Hallowe'en

It seemed almost churlish to send away the four small children at my mother's front door wanting to do 'trick or treat' and gain some money in the process. It's 25 years since Val and I left the UK. I remember being quite shocked back in 1983 when I was first in Ireland to discover that the mid term break was even referred to as the Hallowe'en Holiday. On reflection I could see where in a traditionally Roman Catholic country and the celebration of All Souls' Day, followed by All Saint's Day, Hallowe'en had come from. But leaving aside the Bible believer's problem with praying for the dead, and apart from blaming the Americans, how on earth did British children come to be encouraged to celebrate such obvious evil. It's easy to be over simplistic, but if the Church had not lost its confidence in the revealed Truth contained in the Bible, perhaps we would not have lost most of the population of the country. Behind the children at the door was a thirty-something Mum. Did she 'trick or treat' when small? How far back do we have to go? Back as far as when real witches were burnt at the stake maybe? But then the propogation of true Bible Christianity by the destruction of its enemies was never right either. What a contrast to the children at the door is to learn of four teenagers coming to faith at the little church in Mum's street and are to be baptised in the sea on Sunday. New saints at All Saintstide. Alleluia! Just hope they don't freeze to death - they'll need to warm up at a Guy Fawkes bonfire....and there's another problem tradition!