An Abundant Holiday Spirit
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13 NRSV
The simultaneously greatest and worst children’s time I’ve ever witnessed during worship happened in Decatur, GA on the Sunday following Halloween. The Sunday following Halloween is traditionally celebrated as “All Saints Day,” which actually falls on November 1st. What started as a Christian response to “All Hallows Eve” (aka Halloween) is now an opportunity to celebrate and remember that the love of God overflows from this life to an eternal one, and that our loved ones are well taken care of.
This particular children’s time wanted to make that point.
The pastor understood that children generally live in the moment more than adults do, and might feel sad that they wouldn’t have neighbors practically begging to give them candy anymore. He proposed an idea, “What if we highlight the eternity and vastness of God’s love by dumping a giant trash can full of candy on the stage?! It’ll show them the abundance of what God has to offer – not just one day of fun!”
Somehow, he go everyone on board. Especially the kid who came running from 5 rows back and swan-dived into a pile of candy the size of a twin-size bed. The church went bananas with laughter, the point was made…and then it took a little under 10 minutes to get it all cleaned up to proceed with worship.
It was awful in that sense, but it was wonderful to point out how God’s abundance carries over, allowing us to overflow with love to others.
As we move from the abundance of Halloween to the abundance of Thanksgiving to the abundance of Christmas, there is a lot to celebrate. Each of these feasts remind us of the generosity of our God, our Earth, our neighbors, and what we are capable of when we are at our best.
I’d like to invite you in a few ways to participate in abundance with Creekwood.
Live Nativity is Coming!
