When we came to the US, we knew that our kids would probably pick up a bit of an American accent. It was inevitable and sure enough it has happened. They are over-pronouncing their r's and every vowel in their pronunciation is sounding more and more like an "a". But, this is no big deal - we were expecting it.
However, I was left feeling shocked and dismayed the other day when I heard Ashleigh saying that she just doesn't get that "Celsius stuff", and that she only understands temperature in Fahrenheit... !?! I can't believe it - they are beginning to get warped and sucked in by the American way here. If Ashleigh comes home wanting to buy cowboy hats, boots with spurs on them and starts to call Sam and Jack "Billy-bob" and "Bubba", I think I'll lose my mind...
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Halloween cont.
As you probably noticed from the previous post that Sonia put up a week or so ago, we took our kids out trick or treating on Halloween (we did last year too). I realize that this may seem just a little strange for some people back home in New Zealand. We thought it was a little strange too, so I figured it was worth doing a little bit of thinking about, and so here's a few rambling thoughts on the topic, for anyone that's interested.
One thing that we very quickly realized when Halloween was approaching last year was that it is a very different festival here in the States (or at least in Louisville) than it is back home in NZ. In NZ, Halloween is a celebration of things evil and there is a very dark side to the event. Churches around the country put on light parties as an alternative to Halloween, and rightly so I think.
But it's a bit of a different animal here in Louisville. In fact the two different events really bare little resemblance to each other. For example, before the trick or treating starts for the evening (the unwritten rule here is that trick or treating starts at 6pm) in the street one over from ours (where we go trick or treating) there was a big street party. Everyone was out in a common area with tables of food, music and it was a big social gathering. Then they all went back to their houses, sat on their porches with candy and waited for all the kids to arrive. And arrive they did. All dressed up in superhero outfits, princess outfits, animal outfits and all other kinds of outfits (I even saw one person dressed up as a whoopy cushion, which was a little disturbing...). There were probably also a handful of ghost/scary type costumes in amongst them, but I don't recall actually seeing any. Kids ran from house to house practicing their thank you's as they were given candy. Parents walked around the neighborhood keeping their kids within their vision and chatting with other parents and friends. It was a social outing for everyone (O.K. - it was a candy grab for the kids), and a really pleasant one at that.
I can't think of anything else on the very full American celebratory calendar that is as community focused and social as Halloween. It really is something quite special. Yes, there are some houses with spooky stuff in the front yard. There is a street a few miles from us that is known for it's full-on Halloween decorations that look really quite dark and evil. That side of the festival is still lurking which is unfortunate, but in the mainstream it's not like that at all.
The question is still relevant though - how should we view Halloween as Christians? Is it OK to go out and celebrate what is, at its core, an evil festival? Without having done a full study on it, here's a couple of quick thoughts.
1) We have freedom in Christ (Gal 5:1). We are still to obey God and follow his commands out of love for him, but he has granted us freedom. However, we are to use this freedom to serve God by loving one another (Gal 5:13-14). Therefore, is there a great issue with going out and participating in trick or treating, IF we are doing so in order to love one another - i.e. interact with the neighborhood around us and build relationships so that we can share the gospel?
2) Are we assimilating into the culture around us and being ensnared by it? This question would and should naturally arise. Could this happen as we celebrate things like Halloween just like it happened to the Israelites going into the Canaanite culture as described in Judges 2? Well it is worth asking how it might have happened to the Israelites. When the Israelites, after wandering in the desert for 40 years, stood looking down into the land of Canaan they would have seen a beautiful land with people living in it in wealth and prosperity. The Canaanites had buildings, fine clothes, rich food and a civilized social system. The Israelites then would have looked at themselves and seen a bunch of weary desert dwellers, who had tents, ragged clothes, bland food and were, comparatively speaking, completely uncivilized. They would have wondered how the Canaanites got such wonderful things and would have wanted some of those things for themselves. It is not surprising then that after only one generation, Israel had assimilated things such as Baal worship into their lives (Judges 2:10) - they wanted what the culture around them had and so did what the culture around them did in order to get it which was to worship Baal. Is this the case for us, though, as we dip into the cultural norms of those around us and celebrate things such as Halloween? I think it's different, or at least it should be. Again, it comes back to our motivations for going trick or treating. If it is to simply fit into the culture at large and be like them, then we probably need to consider rejecting a celebration such as Halloween. However, if it is to engage the culture and those around us and to influence them for Christ, then there is no problem with leveraging off a festival of our culture, even if it has less than perfect origins.
