Dante's Inferno

"No greater sorrow than to recall in our misery the time when we were happy."  Dante  The Divine Comedy.

For fourteen years the Pond Church has hosted "Dante's Inferno"--a youth outreach project at Halloween time exploring the travel to Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.  Just mention the Pond Church and someone is bound to say, "Oh!  Where they do "Dante's Inferno!"

DANTE'S INFERNO 2008

October 17, 18, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31

           7:30 p.m.

           School nights until 10:00 p.m.

           Friday and Saturdays until Midnight

Price $8.00 or bring two cans of food for Kentucky River Foothills food pantry and your price is only $7.00.

Sunday night group rates for Church groups call and reserve 859 623-6515.

"Dante's Inferno" 1997 MISSION STATEMENT:

 "Dante's Inferno" at White Oak Pond Church is a Fall Christian youth outreach project that witnesses the love of Jesus Christ ecumenically with other churches but especially to the unchurched individuals in our community and surrounding communities in Central Kentucky through: portrayal of the Christian understandings of an afterlife; providing an opportunity for the strengthening of the family unit and the building of relationships within the church family particularly for new members; providing a safe environment for families to enjoy the Halloween season; and supporting the fellowship, study, worship, and outreach mission of our children, youth, and college age adults, the work of Habitat for Humanity Madison County in helping families become first-time homeowners, and the hungry in our community through replenishing the Food Pantry of Kentucky River Foothills.

There are many religious groups that do not believe in celebrating Halloween. But Halloween from earliest times was celebrated by the Church as a prelude to All Saints Day, and so many religious groups do observe Halloween but not in honor of the Prince of Darkness, but in honor of the Prince of Peace, Jesus whom we proclaim to the world as the Christ! We also celebrate God?s gift of the child at Halloween, for many of us Halloween brings happy and wholesome memories of pumpkins and Fall, neighborhood trick-or-treating, dress-up and play. "Dante's" at Pond Church celebrates All Souls Day and All Saints Day in a creative pageant which calls our attention to the reality of an afterlife. The world would deceive us and lead us into thinking that each of us is the center of the universe, that we create life and God, and that after we have finished living this life there is nothing. The Word of God teaches us that God is love and through Jesus a place is prepared for each of us for all eternity.

"Dante's" helps us to remember Chrisitian saints such as Bill Whittaker, and Aaron Carr.

 All light is mute, with a bellowing like the ocean
Turbulent in a storm of warring winds,
The hurricane of Hell in perpetual motion
Sweeping the ravaged spirits as it rends,
Twists, and torments them. Driven as if to land,
They reach the ruin: groaning, tears, laments,
And cursing of the power of Heaven. . . .