I would be surprised if there was a single person who didn’t know that Oct 31st was “Halloween”. The encroaching of American culture and celebrations into Great Britain seems endless (we may one day be celebrating “Thanksgiving” or even “Independence Day”?).It’s not strictly true that it is an American event. The remembrance of “Halloween” is believed to have been imported by Irish immigrants in the 19C and is a harvest festival and a Celtic new year. However the connotations and emphasis are now on the darker side of life with the allusions of ghosts, ghouls and witches. Not to mention the consequences of choosing the “trick” of the now ubiquitous Halloween phrase.

I am not going to get into a discussion about whether we should or shouldn’t be celebrating “Halloween” here but I would like to suggest just one thing. I would be equally surprised if there were many of us that knew November 1st was “All Saints Day”. A Christian celebration of life lived for God and the faithful witness over the centuries of help for the helpless and service to others, both sometimes at the cost of life itself.

Funny how as a society we choose to spend our time having fun celebrating the darker things and forget the possibilities we have to do good with our time. When I say funny I don’t mean funny HA! HA! I really do mean funny WEIRD.

Love Jason, The Man in the Manse