Halloweenies

by Pastor Tom

Halloween is good news to many retailers. As far as special day spending is concerned, it comes in a solid second behind Christmas, beating out Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, the Fourth of July, Easter, you name it. And it’s rather strange when you think about it because, after all, what on earth is Halloween all about?

Well, there’s the candy thing, which is very appealing to kids. I used to dream for weeks about ways to increase my take. My costume had to allow for high-speed running through the neighbor’s yards. Forget the mask. And the bag was of critical importance. A strong pillowcase proved best. Of course, I precisely plotted a route for efficiency with notations indicating the “must visit” stops that gave out really great stuff the previous year.

Then, there are the costumes. People really like to dress up and be somebody else for a while. It’s great when kids dress up. They can actually imagine being mistaken for the real Spiderman.
Finally, there are all the ghosts, ghouls, and goblins with a dose of pumpkins thrown in for good measure. It’s no secret that people like scary stuff. They regularly go to scary movies and read scary books and ride scary rides.

It’s not that difficult to identify the attraction of Halloween, but it is a challenge to really figure out where it came from and exactly what it was originally intended to celebrate. There are those who claim a pretty good knowledge of its history, but in truth little is known and a whole lot of things are assumed. Most likely, it is a combination of Northern European nature religion traditions that got tagged on to the Christian All Saints Day, established in the seventh century.

A host of pre-Christian traditions were “Christianized.” Easter eggs fall into that same category, along with Christmas trees. Whatever the origin, it has truly become a unique American phenomenon.

It surprises me that so many Christians are terrified of Halloween. Some Christian parents refuse to allow their children to Trick or Treat. Some churches go to great lengths to provide Halloween alternatives. Preachers pound pulpits and warn their congregations to steer clear of any involvement with Halloween.

I’m not terribly troubled by Halloween. I think everybody could use a little senseless fun once in a while. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I do believe in the devil and in hell and all that nasty stuff. But if Halloween is the best the devil can do to snare us, then we could all rest easy. It is amazing how we Christians can trivialize something so very diabolical, deadly and dangerous as the devil by associating him with a goofy, nonsensical day of candy and mischief. Is it any wonder that some people have difficulty taking us seriously?

As for me, I approach Halloween as an opportunity. I know kids will be out on the candy
run. We pass out candy at church, along with all kinds of little gifts and printed invitations to various church events. Last year, we estimated having about 250 neighbors drop by. I talked to and met many of them. Several asked for prayer, and I prayed with them right out on the church parking lot.

I wish that less Christians would behave like Halloweenies and more would stand firm in their faith. There are genuine battles against evil to be fought that very few have the guts to fight. I suppose that some of us are able to take a big, brave stand against Halloween because we really don’t anticipate any serious hardship as a result.