Did You Know: Cars Cost Less than Candy Bars!

One of my favorite “duties” at Bridgewater United Methodist Church, where I am the Associate Pastor for Congregational Care, is having the Children’s Moments during the 11:00 a.m. worship service.

Today I wanted to talk to them a little bit about the meaning of Halloween, and suggest ways for them to make it a fun day.  I also wanted to relate Halloween with All Saints Day.  On top of all that I wanted to put something into their hands that would help them remember what I said, but I did not want that to be candy, since I was sure they would get plenty of candy tonight as they go trick-or-treating.  The solution I came up with was to give each of them a Hotwheels toy car.  Did you know that you can still purchase Hotwheels and Matchbox cars for less than a dollar?  They sell for 99 cents at Walmart.  Think of it…that’s nearly fifty cents less than the average full size candy bar!

So, perhaps you are wondering what toy cars have to do with Halloween.   Well, as I explained to the boys and girls, Halloween is the day before All Saints Day (which is always on November 1^st), and has become a bid deal largely because of generations of superstition.  I explained to them that a superstition is a silly belief that really has no basis in reality, such as “step on a crack, break your mother’s back,” or “break a mirror and have seven years bad luck.”  We had some laughs about those.  I told them that all the evil and bad parts of Halloween come from silly superstitions, and that they needed to just have fun, and not be scared.  As long as they were not tricking anyone they should have a fun time.

Then I talked to them about the importance of All Saints Day.  I explained that saints are the wonderful Christian men and women who were a part of the church before us and have now died and live with Jesus in heaven.  All Saints Day is one day when we remember them and thank God for them.  I told them about my grandparents who lived in Florida when I was little, and how I didn’t know them well because I hardly ever got to see them.  But, they were very special to me because they ate the kind of cereal that had toy cars in the bottom of the box.  Then they would mail to cars to me in Virginia.  I loved those little cars.  They were plastic and the same size as my Matchbox cars. 

Today I gave each of the children a Hotwheels car to honor my grandparents and to help them see that God has blessed us with wonderful families, and God has blessed the church with wonderful saints who, like my grandparents, have set the example of how to live the Christian life.

End-Note: There’s more to the story of my Florida grandparents (a truly great lesson to be learned from them) which I will write about during the Advent season, just before Christmas.