Superheroes, Halloween & All the Saints

Pastor Tara invites you to reflect on the seasons of Halloween & All Saints Day as a time for soul-searching and new beginnings. She reminisces about her childhood love for Wonder Woman, drawing parallels between superheroes in comics and everyday acts of love and service inspired by Jesus' teachings. Tara shares spiritual practices and reflective questions for the week, encouraging us to be agents of love and change in our daily lives.

Transcript

S5 E26 Superheroes, Halloween and All the Saints

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: [00:00:00] Welcome to this Halloween episode of Holy Shenanigans. I'm your muse, Tara Lamott Eastman, a pastor, podcaster, and practitioner of Holy Shenanigans. Holy Shenanigans is the divine showing up in everyday life. That helps us to learn new things and to see the world with fresh eyes. As the season of harvest is in full swing, we are at the intersection of Halloween and All Saints Day.

Historically, in secular world as well as in church world, this season offers us an opportunity to do some soul searching. In this moment in time, we can look [00:01:00] over the year behind us and think about the next few months ahead of us. As this year wraps up, what do we need to take with us into the season of harvest and what do we want and need to release?

For some people, this season functions as a little new year, a time to think about new beginnings and new starts. Speaking of some new starts in the next few days, I will begin a new pastoral call to First Presbyterian Church of Warren, Pennsylvania. So as I enter this season of a new beginning, I invite you to join me to consider what you need to carry with you and what you need to release as well, all of which reminds me of the important task at hand.

What are you going to be for Halloween this year? [00:02:00] When you think back to being a child at Halloween, what was your favorite Halloween costume? Was it something spooky or silly, or was it something heroic? For at least three Halloweens of my childhood, I dressed up as Wonder Woman. It was the mid 70s, and Wonder Woman was all the rage on TV.

Each week when the show would air, I would put on my zip up winter boots to create a makeshift costume, plant myself in front of the TV. And sing along with the theme song, 

 Oh, how I loved Wonder Woman. As a young girl, it wasn't often that I would see a woman in the role of [00:03:00] hero or leader, at least not in the dramatic way that Wonder Woman was a hero. When she heard the call for help or sought to stop harm, she would step out of her administrative office worker role and spin into a colorful costume change that enabled her to support the needs.

Of the whole world. Wonder Woman was a different kind of hero. Because, as her theme song said, She could stop a war with love. She could always get to the truth. She was intelligent and brave.

And so, Wonder Woman became not just my Halloween costume, she became an everyday hero. She was the kind of superhero I [00:04:00] needed as a young girl, and is still a superhero that I need today. While some might critique the hiding in plain sight approach to Wonder Woman's character in Diana Prince. It's important to remember that she's not alone to being a hero hiding in plain sight.

Just think of Clark Kent to Superman and Peter Parker to Spider Man. They as well as Diana Prince to Wonder Woman lifted up the idea that heroes can exist in the mundane of daily life. That there are hidden heroes watching and waiting who are ready to respond to the call for help. That they'll duck into a break room or a phone booth.

They'll spin around and change their costume and transform into a hero. With the help of [00:05:00] characters like this, I'm reminded how the call to live lives of love and service isn't limited to comics. That we can find these heroes in everyday people. And I also see this call to love and support of one another in another book.

In Mark 12, 28 through 31, Jesus is asked a question about what commandment is the first of all, and he talks about love. First, to love God with all of your heart and soul and mind. And secondly, to love your neighbor as you love yourself. But Jesus call to nurture community and love isn't just limited to those we get along with.

In Matthew 5, 44, he challenges his listeners to love their enemies and to pray for [00:06:00] those who persecute them. This kind of love seems to be reserved for those with superpowers. And yet, this is the kind of love Jesus calls everyday saints to put on and live out. I think the world needs everyday superheroes.

 Superheroes to turn the tide of hate, division, and war with love, with truth. Every day as we head to the office or the school, the farm or the field, we have opportunities to be helpers, peacemakers, mediators, friends, or subtle superheroes. The question is, what everyday superhero? Will you be? Therefore, since we [00:07:00] are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and so easily entangles.

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. The week of Halloween into All Saints Day gives us an opportunity to reflect on our lives. To remember the saints who have gone to be in God's presence and to think about what we wanna carry into the days ahead. So here are some spiritual practices, questions, and contemplations for you to consider this week.

 Get some paper and a pen or pencil and make a list of people you want to remember next. Set aside a time of quiet and reflection. to think about them and the impact they've had on your life. They can be people who are living or people who have already passed into God's [00:08:00] presence. Once you have that time and place of quiet set aside, you can light a candle, speak their names aloud, say why you're thankful for them.

 And while your candle is still lit, Consider these questions for your own spiritual reflection. How can love be a tool to resolve conflicts? Who am I called to help? What everyday saint or superhero characteristic do I need to put on? When you're ready, you can blow out your candle and say this prayer or something like it.

 God, may this Halloween and all saints be one where your love helps me live into my calling to be a helper and a superhero of love in plain sight. May this be so for [00:09:00] you and I. Amen. Thank you for joining us for Holy Shenanigans podcast, where the story is always sacred and never stuffy. Thanks also to Ian Eastman for audio editing for this podcast and for listeners like you who listen, share, and support the work.

A special shout out to new listeners and to the members of First Presbyterian Church of Warren, Pennsylvania. To learn more about their ministries, go to warrenfpc. org. Our gratitude to sponsors who support the production [00:10:00] of this podcast. To make a contribution, go to buymeacoffee. com backslash Tara L.

Eastman. Thank you for joining us for this special Halloween and All Saints episode of Holy Shenanigans podcast. May you have a safe and fun Halloween. For more holy shenanigans, be sure to follow us at Instagram and Facebook. That's where you'll be able to check out our Halloween costumes this year.

 Until next time, may your Halloween be more treats than tricks and made the saints of old inspire us to be everyday saints and superheroes in the name of love. [00:11:00]