Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Christians and Halloween


Every year in the Fall, there are discussions about what the church’s involvement should be with Halloween. There are the people that say the church should have nothing to do with “the  devil’s holiday” and there are people that try to use Halloween as an outreach opportunity. Then, there are different ways to use it as an outreach opportunity: Fall Festival, Halloween Party, Haunted Houses, and Judgment Houses to name a few. Some people are adamant for one way or the other. Like other disagreements in the church, we need to give and receive grace. This means, we need to explain our view and truly listen to the other side.

As I was growing up, my parents let me go trick-or-treating a couple of times but most of the years, we had a family night. We would go out to eat and then go to a movie. Most years, that was the only movie that my dad would go see in the theater. My parents tended to view Halloween as evil but not as strongly as others. They point to Satanists doing rituals on this night and the origin of the holiday as proof that it is not a harmless day. I know people that hold this view and I respect their decision. They did not come to this decision lightly.

For me and my family, we have taken another approach. If one looks at the origins of Halloween and Christmas, both are very non-Christian. Why do we celebrate Christmas but reject Halloween? I am not saying that Halloween should become the third most holy day for the Christian (after Christmas and Easter but just above Mother’s day). What I am saying is that the church can use Halloween like it uses July 4th or the Super Bowl. These events are things that our neighbors are talking about and are special to them because they do things differently on these days than every other day of the year. The church can use these days as a way to introduce the church, and ultimately God, to their communities.

At Crestwood, we decided to have a Fall Festival the Saturday before Halloween (Oct 27th). The purpose for this is to provide a safe environment for families to come and have fun. We want our community to know that we are real people that care about them and want to minister to them. Part of that is having events that families can come to and enjoy together. To stay away from the extremes, we did ask that no one wear scary costumes. Since our event is open to the public, we have no control over what others wear but we try to make sure that our workers do not have weapons or portray scary characters (that is why Cardinals are fine but Wildcats are not).

There are other options, also. One church in town is having a haunted house and Judgment Houses are also popular. I have not been involved with those in the past and I have heard good and bad reports about their effectiveness. Neither of those options are attractive to me because I do not like to be scared. So my objection is purely a personal preference and not a theological one.

My purpose is not to tell you what to think about Halloween but to remind you that whatever we do, it should be as a witness to God about what he has done for us through Jesus. Those who reject Halloween are making a stand for Christ and do get ridiculed by those inside and outside the church. Those that have no problem with Halloween should make sure we are a light in this dark world. Jesus commands us to be “in the world but not of the world.” Consider how you celebrate Halloween.  How much do they reflect the world and how much do they show that you are made different through Christ?