In a weekly church column usually published in the Medway Messenger, the Rev Dr Helen Burn, vicar of St Justus, Rochester , looks at a different way to mark Halloween – with love.

Pumpkins, cobwebs, skeletons and bats: I have already seen plenty of windows decorated for Halloween.

Halloween has established itself as one of the consumer-driven events in the months leading up to Christmas, with supermarkets full of costumes and special themed snacks.

I wonder whether we feel differently about Halloween this year? Firstly, we may wonder how wise it is to send children trick or treating when we are wary about exposing people to unnecessary contact because of Covid-19. Just as importantly, how do we feel about filling our windows with symbols of death and darkness?

The Christian faith is not afraid of death – Christians certainly don’t believe that we need to hide the reality of death. After all, the sign Christians wear is a cross, an instrument of torture. So we don’t avoid death: we name it, we acknowledge death’s reality and its power to frighten us.

However, for Christians, there is a power stronger than death. That power is the power of Jesus, who rose from the grave and sets us free from fear.

Facing the reality of our own mortality is not morbid but life-giving. This weekend will see many churches holding services of Remembering for All Souls, either in church buildings or online. Rows of candles will flicker in the darkness to represent the hope and promise of eternal life which Jesus offers.

Each one will symbolise the precious gift of a person we have known, loved and lost.

This autumn, as we face a long and challenging winter, I would rather focus on Jesus than on skeletons and witches, on light rather than darkness. John’s Gospel describes the arrival of Jesus into our world in this way: "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it."

Jesus’ astonishing promise is that each life that has been lived, whether long or short, has eternal meaning. Everyone who receives Jesus receives the promise of the eternal life which he died to make possible. So by all means go ahead and carve a pumpkin – why not give it a smile or carve a cross shape and let the light within shine a positive message? Just don’t stay with the empty symbols of darkness when there is such light and love freely on offer.

If you would like to find out more about what it means to become a Christian, contact the Churches Together in Medway chairman, Pastor Stephen Bello on 01634 920491 or email rccgvictoriousfamily@hotmail.com

Read more: All the latest news from Medway