If you are someone who does, or has lived, paycheck to paycheck, then you have probably said these words: “The money is spent before it even comes in.” That is the same way it feels when we get to the month of October in the life of our church. The allotted time we have to do things is already spent. We have crossed out hours and days on our personal calendars that are reserved for the unloading of pumpkins and the selling of pumpkins, for the setting up of the haunted house and for working the haunted house. Though we might feel exhausted before the month even arrives, there is excitement and hope that surrounds the business of the days ahead. There is hope that we will be the peace in someone’s day. There is hope that we will get to hold the hands of a stranger and offer a prayer over their lives. There is hope that someone will come to believe in Jesus, because we have dared to move the conversation from the best pumpkin to the love of Christ. There is hope that a middle-schooler will walk through our doors to enjoy the fright of the night but leave with a glimpse of the fun followers of Jesus can have. There is hope that others will know Jesus isn’t just there in Sunday worship but is there in all aspects of our life. Jesus is there in joy, in laughter, in fear, in fun. Jesus is there in gourds, in pumpkins, in swan necks, in mushrooms, in warty goblins, in snowballs, and in Frankenstein’s head. (If you have no idea what I am talking about, come and work the pumpkin patch!) There is hope that the people who come to our lawn and walk through our basement will see that Jesus is indeed there for them. I know it can feel like we are asking a lot, but when you compare an hour, 6 hours, or even 12, to a changed heart, a transformed life, a person set free from their sin, those are hours well spent.
Psalm 33:20-22 says, “We put our hope in the Lord; he is our protector and our help. We are glad because of him; we trust in his holy name. May your constant love be with us, Lord, as we put our hope in you.” Our hope for the month of October (and really for any day ahead) is that we may first and foremost look to the Lord in everything that we do. Our hope is that we can turn even the most mundane and the most secular seeming activities into something holy and good, because our trust rests fully in the Lord. If this is where our focus and our faith lie, the outcome of this month will not be exhaustion but praise and thanksgiving for that changed heart, a transformed life, and a person set free from their sin. All this in Jesus’s name, amen!
From one light to another,
Pastor Hannah Loughman