Last year, on November 1st, Huntsville's paper ran a story about a suicide that happened night before, on Halloween.
It was not immediately recognized that the suicide had even happened because neighbors had mistaken the body hanging in a tree for a Halloween decoration.
This is just wrong. Seriously, any holiday that has decorations that can be mistaken for an actual dead body and vise versa is disturbing, to say the least. And it continually amazes me that Christians continue to support a holiday like this.
I have friends that will say here that I'm just sucking the fun out of life and over-reacting. They'll say that it's just a fun time for kids to dress up and play around. I know they'll say that because they've said it to me.
I have friends who will tell me that by not participating in Halloween, I'm missing out on the hugest missional opportunity of the year. That this is the best time to meet people and engage my neighbors. I know they'll say that because they've said it to me.
To these friends, I will continue to say that death is not a joke. Witches and evil is not a game. My neighbors are there all year long. And my kids play dress up with them in June just as much as they do in October.
I have wrestled over and over with the concept of churches having Halloween parties. On the one hand, it is effective in keeping children safe on a notoriously dangerous holiday. On the other hand, many churches are not doing this when they choose to throw a Halloween party on the Sunday before Halloween, which of course, does not keep the children safe on the night of Halloween.
But just as importantly, when I look at the church activities around me, I don't see any counter-cultural redemption being offered. The world around us is glorifying death and evil. The church is simply ignoring that part of it and not countering with any productive alternative.
If the church wants to impact our world, why are we not sending a message on Halloween? Why are we not overtly celebrating the life that Christ gives us, while the world around us celebrates death? Or perhaps we should be remembering death and evil on October 31. But we need an attitude of reverence and sobriety toward it - a reminder that this life is finite, and there is a reality awaiting us in the end. We certainly don't need to pretend that evil spirits are cute blow-up toys.
The logical question here is why I'm not doing something like this, and the obvious answer is that I am, as best I can, in my home with the sphere of influence that I have. And I am writing here to help others see that celebrating the fun in Halloween without changing the unholy macabre message is no better than enjoying sex without the commitment of marriage. It can certainly be done, but it is not the healthy way to approach it.
And now I brace myself for all the condemnation that I unfortunately anticipate from my brothers and sisters.
No comments:
Post a Comment