Halloween Sermon

Yesterday, most of the congregation's college-age crowd had gone home for the long weekend to celebrate All Saints Day with their families. The pastor declared it family day, which meant that the children were to remain in the sanctuary for the entire service.  Before the sermon, the preschoolers gathered at the front to recite their Bible verse, then returned to their seats, most of them at the back. Since I sit with an interpreter in the back, I had a good view of the children. 

The text for the sermon was taken from Isaiah 44. As is his usual custom, the pastor worked his way through the chapter verse by verse, commenting on each one. About ten minutes into the sermon, when he got to the verses about fashioning idols from wood, he pulled out a jackolantern. A neutral face was carved on one side; a scared face on the other.  The children stepped out into the aisle so they could see what was happening. The pastor turned the neutral face to the congregation. He pretended to worship the idol, asking the listeners, "Can it do anything?"  Like the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel, taunted by the Prophet Elijah to speak louder, he called out in a loud voice. Still, the idol did nothing. He turned it so that the audience saw the scared face. "God is bigger than idols," he said in Hungarian. He brought down his hand and crushed the idol, reverting to the theme of verse 8, he reminded the spellbound children that they did not need to be afraid. Just as God was in control of the powerful King Cyrus who ruled most of Isaiah's world, God is in control of scary situations in our world. The children returned to their seats while the pastor wrapped up the application of the text for the older listeners.

 

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