This week, my family was invited to come to a Harvest Party on Saturday night. We graciously declined the invitation because Saturday night also happens to be Halloween. (click for an interesting history of Halloween, I’m sure you can find various histories, I’d never heard this one before).
The Harvest Party. The Harvest Party is a Halloween alternative, a “safe” gathering so people can celebrate without participating in the evils of Halloween. The people who invited us to the Harvest Party are christians, as are most of the hosts of every Harvest Party being thrown this Saturday night. Which, in an attempt to understand our lives in Fort Wayne, IN and entertain myself, has led me to several ironies. Allow me to explain…
Irony number one: The “pagan” history of Halloween and the “evil” of it’s current form are usually the reasons why christians host or attend Harvest Parties. I can understand that logic. But what I don’t understand is why that same logic isn’t applied to the other major holidays. One of the activities for the party we were invited to - playing the Nintendo Wii that was purchased as a Christmas present, with people we had an Easter egg hunt with last spring.
Irony number two: The name Harvest Party. I tried to dig a little to understand where that name came from. If the party was actually held in a barn, on a farm, where this year’s harvest of crops was being celebrated, where those who worked the land to produce what would feed them for the winter gathered together to toast a job well done, well that would seem to make sense. But Harvest Parties are just held in people’s houses, or big churches and attended by people who generally get their mass produced food at the grocery store. “Let’s raise our glasses to the many hours we’ve put in walking up and down flourescently lit aisles trying to decide which of the 57 cereals we will bring home for our children.” So maybe Harvest means something else?
Irony number three: Growing up, I remember hearing a quote from Jesus, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” We were always told, usually in the context of being lazy and not working hard enough for God, that this quote meant there were alot of people out there who needed to hear about Jesus, so get to work. In reality, this quote from Jesus probably means something a little less crusadish, and a little more, be aware of the many opportunities to impact the culture with the love of Jesus, as Jesus loves you.
Halloween is the one night a year, in our current American culture, where a majority of neighbors come outside of their homes and walk up and down the street together. Even people in the suburbs leave their mini-fortresses for a couple of hours to gather candy and say hello. The opportunity for ”harvest” is never more plentiful than on Halloween night in America, but sorry Jesus, the workers are inside, having a Harvest Party.
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