Should the Good Lord tarry in His return, this year will be the 35th Fall Festival here at James Island Baptist Church. Some of us can remember when we first started, everything we did was held inside the Fellowship Hall: food, booths, games, registration…the whole thing…inside the Fellowship Hall. And it was good and it was well attended. We even had a reptile room provided by Mark and Annette Petit.
Now, we use every bit of space we have in our back parking lot and under the oaks. It is still, by far, the largest attended event of the year for JIBC. Let me take a moment are refresh why we do the Fall Festival.I am aware that Halloween is a favorite celebration for many people. I can make a strong case that Halloween has its origins in the dark side of life with devils and demons and I can make a strong case that it has its origin as a day to honor all saints…and then it got a little “wonky”. None of that really made much of a difference to me. You can argue pro and con till the cows in costume come home; you still will not have decided the matter.
My goal has always been to go head to head with a tradition that seemed to have gone south in many ways. Sure, there was a day when you could and would take candy from strangers, walk the streets late at night without a parent, maybe participate in a, shall we say, minor mischievous activity or two. Now, that just does not make much sense and really does not sound safe. So we go head to head with the cultural phenomena known as Halloween and offer a family friendly, all free, positive alternative. We do not promote, devils and witches, zombies or anything related to the “dark side”. By the way, we also do not allow those kinds of decorations to have a place in our preschool and children’s areas. They occasionally “sneak” in…but they sneak back out just as fast!
My belief is “this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” This is the Lord’s day, not the devils day. We don’t run and hide. 1 John 4:4 says “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.” We are not taking this day back from the devil. He never had the ability to take it from God. October 31 is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and have a Fall Festival celebrating it! Let’s show the community how to have a holy party and let them rub elbows with followers of Jesus.
See you this week, good Lord willing.
Pastor Tom
