTECT the environment
- PROMOTE Fair Trade
How? By distributing Fair Trade chocolate to adults, attached to a card explaining these problems in the cocoa industry and how Fair Trade presents a solution. You can learn more about this initiative here.
My growing concern for just working conditions for children makes me a strong advocate for this. I think it is a wonderful way to raise awareness of these issues and show consistency for our values.
I love this little video that some reverse trick or treaters put together a couple of years ago – not sure if they were part of the Fair Trade movement though.
Green America also posted an interesting article a couple of years ago that is worth a read. It highlights some of the concerns about the toxicity of paint and the waste of materials. Here are some of their thoughts and suggestions:
- Sustainable Halloween Practices: “In 2019, the National Retail Federation expected the 172 million people who celebrate Halloween to spend a whopping $86.79 per person, mostly on costumes and candy. That money adds up to a staggering $8.8 billion across the nation.” On this note, Dana Shugrue has put together a wonderful list of suggestions for 7 Easy Ways To Reduce Halloween Waste
- Face paint: A 2009 study by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found that 10 out of 10 children’s face paints tested contained at least trace levels of lead. This article provides some DIY alternatives.
- The Candy Problem: 41 million kids in the U.S. go trick or treating. No wonder one out of three children in America are overweight and many will develop diabetes. Consider making your own healthy treats, giving out non food items like polished stones, temporary tattoos, or friendship bracelets.
- Swap costumes: Millions of costumes are purchased in the U.S. each year. Consider holding a pre-Halloween party to swap, mend, make, or borrow costumes from your friends.
- Organize a Community or Neighbourhood Event. Green Halloween started in Seattle but grew into a national phenomenon with community events at more than 50 locations. You might want to join in the fun and get to know some of your neighbours.
What to do with the pumpkins though? Make the most of them. Kids and adults alike love carving and decorating pumpkins, but I hate to watch them slowly rotting on the porch. I grew up with pumpkin as the main part of my diet. It is great in soups, pies and roasted as a vegetable. Or as pumpkin bread or muffins. You can also save the seeds and toast them in the oven with a little salt. Here are links to some of my favourite recipes:
- Pumpkin Soup Carribbean Style with Black Beans
- Walk Through the Garden Soup
- Pumpkin Bread. This is a great recipe – and as it says it is adaptable.
- Gluten-Free, Grain Free Chocolate Chip Muffins I have not tried this recipe but it looks interesting – uses almond butter and honey instead of sugar.
- Gluten-Free Pumpkin Oatmeal Anytime Squares. Again I have not tried these but they look very interesting.
Repost: original post can be found here.
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