This Week in Preschool: Reformation Day!

It is Halloween. You two kids have been talking about it waaaayyyyy too much, I have to say. Though, I don't blame you. After all, isn't dressing up and eating candy and chips and chocolate and running around in a sugar induced frenzy every kid's fantasy?

Your Nana & Nani mildly engaged in Halloween. I think they thought it was kind of bizarre and incredulous that people in this country choose to give away free treats to anyone for just showing up at their door with an open pillow case. Regardless, I have memories of my siblings and I bundling up in our big fat snow suits (because there was usually snow on the ground) and donning on a mask of some animal creature. We'd start trucking through drifts, door to door, with our Daddy's protective presence. We eagerly gathered the chips from the local convenience store owners (they always gave the best stuff). And we said our thank-yous to the neighbor lady five doors down who gave us each an apple, much to our chagrin, again.

Your Nana & Nani only had one rule, really. No scary, evil costumes. No witches, zombies, ghosts, vampires, monsters, etc., etc. Instead, celebrate the good.

Then we moved to a small Mennonite town where we met a whole group of people who forbade Halloween. The night was dubbed as evil. And since Christians should stay away from the appearance of evil, Christians should stay away from Halloween. While my parents still maintained their stance of celebrating the good of the night, we did participate in more alternative activities during October 31 out of respect for our community.

Now I am a parent. And I agree with your Nana & Nani's approach to Halloween. For the most part, I believe the night has so much potential for good. It is the only time of year, sadly, that a large percentage of the community becomes generous and meets each other face-to-face. It is a perfect chance for local food banks to collect dry goods door-to-door to stock their shelves for the upcoming winter. It presents an opportunity to talk about evil and how we Christians should approach such. And it is a great day to celebrate Reformation Day! (Yes, dear reader, I know, that was a pathetic segue!)

What is Reformation Day? On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. His reassertion of the fact that salvation is only found by grace through faith in Jesus Christ triggered the Reformation. This Reformation birthed the Protestant churches, which is part of our faith heritage.

Today, we will engage in some Reformation Day Activities and listen to A Might Fortress is our God (a hymn written by Martin Luther) in addition to creating pumpkin crafts, decorating chocolate gluten-free cupcakes with orange frosting, and yes, collecting a bucket (or two) of candy.

I feel a sugar induced frenzy coming on...

Popular posts from this blog

Is God Good?

During "at home learning", I helped my daughter design an experiment on plants. She set up four identical pots with the same amount of soil in the same location on our deck (controlling her variables, right?). She planted two bean seeds in each pot. She watered three out of the four plants with various amounts of water (1/4 cup, 1/2 cup and 1 cup). The fourth plant only received whatever water naturally fell from the sky. At the end of one month, her hypothesis was partially verified. She thought the 1/4 cup water plant and 1/2 cup water plant would grow the best, which was true in the end. On the other hand, she guessed the others would not germinate at all. Interestingly enough, while the one that was drench in water (1 cup) did not germinate, the one she did not water at all actually grew! It germinated late but had the most steady growth. Is God good? I have been thinking about this question a lot these days. A global pandemic is still raging over our planet decimat...
Read more

Daunting {But Not Impossible}

I rarely watch the news. I catch up on the world's happenings -- where often the horror is reported -- via Google News. Or the brief blurb before classic rock on our favourite radio station. But very occasionally, at the end of the day, I take in the images of national and global headlines. Yesterday I watched the masses trek across Europe, searching for a safe haven away from war-torn Syria. I witnessed little kids crying as they tried to rub away tear gas sprayed by unrelenting border police. The message? You are not welcome in this country. I choked up as a father and his son fell to the ground after being tripped up by guards. The look of desperation on people's faces was heart breaking. Our country is nearing a Federal Election in October. Many voters are curious how the next Prime Minister will address the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Here is an excerpt from The Globe and Mail : Mr. Mulcair [NDP] and Mr. Trudeau [Liberal] condemn Mr. Harper [Conservative] for lacking...
Read more

Banking in the Now

This month we are trying something different: banking in the now instead of the tomorrow. Oh, it is nothing new, really. I used to operate like this in my single days. But then the lure of credit cards with reward programs persuaded me otherwise. While I never gave Visa the joy in collecting any interest payments from our bank accounts and I always payed our credit card bill before the 21 days of grace were up, I probably spent more than I should have some months. Why? Because I didn't have to pay for it immediately . It was not until last year that my credit card habits started to bother my conscience. Up to that point, I felt proud of the fact that the credit card company was paying me to use their plastic. I received stuff for free, even after paying my annual fee. Free fuel. Free flights. Free hotels. Free is good, right? My perspective started to change after I read a blog post penned by my sister. Her and her husband cut up their credit cards after a series of events, o...
Read more