Trust in Community at Stressful Times

We had about 500 Trick or Treaters at our house last night. Not a “preacher number.” It’s pretty much confirmed by our neighbors too. Over near Kessler Park UMC, our members there report similar —if not higher— numbers. Check out a pic of kids leaving our porch, and of a busy scene in front of a church member’s house. My theory is that both neighborhoods benefit from proximity to streets where Halloween is truly insane. (Swiss Ave, near our home. Colorado Blvd, near KPUMC)

But I’ve noticed a typical reaction both here in East Dallas, and from our North Oak Cliff church members.

Every year, those of us who get hundreds and hundreds of kids post about this online…only to have friends who don’t believe us.
Because, in *their* neighborhoods, they’re lucky to get ten kids. So, it seems impossible, almost like an…ahem…trick to claim that this many children visit your house at Halloween.

Nope. Not a trick. Really what happens, every single year. Last night both our neighbors two doors down, and on our porch, we hosted family members who hadn’t seen our neighborhood Halloween lately.
At both house, the reaction was, “I had no idea it was like this…”

Which gets me to our church, Kessler Park United Methodist Church.

With regularity, we get visitors who —like the new porch-guests who helped us with candy last night— tell us, “I didn’t know a church like this existed.”
That’s because in far too many evangelical churches where there is always a “trick.” In those churches, visitors are often lured in the door with a friendly vibe that eventually evaporates. In far too many churches, there is a hidden judgmental hammer —some narrow view of the role of women, or LGBTQ folks, or some dangerous Christian Nationalism— and suddenly those visitors realize “it was all a trick.”

And so, just like being in a neighborhood with no Halloween kids, if that’s the kind of church where you were raised, if that’s your own true experience of “church,” then of course it’s hard to imagine anything different exists.
So, I’m posting a screenshot of what we actually say on our website about Kessler Park UMC.
Here’s the section I thought of this morning, on the day after Halloween:

“We are an inclusive and diverse congregation, open to all people regardless of creed, color, culture, gender, and sexual identity.
We believe this, because we believe that God, and God’s word, calls us to this welcome.
WE MEAN IT WHEN WE SAY “ALL ARE WELCOME!” No tricks. No gimmicks. No hidden “gotchas.”
We know that many church-seekers have been burned other place, by churches who hide their true theology, or harmful rhetoric, behind a “friendly” welcome.
So we seek to be transparent about who we are, and what we believe.”

Again, check out the screen shot for the whole “What We Believe” page from our website.

“Trick or Treat” has, at its heart, a belief that either things are going to end up sweetly…or, with a bitter taste.
A “treat.” Or, with a “trick.”

Please know that WE at Kessler Park UMC know that, when far too many people visit a church, that’s the experience they end up with too.
So all I can say to you is what I say to my friends before Halloween: Stop on by, sometime, and see for yourself. The only way to believe we are not trying to trick you is to come see for yourselves…like a little kid on their first Halloween who tentatively approaches the porch. Come dip your toe in the water, come see us for worship soon.

We’re about to have an election Tuesday that, one way or the other, will likely leave us with a stressful aftermath. Therefore, our upcoming holiday season might a good time to find a new real-world community, like we can offer you or your family at Kessler Park.

I am increasingly convinced that, like Halloween, we built trust in our communities by SEEING each other, in the real world, not just virtually.
As a Methodist Minister colleague put it this week…

“Halloween: A day when we get it right.
Strangers come to us, beautiful, ugly, odd or scary,
and we accept them all without question,
compliment them, treat them kindly, and give them good things.
Why don't we live like that?”
—Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Yes…why don’t we live like that?
Why don’t we connect in CHURCH like that?
So, dear Oak Cliff Friends: We hope to see you soon.
And we promise: No tricks.

Eric Folkerth