All Saints and the Night Before

God of holiness,
Your glory is proclaimed in every age:
as we rejoice in the faith of your saints,
inspire us to follow their example
with boldness and joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Felt I needed that after the mish-mash of last night's early evening house-callers. This is a suburban estate and therefore mimics the US far more than town centre Leamington did. Groups, no tribes, of dressed-up young people carried plastic bags around from door to door trick or treating. A new friend tells me that in the US no-one would ever think of playing a trick.

From one gang the greeting at the door was simply to make scary noises. I offered chocolate in return at which point the party grew from three to seven as the bored hangers on ran up the drive too. For those of you who think I should have offered copies of John's Gospel and a prayer, this is not the time to be making enemies.

Later a father brought his two young children to the door, one in a skeleton outfit (sweetest bag of bones you ever did see) and the other dressed as a fairy. As Liz dropped sweets into their bag they said, 'Happy trick or treat.' What?

Well the son has risen on a new day and nothing went bump in the night. The commercialisation of Halloween is a great way to rob it of its power and kids love to dress up. Thin end of the wedge? I think there is a wedge (some of my readers don't, I know) but let's not get over excited by people paying attention to the thin end.

Happy labours rest day.