Counter Culture

This is a very difficult subject for me as a pastor. To be honest, I truly think that the church has often times failed to reach the culture because of the fear we have of it. I have a problem when the church, or people of the church, choose to hide from the reality around them. We have created a "Christianized" subculture, so that we never need to deal with the reality around us. There is Christian News, Christian Music, Christian TV, Christian coffee shops, you name it, we have our own brand. Now, non of these is bad. I prefer my youth to listen to positive music, and wholesome TV but we have to be careful that we don't surround ourselves only with Christian things and tell the rest of the world to go to hell.

Truthfully we are not called to look like the culture around us. We are called by God to be different, to be "aliens." John reminds us throughout his letters that world hates us, and that we are not supposed to be people of the world. Yet, he also calls us to be in the world and showing the love of God to those around us. Jesus perfected this as he ate with sinners. He was a strong example of someone who lived in the world, or culture, but was not of the culture that surrounded him.

We are coming onto a heavily debated holiday. The holiday of Halloween. The truth is, the foundation of this holiday is purely pagan. Many look at this as a reason to stay away from being any part of this holiday. I, on the other hand, look at it as such a wonderful opportunity to show the love of Jesus to people who have no idea what they are celebrating. This day we will have the opportunity to meet hundreds of people we would not normally associate with, hundreds of people that would not normally knock on our door and I would suggest we should not take this day for granted.Here are a few ways that we can affect our culture positively for Christ during Halloween:

1. Dress positively. I look forward to my daughters wanting to be princessess because that is exactly what they are, and there Father in heaven is the ultimate KING. Dress like a character from the Bible, or like Superman. (I love the line in Superman Returns when Jesus is over looking the city and he asks Lois if she hears anything, she cannot, but Superman hears the world calling out for a Savior)
   
2. Put an advertisment for your church's Children's program in with their candy. I always remember the house on my street that gave out apples. Com'on apples on Halloween. That's rediculus, but she was so nice about it, I had to get on every year. Sometimes things besides candy can be uplifiting.
   
3. Host a get together at your house, or at the local church. We have a family in our church who has invited every child from all three classes at their school. What an awesome outreach, what a great reason to get together. Most families are looking for a safe enviroment to enjoy Halloween, lets provide it.
   
4. Have fun. No one likes a fuddy duddy. Truthfully, most people don't even understand Halloween. What they can understand is your love and caring for them.
   Be a light to your world, don't hide your light. What Would Jesus Do? I bet he'd take his love to the trick-o-treaters, shouldn't you!
   

aaron