What Will You Add To The History of Halloween?
Good Morning Friends,
I am pretty sure that God wants us to glorify the divine in all things but also to engage our culture for we cannot as Christians live in a bubble ignoring the world. But when it comes to Halloween there is just a bit of tension as to how to proceed. My experience around All Hallows Eve is a bit mixed. My favorite was dressing up as Sampson and my wife as a bee as we gave mason jars of honey to friends and neighbors. We had harvested the honey from our hives. For my first Hallowe’en I was dressed up as a witch and we went to church for a party with other youth. Frankly I did not get it and I did not like it. Then we would visit neighbors asking for candy which incorporated some of the Celtic traditions of Samhain celebration of the end of summer. And that was kind of fun because we got to meet new people but the Holiness of the event was lost. One year we as kids went out and Trick or Treated for UNICEF. Unfortunately we were deployed into a neighborhood that absolutely hated anything to do with the United Nations. We were ridiculed for having a heart for the poor. Still it is good that such Halloween experience might help children learn to face up to evil and death and learn to give back. However I think that its Christian roots of the holiday in offering prayers for the dead and giving food to the poor has been lost. Perhaps that heritage should give us better guidance on how this holiday should be redeemed. After all it is a bit strange for us as a culture to encourage children to take candy from complete strangers. It is a bit difficult to reconcile all this with our faith. But friends, regardless of what we believe kids will dress up as super heroes tonight and really that is ok in a way for heroes are about protecting others. So here it is today’s question. What Will You Add To The History of Halloween?
Scripture: Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
Ephesians 5:11 (NRSV)
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:21 (NRSV)
Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.
Hebrews 2:14-15 (NRSV)
Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I Corinthians 15:51-57 (NRSV)
Message: The New Testament tells the stories of Christians who were bitterly persecuted for their faith and had to pay for it by their lives and that has continued down the centuries. One of note is a man called Polycarp. He lived about 200 years after the Christian church was founded. Polycarp was leader of the church at Smyrna (present day Turkey). Persecution broke out in Smyrna, and many Christians were fed to the wild beasts in the arena. The bloodthirsty crowd would not be satisfied until they had killed their leader and sent a search party to find him. He was brought before the Roman authorities and told to curse Christ and he would be released. Polycarp replied, “Eighty-six years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong: how then can I blaspheme my king who saved me?” The Roman officer replied, “Unless you change your mind, I will have you burnt alive.” But Polycarp said, “You threaten a fire that burns for an hour, and after a while is quenched; for you are ignorant of the judgement to come and of everlasting punishment reserved for the ungodly. Do what you wish.” It was as much a day of victory as it was a day of tragedy. Polycarp illustrated the power of knowing Jesus, intimately enough to follow Him into the flames. As Jesus said, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs such as Polycarp. That is the start of Halloween. It is strange that so little of this heritage remains.
But it is interesting that all the Halloween candy at our house always lasted until Easter. And though Easter in some ways has been turned into another pagan holiday, the resurrection of Jesus is not pagan but it is a sweet resolution to the fear of death. In that we can celebrate.
Pray for those super heroes of the faith who have died in the faith and for the faith. Pray for the fallen martyrs who have died for what they believe. Pray we believe in the destiny of the righteous. Pray for the souls of the righteous believing they are in the hands of God, and no torment will ever touch them. Pray we not be foolish about the reality of death. Pray we have hope in the peace of great good in Jesus. Pray we be disciplined a little so that we might receive a greater good. Pray God would watch over us forever. Pray we realize that our culture has subverted the Biblical faith and the only way to redeem it is insert our faith into it.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 