The Gospel of Trick-or-Treat: Finding Truth, Goodness and Beauty in the Dark

Last night I sat on my front stoop watching our normally quiet neighborhood team with people. All shapes, sizes, genders, nationalities, and abilities filled the sidewalks with laughter (and the occasional scream). As the sun set behind me, my little cul-de-sac became so dark I often could not see the trick-or-treaters until they were in front of the house. In 2 hours, I had over 300 people come to my door. 

During a lull in candy-giving, I watched what was going on. In this journey I've been on to re-discover "education", I've been consistently brought back to Phillipians 4:8

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (ESV)

Often we talk about this verse as a command to only deal with those things that are Good, True, and Beautiful. Training to love Truth, Goodness, and Beauty is one of the primary goals of a classical Christian education. But what if instead of a command to only surround oneself with the beautiful, it is a command to find what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful within all of creation, history, science, and culture?  When we look within the entire context of Scripture, we are told to live in the world, but not be of it; to let our light shine in the darkness.  We cannot be a light to a dark world if we do not engage and go into the darkness.  Hiding from, or avoiding, all darkness effectively hides our light under a basket.  We are not called to avoid the darkness, but to go into it and shine the Light of the Gospel. In order to do that, we must be able to see the Gospel in even the darkest of places. Maybe the idea of Phillipians 4 is not to hide, but to search for where God is revealing Himself through the people, cultures, and nature He has created. It is walking through the darkest and most evil this world has to offer, and seeing the fingerprint of God. 

In those few quiet moments on my front step, I wondered, "Where do I see the gospel?". If God is truly the God of all creation, the director of history, the creator of all mankind, then His mark must be on everything - even trick-or-treating. Then I saw it:

In the black darkness of my street were people from all walks of life, all nations, many languages searching for the light -  because in the light they would find grace. The light of each porch was a signal that here a door was open to any who would walk through, and grace would be given, in equal measure, to all who asked. It didn't matter who you were, who you were trying to be, what you had done - grace would be freely given.  All those people searching for unmerited favor. All those children drawn to the light, almost despite themselves. All those people trying to be something they weren't, yet receiving love despite appearances. Even in the midst of traditions rooted in pagan ritual, the Gospel was being acted out. In what Satan intended for evil, God demonstrates his love. 

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. (Isaiah 9:2)

 In the last century Christian education has become more an endevour to teach how to avoid evil than one of training to recognize the Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of God. It trains to fear evil, instead of resting in the strength, grace, love, and justice of our Savior. It tells our children to run from temptation in their own strength, instead of recognizing where God has already won the battle, has completed their redemption, and is actively working on their sanctification. This isn't to say that wisdom and discernment is not part of it, but that those things come when we are so in love with Love Incarnate, that we can see Him everywhere.

I teach Latin, Math, Logic, Grammar, Literature, History, and Science to my children not just to learn about the world, but so they can engage the world for Christ.  My heart's desire for them has become that they may be able to recognize, share, reveal, and explain the Gospel in any and every situation. That takes training in first of all what the root of all Truth, Goodness, and Beauty is, but also in using logic, reasoning, wisdom, and discernment to reveal Love where we don't expect to find Him. It is teaching them to recognize that even in those things that seem to be fully corrupted by sin, the grace and love of God is shining.

Our children are growing up in scary times. The world around us seems to be falling farther and farther away from peace and stability. They have a tough road ahead of them. It our job to equip them to be the light and to find the Light in the midst of the darkness....and maybe that begins with stepping out our own front door, into the darkness, and asking them, "Where do you see the Gospel?".