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Pumpkin Faces

I struggled to prepare a family service for Sunday 31st October 2021. Of late, two or three children had started coming because they really liked the minister. No pressure then! I had to live up to his standard, interest both the kids and the adults and it was Hallow E’en. The children, usually brought by their grandparents, were nearly-five, nearly-five and six. All the adults, including me, are grey-haired wrinklies. (I hope the others don’t read that description). I had been told the children might not come because it was the end of half-term and there were parties. Oh dear!

I have always wanted to do something spiritually positive for Hallow E’en without harping on the dangers of evil spirits or demons - I certainly couldn’t mention the latter to five-year-olds and send them home to have nightmares. In the end I asked one granny, known for her children-friendly craft skills, if she and her grandchildren could make a pumpkin with a smiley face and a crown on top. I agreed to carve ‘Jesus is Lord’ into another.

On the day I was mightily relieved when three children came, two of the nearly fives and a nine-year-old. I was so pleased I spontaneously said “Great! Children - praise the Lord!” which raised a few eyebrows. The girls put their pumpkin on the front table next to mine.

After the opening prayers, I asked if they’d noticed other pumpkin heads on doorsteps and walls around the village. Was there anything different about ours compared to others? Never work with animals or children! After fielding a variety of answers we established that many pumpkins had horrible, grinning faces while theirs had a happy face. I told them that long ago, before Jesus was born and before anyone was Christian, some people believed that at this time of year the spirits of dead people drew near to us. That might be nice if great-grandad or great-great grandma paid a visit but (and I pulled a face) perhaps someone nasty might turn up. Back then people made nasty pumpkin faces to frighten away any of the nasty people’s spirits (a simplification of pagan practices, I know, but I’m talking to five-year-olds). The first hymn had been ‘God is love, let heaven adore him’ so I referred to it and said that, as God and Jesus surround us with love and protection, we could have a smiley face pumpkin and a ‘Jesus is Lord’ pumpkin and didn’t need to worry about bad things coming. “Please would you come up and take the pumpkins outside and put one on each side on the top step,” I asked them. “That will show people that in here everyone is safe and comfortable and that anyone who wants to share that with us can come in.” They happily rushed to and fro, without dropping the pumpkins, and I promised to come back at dusk and light them up - which I did.

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