“more people believe in Santa Claus than in the Great Pumpkin, but let’s face it; Santa Claus has had more publicity." Linus Van Pelt

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was on television last evening. This animated TV special first aired October 27, 1966, and has been a classic ever since. It is a fun story about the Peanuts gang getting ready for Halloween. The story opens with Linus and Lucy going out into a pumpkin patch to find a pumpkin. Linus points out several pumpkins, but Lucy is not interested. Lucy then points to a large pumpkin and Linus then has the job of rolling it home. Once they arrive Lucy takes a big knife and slices into the pumpkin to gut it, at which point a mortified Linus says “Ohhh, you didn’t tell me you were going to kill it!” and starts wailing.

A couple of weeks ago I shared with our students what I call the “Pumpkin” chapel. I bring a pumpkin to school and carve it while the kids watch. I start the chapel by sharing about the origins of pumpkin carving explaining that it was out of necessity that people carved gourds so that they could use them as lanterns to see where they were going at night. Today it is different, people still have the need to see where they are going, but they have more efficient means of casting light into darkness. We then talk about why people carve pumpkins today and most of the answers center around the idea that it is a festive event to do around Halloween. My pumpkin on the other hand is used as an illustration of a person and the Christian life. My story begins with a pumpkin covered in mud who wants to meet God. The pumpkin tries to clean itself up by washing off the mud, but soon discovers a problem. He learns that God is not so concerned about the outside, but He looks at the heart. So now the pumpkin has to trust the hand of His maker to clean-up his heart. At this point I cut open the top of the pumpkin and begin scooping out its’ guts. I usually make the most of this by having students smell the inside of the pumpkin and see how slimy and gooey the insides are. Some of the gunk comes out easily, but then the hard part comes. “Sometimes to bring about change you have to be scraped” I will say. At this point I ask the kids to name the kinds of feelings and or thinking that may need to be “scraped” out of a person’s heart. They usually respond with answers like, lying, stealing, cheating, angry feelings and other hurts. After cleaning out the inside, I hold the pumpkin up and show the students how clean it is. I then tell them that God loves them so much He would never leave them empty, but puts His light and love inside of us. I put a candle in the pumpkin and put the top back on. After a short amount of time the candle goes out, and the students are all clamoring to tell me that I have forgotten to make a face. I usually cut a funny face into the pumpkin and then re-light the candle explaining to the students that when God places His light inside of us it is so that we will shine His love and truth to all who are around us. If we try and keep His light to ourselves it soon goes out. At this point we dim the lights and sing, “This little light of mine…”

Linus is convinced that the Great Pumpkin will bring toys to the child who waits in the most sincere pumpkin patch. The problem is that while his belief is sincere it is incorrect. This does not make him a bad person only misguided. Hopefully, people like Linus will see God’s light in us and put their faith in something that lasts forever.

Thanks for reading.