Every year the Reflections Trust, for the last 14 years has run a Light Party for the community in Kaiapoi and North Canterbury. Click on the link to find out more about them!
But why do we as a church support this amazing community event? Is it just about kids and whanau having a great time, great food and great fun? Sure we would probably support an event like that, simply because we love families, we love our community and we love food! But…
The reason we support the Light Party goes beyond it being a great community event. The Light Party is all about Jesus. It is about saying to our community that we don’t do dark, we don’t do evil, we as churches are about light. Jesus himself said that he was the light of the world (John 8:12). So we love the light party as it shifts the focus away from the darkness that is Halloween and encourages children and family to get together around a more positive message.
Some people say that Halloween is just North American commercialism, and that is definitely part of it, but the origins of Halloween go far beyond candy and pumpkins! Halloween has it’s origins in Celts & Druids and the belief that on that night spirits and the dead were able to walk among the living. Many of the traditional Halloween activities are related to this idea – trick or treating, bobbing for apples and dressing up in costume. For a more detailed explanation of the history of Halloween click here to visit History.com
As followers of Jesus we are called to have nothing to do with darkness – we are called to shine our light out (Matthew 5:16) – so that others may come to know Jesus Christ.
So that is why we support the Light Party.