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31/10/2020
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev Dr Mark Clavier, Residentiary Canon of Brecon Cathedral.
Last on
Sat 31 Oct 2020
05:43
成人快手 Radio 4
Script:
Good Morning. In the States there are two great days of outdoor gathering, when we Americans emerge from our suburban homes and backyards and have fun with our neighbours: One is Independence Day; the other is Halloween, which many will mark tonight.
I grew up in the American South and have happy memories of Halloween. The thrill of making costumes, the messy fun of carving pumpkins, and, above all, the anticipation of a good haul of sugary treasure.
Halloween works in America because everyone joins in. In a country where practically everyone drives, it鈥檚 hard to exaggerate the spectacle of families wandering the streets in a festive spirit surrounded by the buzz of happy children.聽
Make of that as you will. Halloween isn鈥檛 for everyone and some object to its apparent glorification of ghosties and ghoulies. I take a different view.聽
There鈥檚 an old tradition of laughing at the devil. If there鈥檚 any substance to that, then American Halloween at its best demonstrates that we can mock the dark by gathering convivially with our neighbours. We overcome darkness and fear not by retreating from it, but by clothing ourselves (as St Paul might say) with hospitality, neighbourliness, merriment, and laughter.聽
That may be tricky during this time of lockdown. But I think most of us appreciate more than ever the company of our neighbours鈥ven if 2 meters apart. For the light of human fellowship is where we find the grace to chase away the demons of division and despair.
God of the living and the dead, as grain scattered in fields and grapes dispersed on hillsides are united in bread and wine, so also gather us together in the love and delight with which we were made and to which we are called. Amen.
I grew up in the American South and have happy memories of Halloween. The thrill of making costumes, the messy fun of carving pumpkins, and, above all, the anticipation of a good haul of sugary treasure.
Halloween works in America because everyone joins in. In a country where practically everyone drives, it鈥檚 hard to exaggerate the spectacle of families wandering the streets in a festive spirit surrounded by the buzz of happy children.聽
Make of that as you will. Halloween isn鈥檛 for everyone and some object to its apparent glorification of ghosties and ghoulies. I take a different view.聽
There鈥檚 an old tradition of laughing at the devil. If there鈥檚 any substance to that, then American Halloween at its best demonstrates that we can mock the dark by gathering convivially with our neighbours. We overcome darkness and fear not by retreating from it, but by clothing ourselves (as St Paul might say) with hospitality, neighbourliness, merriment, and laughter.聽
That may be tricky during this time of lockdown. But I think most of us appreciate more than ever the company of our neighbours鈥ven if 2 meters apart. For the light of human fellowship is where we find the grace to chase away the demons of division and despair.
God of the living and the dead, as grain scattered in fields and grapes dispersed on hillsides are united in bread and wine, so also gather us together in the love and delight with which we were made and to which we are called. Amen.
Broadcast
- Sat 31 Oct 2020 05:43成人快手 Radio 4
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