Pumpkins are a weird vegetable. Most of the ones we buy we never eat. We use them as decorations and then just throw them out after Halloween. It always feels a little wasteful, but at least I can toss them into the field for the deer to eat. But last year’s pumpkin refused to “go gentle into that good night.”

This summer I saw an odd sight in our soybean field. A bright yellow flower stood out amongst the sea of green. On closer examination I saw that it was a flower on a pumpkin plant that sprang up where I tossed the pumpkin last fall. That old pumpkin had received new life.

For me fall pumpkins had always marked the end of things, a bright orange exclamation point that the time of growth and life are over. How fitting it seemed that they are used on Halloween. But this year I’ll look at them differently, as a sign that even death cannot stop God’s plan for life.  

Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 15: “But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else… So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”

I’m thinking about pumpkins differently this fall. 

Speaking of pumpkins, join us for the Fall Festival at Tharp’s farm on Saturday, October 16. Free pumpkins to paint or carve and all sorts of fun for all ages. Invite your neighbors! We could also use donations of store-bought pies and other goodies. Find the food sign-up below.

Pastor Mark