3) Should we be worried about the influence on our children being exposed to evil things and concepts. The short answer here is yes - we should be worried (Matt 18:6 is relevant here I think - "but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea"). We should protect our children from things of the evil one.
Therefore looking at the three thoughts above and evaluating Halloween in both New Zealand and Louisville I think we have a good example of needing to be sensitive to the situations around us rather than using a blanket rule for every situation.
Halloween in NZ. If I were sitting in New Zealand looking at Halloween approaching, I would look at the three points above and think (1) trick or treating is not a large community affair (or at least it wasn't when we were there last, and it's only been 16 months since we left) and so there isn't much of an opportunity to engage with the community through the event; (2) if the motivation for trick or treating isn't to engage the community, what is the motivation? Is it just so that we can "do what everyone else is doing", or so that our kids don't feel left out? If so, then we should take stock and make sure we aren't doing the same thing that the Israelites did - i.e. wanting to be like the culture around us and therefore doing what the culture around us is doing; and (3) there does appear to be a general tone of Halloween being an evil event in New Zealand, or at least that's the way we remember it. Therefore yes, I do want to shield my kids from that sort of thing, especially in their younger years.
Halloween in Louisville. If I'm sitting in Louisville looking at Halloween approaching, I would look at the three points above and think: (1) this is a massive community event - almost carnival like where there is lots of opportunity to engage with the community around me; (2) because the motivation is engaging the community (from point 1 above) I am less likely to be doing this from a motivation of wanting to be like the culture around me (although it's good to keep a self-check on that anyway), and (3) Halloween here is not an evil saturated event. There aren't people walking around dressed as witches or doing anything spooky. It's easy to keep away from the weird streets and keep the kids in safe territory.
Therefore, as I mentioned before, I am, with only slight hesitation, OK with my kids going out on Halloween here, but I'm certain that I wouldn't let them do it when we get back to New Zealand. They will be disappointed when they come to their first NZ Halloween, but hopefully it will be a good opportunity to explain to them the importance of thinking about issues from a biblical perspective, and not just doing what everyone else is doing around them, and not using blanket rules for all situations but getting in the habit of thinking biblically about every situation they come to.
Now, trying to teach them how to be self-controlled with their enormous haul of trick or treating candy is another issue entirely...
One thing that we very quickly realized when Halloween was approaching last year was that it is a very different festival here in the States (or at least in Louisville) than it is back home in NZ. In NZ, Halloween is a celebration of things evil and there is a very dark side to the event. Churches around the country put on light parties as an alternative to Halloween, and rightly so I think.
But it's a bit of a different animal here in Louisville. In fact the two different events really bare little resemblance to each other. For example, before the trick or treating starts for the evening (the unwritten rule here is that trick or treating starts at 6pm) in the street one over from ours (where we go trick or treating) there was a big street party. Everyone was out in a common area with tables of food, music and it was a big social gathering. Then they all went back to their houses, sat on their porches with candy and waited for all the kids to arrive. And arrive they did. All dressed up in superhero outfits, princess outfits, animal outfits and all other kinds of outfits (I even saw one person dressed up as a whoopy cushion, which was a little disturbing...). There were probably also a handful of ghost/scary type costumes in amongst them, but I don't recall actually seeing any. Kids ran from house to house practicing their thank you's as they were given candy. Parents walked around the neighborhood keeping their kids within their vision and chatting with other parents and friends. It was a social outing for everyone (O.K. - it was a candy grab for the kids), and a really pleasant one at that.
I can't think of anything else on the very full American celebratory calendar that is as community focused and social as Halloween. It really is something quite special. Yes, there are some houses with spooky stuff in the front yard. There is a street a few miles from us that is known for it's full-on Halloween decorations that look really quite dark and evil. That side of the festival is still lurking which is unfortunate, but in the mainstream it's not like that at all.
The question is still relevant though - how should we view Halloween as Christians? Is it OK to go out and celebrate what is, at its core, an evil festival? Without having done a full study on it, here's a couple of quick thoughts.
