Halloween II: Taking a Less Safe Course

Within the last two weeks, a number of discussions and considerations have led us to conclude that we want to participate in Christ’s work to redeem Halloween, rather than withdraw from the struggle.  The first important consideration involves Halloween’s connection with All Saints’ Day.  (Thanks to Christine, Brock S. and other friends for leading me to reconsider this connection.)  In the seventh century, the church instituted the holiday of All Saints’ Day, setting aside a day in May to remember and honor the martyrs of the early church who paid for their devotion to Christ with their lives.  In the eighth century, the pagan Celtic festival of the dead, Samhain, celebrated on November 1, was growing in influence.  The church responded with its then-common strategy of claiming the date for Christ.  All Saints’ Day, also known as All Hallows, was moved from May to November 1.  Consistent with the Jewish tradition of reserving the prior day to prepare for significant festivals, the church set aside the evening of October 31 to prepare, calling it “All Hallows Eve” or “All Hallow ‘een.”  See, e.g., Kim Wier & Pam McCune, Redeeming Halloween:  Celebrating Without Selling Out. 

Previously, I considered the connection between Halloween and All Saints’ Day irrelevant as a practical matter.  (1) All Saints’ has not endured as a significant religious holiday.  (2) I haven’t known any Christians to take advantage of Halloween as an opportunity to evangelize or otherwise bring Light to the world.  (3) I couldn’t see myself bringing Light to Halloween either.  As the following makes clear, my third rationale proved vulnerable. 

The guest speaker at our church this past Sunday was Gary Haugen, founder and president of International Justice Mission.  (Within the last ten years, IJM has become a leading human rights agency, driven to rescue victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery and oppression.)  You can imagine that to hear Gary Haugen speak is to be challenged, convicted and uplifted all at once.  I won’t attempt to provide the details of his sermon for you, but I will try to share one of its themes:  life regularly presents each of us with the choice between bravery and safety;  true joy is found when we choose to be brave, trusting not in ourselves, our money, possessions or reputation but in the Lord to keep us safe. 

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, I believe that, as a Christian, Halloween presents us with the chance to choose between bravery and safety.  It is safe, from a cultural perspective, to dive right in and celebrate along with our neighbors.  It is safe, from a biblical perspective, to renounce the apparent evils of Halloween and abstain altogether from the celebration.  It is brave – or at least less safe – to join and stand with Christ as He works to redeem all of culture, including Halloween.  We have decided to choose to be brave, or at least less safe.  And we trust that the effort will be worthwhile, for “redemption is God’s primary work,” and He will succeed.  Wier and McCune put it reasonably well:

Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, every act of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit has centered on the task of redeeming something lost.  It is because of that work that empty relationships are restored, empty work is made eternal, and empty ritual becomes an act of spiritual worship.  “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19 . . . ).  Just because a worthless legacy was passed down from those who went before does not mean it is irredeemable.  The blood of Christ has the power to redeem all worthless things, whether that’s Halloween or another “empty way of life handed down from our forefathers.”  (p.17-18)

With a week to go, we are still fumbling through the specifics of how we might participate in this aspect of Christ’s redemptive work.  The family – myself included – will wear costumes that reflect God’s truth, beauty and justice.  Christine and I will dress as Mary and Joseph, the girls as an angel and a wise man.  Rather than decorate with cobwebs, spiders and skeletons, we will seek to be a literal light in the darkness by hanging white Christmas lights and perhaps lining our walk with luminaries.  We likely will hang a simple sign or banner over the door declaring “Jesus, the Light of the World,” or something along those lines.  The girls will trick-or-treat at a handful of neighbors’ homes.  We intend to greet trick-or-treaters at our home with large candy bars, wrapped or labeled with a brief message, like “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).  (For other ideas, see Wier & McCune.)  I’ll be sure to let you know how this experiment goes!