Finding God amongst Halloween Darkness
Words by Carl Billington
For tonight, we will discover there’s a God like no other.
He left the grave in his dust, and the gates of Hades now rust.
Tonight we’re reclaiming this festival from the kingdom of death.
Its power was broken when the corpse of Christ drew an unexpected breath
With these words, St Mary’s welcomed the youth group and their families to an interactive evening of fun, frights, and facing fears as we invited everyone to consider the paths they’re choosing in life and the fears that sometimes influence our choices.
“We invited our youth to dress up and come however they wished, with no filter. It was a room full of monsters, superheroes, ghouls and villains, and a horde of skeletons – it might have been a scary sight if it weren’t for the ear-to-ear smiles that filled the room,” Rev Kath Bier recalls.
“Most of our youth group are from families that aren’t part of a faith community, but live in the extended neighbourhood. They were genuinely shocked that we offered to celebrate Halloween with them. Our neighbourhood wants to engage in Halloween - dressing up and hanging out with friends, and we really felt the Holy Spirit wanted to meet them where they were and host them for an evening.”
“It gave us the most wonderful opportunities to introduce people to the God who “forms the light and creates darkness” (Isaiah 45:7) and who alone “knows the way to the gates of deepest darkness,” (Job 38:17). God is light and fire, but he also inhabits the deepest darkness – when you’re the most terrifying thing in this universe, there’s nothing to fear. He’s the God who judges all other gods (Exodus 12:12). We were able to introduce people to some aspects of the Trinity they’ve never thought of before,” Kath adds.
Karla Billington, St Mary’s Youth Pastor, walked us through the night: “It was an evening that brought scripture to life with a race to wrap people in graveclothes (layers and layers of toilet paper) and then see how quickly they could burst free in an imitation of Lazarus. We introduced eucharist in the context of Jesus’ ‘vampire’ speech, shared the Babylonian zombie curse from Zechariah, and learnt the thriller dance after a reading of Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones. The night was wrapped up by our very own cover band featuring a couple of youth group members and some schoolmates.”
“We’re hearing so many stories since of people whose perceptions of God and Christianity are being challenged - including many workplace conversations that popped up for our team of helpers when workplace colleagues heard we were hosting a Halloween party: ‘Can a church do that?’ adds Kath.
“Several unchurched family members who weren’t sure if they’d be allowed to come into the church because of their beliefs or living situations, experienced a deep welcome and had such a blast that they stayed until the wee hours and joined the clean-up crew. Also, since the event, three of the band members who performed for us on the night have randomly been gifted instruments (a full piano, a bass guitar, and a set of drum cymbals) out of the blue. They’re currently in shock and we’re looking forward to helping them recognise that the God they might not believe in absolutely believes in them,” Karla adds.
“If that’s the key takeaway for some of the young people and their families in our neighbourhood, then that’s something we can all celebrate!”
Those who are interested can learn more about the Christian roots of Halloween here.
