Reclaiming Halloween #4

Check out Glow in the dark play dough and other activities . . .
 
http://www.newcelebrations.com/allsaintsday.html

Reclaiming Halloween #3

 Greig Roselli writes:

History of All Hallows Eve

Halloween has its origins in the changing seasons and the fear people used to have of autumn’s waning sunlight.
The name Halloween is a shortened version of “All Hallows Eve.” Hallows is another word for holy. Halloween originated as a nighttime vigil preceding the Christian holiday of All Hallows (All Saints Day), celebrated on November 1.
Modern Halloween is an amalgam of the celebration of fall and the Medieval European superstition that spirits return to earth.

Ancient Roots, Same Stories

Halloween is an ancient tradition. The idea of honoring the seasons precedes Christianity and has its roots in the Celtic festival of harvest, Samhain. The Celts believed that evil spirits were let loose on our earth for one day each year.
During this night, all hell breaks loose. People wear masks to hide from any spirits that might be seeking vengeance. Similarly, the gargoyles that adorn the front of Gothic cathedrals were intended to protect the building from evil. The idea that we can trick away or disgust ghosts is the origin of scary Halloween traditions.

Different Ways to Celebrate Halloween

Halloween's rich history means you can celebrate the day by drawing on elements of its traditions.
Some parents dislike the conventional Halloween festivities for a variety of reasons: religious beliefs, an aversion to scary situations, or concerns with its consumerist tendencies. If you are looking for alternative ways to spend October 31, here are a few places to start:  Start

 

Relaiming Halloween, 2

Pastor David R. Henson has written about 'Why I Bless Halloween Costumes at Church". 

"One thing my previous parish did to join in the Halloween celebration was to host a service in a pumpkin patch and invite the young (in age and in spirit) to come dressed in or bring their costumes."

And he used this prayer:

    Holy God, whose divine imagination created the world in love and goodness, we give thanks that you delight in the joyfulness of all your children, young and old alike. Bless these Halloween costumes and the imaginations that bring them to life, assuring us that in our own creativity, we share in your divine image, in the name of the Holy Trinity. Amen.

Check Out http://www.newcelebrations.com/allsaintsday.html

Reclaiming Halloween

For many, many people, Halloween remains a celebratory time which children and families look forward to each year.
Halloween has become a major cultural event for families each year. An estimated 157 million Americans will celebrate the holiday, spending on $7 billion in the process!
Once upon a time, folks knew that Halloween was connected to All Saints Day (like Christmas Eve to Christmas Day). Alas, that is not recognized so much today.

Halloween begs to be reclaimed by people of faith. I have assembled a small collection of resources to help stimulate thinking about a more appropriate and faithful celebration of the holiday.
I invite you to check it out and share with others: http://www.newcelebrations.com/allsaintsday.html

PS. Be sure to check out the 20 Alternative Halloween activities.

Celebrating America's Independence Day in Days gone By

http://www.history.com/topics/july-4th/videos/fourth-of-july-history Discover how and when Americans celebrated Independence Day in the past. Although Benjamin Franklin thought we'd celebrate the 2nd of July; the 4th of July is closest to our hearts. 

Check it out:   http://www.newcelebrations.com/independencedayusa.html

America's Independence Day

America officially celebrates the anniversary of the Declaration Independence from Britain each year on July 4.  

Celebrations are varied; but, usually consist of community parades, outdoor picnics and gatherings, with food and music - and community displays of fireworks.

 Churches have an opportunity to tell a story not usually heard in schools - or churches for that matter.

It’s not a story easily found on television or film.  

It’s a great opportunity to remind folks of the place of the church in the lives of most of the colonists in those early times.  

Some of these resources here could inspire the preacher and/or worship leader to engage the congregation in a real uplifting experience.

Important to consider in the planning for a new celebration of Independence Day should be the realization that not all inhabitants of the New World would celebrate Independence.  

The population of Africans brought to this world as slaves did not see and could not celebrate independence.

Nor could most of the Native American population.  To the credit of the British (and discredit of  the Colonists) each Native group was seen and treated by the British as separate “nations” with certain respect and dignity and rights granted therein.  

Most colonists viewed the Natives as a problem to be eradicated.  There would be no celebrating of independence  amongst them.  

May you find inspiration here for a New Celebration of Independence Day.

Check it out:   http://www.newcelebrations.com/independencedayusa.html

The Single Most Powerful Voice to Inspire the Colonists Was the Pulpit

Clergymen surveyed the events swirling around them, and by 1775 liberals and evangelicals, Congregationalists and Presbyterians,
men and women – 
all saw in British actions grounds for armed resistance.
 
In fact, not only was it right for colonists to resist British "tyranny,"
to hear the preachers, it would actually be sinful not to pick up guns.
 
They latched on to Parliament's 1766 Declaratory Act, which stated that Parliament had sovereignty over the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."

You see, for the ministers, this phrase took on the air of blasphemy.
These were fighting words –  not only because they violated principles of representative government but even more because they violated the logic of their fundamental Presbyterian belief of sola Scriptura  ("Scripture alone"),
and God's exclusive claim  to sovereignty "in all cases whatsoever."

You see, from the first colonial settlements, Americans –  especially New England Americans –  were accustomed to constraining all power and granting absolute authority to no mere human being.
 
For Presbyterian and Reformed colonists, these ideas were tied up with their historic, covenant theology.
At stake was the preservation of their identity as a covenant people.
Not only did Parliament's claims of control “in all things whatsoever”  represent tyranny, they also represented idolatry.
For colonists to honor those claims would be tantamount to forsaking God and abdicating their national covenant pledge to "have no other gods" before them.

So, to the question as to who determines whether government is "moral and religious",
In the Revolutionary era, the answer was simple: the individual.

The political and religious connotations were so closely intertwined that it was virtually impossible for colonists to separate them.
 
Throughout all the colonies, the preachers goaded, consoled, and impelled colonists forward in the cause of independence.

The pulpit served as the single most powerful voice to inspire the colonists.
 
For most American ministers and many in their congregations, the religious  dimension of the war was precisely the point of revolution.

Would our faith be so strong
that if we were confronted with a proclamation of someone declaring sovereignty over us in all cases whatsoever, would we be moved to do anything about it? 

Well, we are here today, so we can thank God that there were some who were moved to proclaim that God has exclusive claim to sovereignty in all cases whatsoever.  

And, there can be no mere human beings who have absolute authority over us.

And, so let us rememeber that there was a time when religious beliefs greatly affected political and social issues. 

Check it out:   http://www.newcelebrations.com/independencedayusa.html