Saturday 1 November 2008

Shine Your Light Event 2008

Jesus replied, "The most important commandment is this: Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. The second is equally important: Love your neighbour as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these."
Mark 12:29-31
Many of you know that for the last couple of years we have hosted a party at our house on Halloween night. The party is for our community and we use this night to share our lives with our neighbours. This is usually one of my favourite things that we do as a family and this year was no exception.


First of all, I want you to know that this amazing event would not have happened this year if it had not been for our church family who came around us to get everything done. They did such an amazing job! They stuffed candy bags, hoisted speakers onto our balcony, hung Sanctuary Milton banners off our roof, projected a movie out our front window, made pots of pots of hot chocolate and coffee and everything else in between! Our house looked fantastic and they looked fantastic in all of their fabulous costumes. I had one lady who told me that "your house is the best on the street for kids because it is so fun and everyone is so friendly." Another woman told Jason that she has been at our house every year and this year she made her husband take the night off work to come and see it because it is so different.


Jason's aunt told us that she could hear the worship band at least three streets over and our songs were carrying all over the neighbourhood. Little kids danced on our driveway, parents chatted with our church family over coffee and hot chocolate that we provided, we gave out hundreds and hundreds of candy bags with scripture and I think it is safe to say that everyone had a great time.

There were many great conversations and connections that I heard about from the night. I personally had some great moments sharing with folks but one that sticks out in particular. Tara and her husband Peter and their two children, neighbour's from two streets over asked me why we do the event since it was her impression that most Christians "look down" on Halloween. I got to share with her that Jesus calls us to love our neighbours and what better night to do it, then when everyone is coming to our door. She was genuinely surprised. She has always thought that "church" was a place that just wanted your money and to tell you what you are doing wrong. I invited both her and Peter to come to church on Sunday to see for themselves what it was all about. Peter loved the worship team and said, "Maybe it is something that they should check out." Yeah God!! I pray that God will continue to work on the seeds that were planted and that He would continue to draw them to Himself. We are looking forward to see what He is going to do!





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