A Telling Anecdote

As a preface, I'm not bashing individuals. I'm not ranting. Just making a statement based on three anecdotal observations.

Halloween is a fun time for lots of people. I'm an introvert so I don't really want to draw attention to myself by dressing up and parading anywhere. When I was a kid I loved Halloween because of the candy. As I think about it, that's still why I like the day. But I'm not going to a costume party and since Riley's a teenager, I don't have to go trick-or-treating…which really cuts down on the candy!

You can't see another house from our house. We live on a fairly busy road but there's not much reason for people to trick-or-treat our house. Trick-or-treating works better in neighborhoods where kids can score a pumpkin full of candy in a few minutes. But we turned on the porch light and had candy waiting for any kids whose parents would risk the one-house-stop. We had four kids and I loved seeing them, getting hugs from them, taking their pictures, and handing out candy. It reminded me of riding on the tailgate of my grandfather's pickup truck as we headed down Fifth Street in Paris, Arkansas forty years ago.

Halloween is not really a holiday, is it? Businesses don't close. Governments don't shut down. I'd guess that few people miss work on October 31 because they get to show up dressed however they want.

But I've read on social media that some people claim Halloween is their favorite holiday. And some of these people are Christian - maybe just cultural Christians. My concern is that people who claim to be Christian would put a day that has very little if any Christian significance (I do realize that this is also Reformation Day when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the church door) above the day we celebrate the birth of our Savior - the Incarnation of God. Secular pleasure overtakes spiritual significance.

Then I heard a news broadcast on the radio. The anchor was reminding people to set their clocks back one hour Saturday night / Sunday morning as Daylight Savings Time comes to an end. On the lighter side, I thought, "Hey, that's my job! These twice-a-year reminders are about the last thing the government and culture allows pastors to do without harassing us!"

On a more serious note, she went on to say that if you didn't adjust your clock Saturday night / Sunday morning you would be an hour off schedule MONDAY MORNING. And she said to take advantage of the time change by sleeping in SUNDAY MORNING. Our culture has long ago left the perspective that church matters. I knew that but when the news broadcast totally ignored a worship service possibly being on someone's Sunday schedule…

I shouldn't be surprised. Even last weekend should have prepared me for this weekend. The NFL season has included playing one game in London the last few years. That was last weekend. Last Friday, the sports radio show I listened to hailed the idea of televised football on Sunday at 9:00 A.M. since the morning would otherwise be void of any usefulness. Again, church attendance and participation (and importance) are ignored.

So Halloween is the favorite holiday and Sunday mornings have little to do with going to church.

If we ever were, the United States certainly is not a nation of Christians today.

I heard a story this week that I had heard before that is appropriate for our situation. A shoe company sent a salesman to an African country. After a few weeks the company received a telegram from the salesman: "I quit! Nobody wears shoes over here." The company sent another salesman who sent this telegram a few weeks later: "Send more shoes. Prospects everywhere!"

I'm not lamenting (much) the state of Christianity in America, but recognizing the sobering reality that the fields are white unto harvest. Just look out the front door. OK, maybe I'll have to drive a quarter of a mile to see the fields.

The Great Commission demands that those who are truly followers of Christ are to make disciples. My pastoral ministries professor aptly defined this as "winning people to Jesus and building them up in the Lord." Let's don't cry in our cereal; let's pray for workers for the harvest and let's be those workers.