Goblins and witches and ghouls, OH MY!

Halloween seems like it came a little faster this year and there are a few facts about this holiday that remain constant year to year:

1) It will be cold in Tulsa (thankfully this year we'll avoid the rain).

2) Candy is the only thing on the brain of anyone aged 3-93 (bless teachers' hearts, I don't know how they survive).

3) You are guaranteed to see a baby dressed as a pumpkin, a man dressed as a woman and a kid dressed as a hippie (these are classics.  Always have been, always will be).

Most people see All Hallows Eve as an opportunity to dress up, act silly and go into a sugar induced coma.  I, being the odd little spook that I am, take Halloween very seriously.  I have to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin , Charlie Brown" and listen to Monster Mash and I MUST eat as much candy as I can get my hands on.  But I also love Halloween for another reason.  It is the Eve of one of my favorite church holidays.  I know, Halloween and church, what you talkin' 'bout Ashley? (So maybe I will forgo my plans to be Arnold Jackson this year).

Halloween, or All Hallow's Eve, is the precursor to All Saint's Day, traditionally celebrated by the church on November 1.   In some denominations, such as Catholicism, it is a day for commemorating those who have been beatified as Saints.  For myself growing up in the Episcopal sphere, it was a day spent talking about how each and every one of us, through our daily actions, can be "saints" too.  We sang "This Little Light of Mine" and talked about things that made us saintlike.  As a child, the idea that by not fighting with my siblings and helping do the dishes could make me more saint-like was almost as fascinating as my parents giving me one day a year to eat myself sick on pixi sticks, candy corn and mini snickers.

Think about it.  We talk all the time about treating our neighbors like Christ would, right?  Well, for all intents and purposes Christ is kind of the ultimate Saint.  The dictionary defines a saint as:

1. a person who has died and has been declared a saint by canonization 
2. person of exceptional holiness
3. model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal

We can all agree that Jesus was a person of exceptional holiness AND a model of excellence or perfection.  Behaving Christlike, or Saintlike, as the case might be, doesn't mean being perfect.  I'm sure Joan of Arc got into fights with her dad when she didn't want to take the trash out.  Being Saintlike is more concerned with going the extra mile for your neighbor and reaching out to those in need.

So Sunday, when the kids are getting in to their fireman, doctor or superhero costumes, talk to them about Hymn #293...

1. I sing a song of the saints of God,
patient and brave and true,
who toiled and fought and lived and died
for the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
and one was a shepherdess on the green:
they were all of them saints of God--and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.

2. They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
and his love made them strong;
and they followed the right, for Jesus' sake,
the whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
and one was slain by a fierce wild beast:
and there's not any reason, no, not the least
why I shouldn't be one too.

3. They lived not only in ages past,
there are hundreds of thousands still;
the world is bright with the joyous saints
who love to do Jesus' will.
You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea,
in church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea;
for the saints of God are just folk like me,
and I mean to be one too.

I felt the Earth move...

A little shake.  A little change.  Sometimes that's all it takes to transform a religious experience.  When Church Down Under started a over a year ago, it definitely shook things up.  It has given children a different way to worship than the more traditional forms.  It has given them a place to move a little- to stretch their spiritual legs.

Psychology studies have found that everyone learns differently.  Throughout middle school the "multiple intelligences" theory was pounded in to my head-- bodily-kinesthetic, visual-spacial, linguistic-verbal, logical-mathematical, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic.  The theory goes that everyone learns differently, sometimes in a combination of these intelligences and if we learn to acknowledge these intelligences in one another, we can understand each other better.

I think the same thing relates to spirituality.  Some people worship more deeply in quiet meditation, some worship through music, others through fellowship.  Thus, it would only make sense that some would worship best through movement.  Church Down Under fills that opportunity for children.  For the Little family, being able to physically relate worship has been an eye-opening experience for their children.

       "The music is a particular highlight of the service because the kids have the chance to move freely in the space, play with noise making toys or instruments, and follow the choreography that each song incorporates.  It’s a joy to see the children engaged in these songs in a way that they wouldn’t have a chance to be in Church upstairs.
  
Another of our favorite practices is the washing of the stones to represent the washing away of our sins.  It has given us a visual example that the children can understand in helping us teach them about God’s forgiveness of our sins.  It encourages participation with by placing the stones into the basin and the act of pouring the water over them which is performed by the kids themselves. 


We have seen a significant increase in the willingness of our shy 5 year-old to participate in all of the wonderful activities that take place at the Church Down Under.  It is a welcoming and comfortable environment that really encourages family growth and sharing.  We simply love it."

So whether we sing, dance, sit silently or play as a way to worship, it all translates the same in God's eyes.