Shining a light for Jesus in our neighbourhood

by Jenny Shortman

“My four kids basically ran the show”

“Wow, I love your costumes! I’m afraid we don’t celebrate Halloween but have a good evening.”

This was my stock response on the rare occasion that a trick or treater ever knocked on our door: polite, but clear. In reality this has seldom happened over the years as I’ve always been very diligent about making sure that there was not a single trace of festivity on our front step in case it looked like we were “doing” Halloween. Beautifully carved pumpkins? Keep them inside. Cosy candles? Just for our dinner table. And so 31st October has passed fairly uneventfully over the years, instead being swapped out for Reformation Day celebrations. 

But this year when I saw Nay Dawson’s #housesoflight prompt and was presented with the question “Will you leave your light on this Halloween?” I felt convicted to take a different approach. For the first time ever, we made a beautiful display of pumpkins on the front step lit up with fairy lights and candles, purchased Nay’s “Luna and the Keys of Death” gospel tracts and made some colourful bunting to hang in the window. We bought sweets, printed colouring sheets and an invitation to come to church or chat to us more about Jesus truly defeating sin and death. The kids helped to pack 20 goody bags for our neighbours and were so excited to see if anyone would knock on the door. 

My four kids basically ran the show, with my 3 year old dressed as a princess, my 6 year old dressed as an angry pirate and shouting “ARGH ME HEARTIES” to scare people as he opened the door and the eldest two handing out the goody bags and wishing people a good evening. They were so excited when we actually handed out all our goody bags and had to scramble some extra sweets to hand out! We saw some faces we recognised (although many were hiding behind skeleton masks!) and it was lovely to know that people we’ve seen in passing now know where we live and what we believe. 

My overall reflection was… Why haven’t we been doing this for years?! So simple, so easy, so fun! And such an effective way to be a shining light for Jesus in our neighbourhood. We’ll definitely be doing it again next year!