As far as I’m concerned the time between Labor Day Weekend and Mardi Gras is the greatest time of the year. In these roughly five months we get: football, milder weather, we tend to get together more, and — by my estimation — all the best holidays. At one people give you gifts (Christmas), at another people make you amazing food (Thanksgiving) and another they give you candy (Halloween).
Halloween is one of the most fun holidays for some, the most sinister for others and the most misunderstood for most people, so I wanted to try and shed a different light on October 31st. Halloween is a contraction of All Hallows Evening, think of “Hallowed be thy name” (holy, sanctified, saint). Halloween doesn’t date back 1,700 years, but the holiday it grew from does: All Saints Day or the Feast of All Saints, which was a day to remember and celebrate our beloved, departed brethren — saints. It was kind of like the way we think about Decoration Day/Memorial Day, where the graves of loved ones are cleaned and decorated to honor and remember them.
In time, the night before All Saints Day — i.e. All Hallows Eve or Hallow’een — became a time to put our fears and our dread on full display so that we could mock and taunt them, much the way Paul does in 1 Corinthians 15, “O death…where is your sting? O grave….where is your victory?” The best explanation and summation I’ve ever heard is from this poem:
On the cusp of the customary All Saints Day The Christ-i-an kinsfolk made mocking display. These children of light both to tease and deride; Don darkness, doll down as the sinister side. In pre-post-er-ous pageants and dress diabolic, They hand to the damned just one final frolick. You see with the light of the dawn on the morrow, The sunrise will swallow such darkness and sorrow.
The future is futile for forces of evil; And so they did scorn them in times Medieval. For this is the nature of shadow and gloom; In the gleaming of glory there can be no room. What force is resourced by the echoing black? When the brightness ignites can the shadow push back? These ‘powers’ of darkness, if such can be called, Are banished by brilliance, by blazing enthralled.
So the bible begins with this fore-resolved fight; For a moment the darkness…. then “Let there be Light!” First grief in the gloom, then joy from the East. First valley of shadow, then mountaintop feast. First wait for Messiah, then long-promised Dawn. First desolate Friday and then Easter Morn. The armies of darkness when doing their worst, Can never extinguish this Dazzling Sunburst.
So… ridicule rogues if you must play a role; But beware getting lost in that bottomless hole. The triumph is not with the forces of night. It dawned with the One who said “I am the Light!”
Like all holidays — which is itself a contraction of “holy days” — over time traditions evolved and changed, but you can still see remnants of the original practices, not glorification of evil, but mockery. Little children dressed as monsters come to the door and we teasingly scream and shout “you’re so scary” but there is no true fear because we know the monsters are ultimately harmless little children just dressed up in a mask. Halloween is a good time for us to let death and other things that scare us become celebrations and conversations, especially with our kids, especially in a culture that tries in vain to deny aging and death and doesn’t like to talk about them.
We need excuses to remind our children that we trust a story of light and resurrection that transfigures and defeats death and darkness. Halloween is a good time for followers of Jesus to remember that our greatest fears and threats, though real, have been unmasked by the cross and empty tomb:
“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
Here is why it’s important we learn to unmask our fears: despite living in a country and time in history of unprecedented safety, stability, security and abundance, we all seem to be so afraid all the time. We’re afraid we won’t have enough, so we hoard, so Jesus says to us, “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:25-33).
We’re afraid we don’t have enough so we blame those who just want our scraps, so Jesus tells us a story about a rich man who was trapped in a hell of his own making because he was too afraid to let a beggar have his scraps. Jesus tells us this story because He doesn’t want us to be imprisoned by our fears.
If you struggle with anxiety DON’T READ THIS AS CONDEMNATION…..IT IS NOT CONDEMNATION FOR HAVING ANXIETY BUT REASSURANCE FOR YOUR ANXIETY THAT YOU ARE LOVED AND CARED FOR, SO YOU WILL BE LOVED AND CARED FOR!!! It is an attempt to protect us from our fears because those fears make us suffer and make us vulnerable to exploitation from people who will play on our fears to make money or gain power off of our fears. Those fears are the source of our distrust of one another and are often the cause of our mistreatment of one another (it’s hard to love your neighbor when you are afraid of him). There are soooo many public, algorithmically amplified voices who are evangelists of division, preaching a message of fear.
Whether your boogeyman is a politician, a foreigner, a stranger, or maybe you see a monster when you look in the mirror, why not try a different approach for a change? Instead of striking a defensive posture or walling yourself off from perceived threats, take the old fashioned Halloween approach.
“Monsters” come knocking. Open to them. Don’t leave them in the dark
Invite them into the light. Let them in. Feed them candy;
Compliment their convincing costumes.
They’ll take off their mask, learn their names, see their faces and they’re not as scary. Befriend your monsters. They’re all innocent children, easily wounded, looking for home.
That was how poet Steve Garnass-Holmes said it, here is how John said it, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). Face your fears, let love in, let love rule, let love heal, let love save, let love perfect you.
***NOTE***
Much of this I didn’t “write” as much as edit, as it was copied or inspired by someone whose name I just cannot remember, otherwise I’d give them credit. I took his thoughts and turned them into a sermon a few years ago, and this year I’m turning them into a blog post.
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