1) We have freedom in Christ (Gal 5:1). We are still to obey God and follow his commands out of love for him, but he has granted us freedom. However, we are to use this freedom to serve God by loving one another (Gal 5:13-14). Therefore, is there a great issue with going out and participating in trick or treating, IF we are doing so in order to love one another - i.e. interact with the neighborhood around us and build relationships so that we can share the gospel?
2) Are we assimilating into the culture around us and being ensnared by it? This question would and should naturally arise. Could this happen as we celebrate things like Halloween just like it happened to the Israelites going into the Canaanite culture as described in Judges 2? Well it is worth asking how it might have happened to the Israelites. When the Israelites, after wandering in the desert for 40 years, stood looking down into the land of Canaan they would have seen a beautiful land with people living in it in wealth and prosperity. The Canaanites had buildings, fine clothes, rich food and a civilized social system. The Israelites then would have looked at themselves and seen a bunch of weary desert dwellers, who had tents, ragged clothes, bland food and were, comparatively speaking, completely uncivilized. They would have wondered how the Canaanites got such wonderful things and would have wanted some of those things for themselves. It is not surprising then that after only one generation, Israel had assimilated things such as Baal worship into their lives (Judges 2:10) - they wanted what the culture around them had and so did what the culture around them did in order to get it which was to worship Baal. Is this the case for us, though, as we dip into the cultural norms of those around us and celebrate things such as Halloween? I think it's different, or at least it should be. Again, it comes back to our motivations for going trick or treating. If it is to simply fit into the culture at large and be like them, then we probably need to consider rejecting a celebration such as Halloween. However, if it is to engage the culture and those around us and to influence them for Christ, then there is no problem with leveraging off a festival of our culture, even if it has less than perfect origins.
3) Should we be worried about the influence on our children being exposed to evil things and concepts. The short answer here is yes - we should be worried (Matt 18:6 is relevant here I think - "but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea"). We should protect our children from things of the evil one.
Therefore looking at the three thoughts above and evaluating Halloween in both New Zealand and Louisville I think we have a good example of needing to be sensitive to the situations around us rather than using a blanket rule for every situation.
Halloween in NZ. If I were sitting in New Zealand looking at Halloween approaching, I would look at the three points above and think (1) trick or treating is not a large community affair (or at least it wasn't when we were there last, and it's only been 16 months since we left) and so there isn't much of an opportunity to engage with the community through the event; (2) if the motivation for trick or treating isn't to engage the community, what is the motivation? Is it just so that we can "do what everyone else is doing", or so that our kids don't feel left out? If so, then we should take stock and make sure we aren't doing the same thing that the Israelites did - i.e. wanting to be like the culture around us and therefore doing what the culture around us is doing; and (3) there does appear to be a general tone of Halloween being an evil event in New Zealand, or at least that's the way we remember it. Therefore yes, I do want to shield my kids from that sort of thing, especially in their younger years.
Halloween in Louisville. If I'm sitting in Louisville looking at Halloween approaching, I would look at the three points above and think: (1) this is a massive community event - almost carnival like where there is lots of opportunity to engage with the community around me; (2) because the motivation is engaging the community (from point 1 above) I am less likely to be doing this from a motivation of wanting to be like the culture around me (although it's good to keep a self-check on that anyway), and (3) Halloween here is not an evil saturated event. There aren't people walking around dressed as witches or doing anything spooky. It's easy to keep away from the weird streets and keep the kids in safe territory.
Therefore, as I mentioned before, I am, with only slight hesitation, OK with my kids going out on Halloween here, but I'm certain that I wouldn't let them do it when we get back to New Zealand. They will be disappointed when they come to their first NZ Halloween, but hopefully it will be a good opportunity to explain to them the importance of thinking about issues from a biblical perspective, and not just doing what everyone else is doing around them, and not using blanket rules for all situations but getting in the habit of thinking biblically about every situation they come to.
Now, trying to teach them how to be self-controlled with their enormous haul of trick or treating candy is another issue entirely...
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Halloween
Halloween.
dressing up. candy. a late night out wondering around the neighborhood.
"the best night ever" proclaimed by Jack at the end of the evening
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