Oh, Halloween should be such a celebration!

Yes, I’ll be wearing my witch’s hat today!
Halloween is often the favorite holiday – ranking right up there with Christmas. With Christmas, however, there is common knowledge about the religious origins of the holiday. For too many, Halloween is just a dress-up-get-candy celebration.
So I am inviting us all to remember and reclaim the religious gift of Halloween. Halloween is the day before November 1, All Saints Day. And centuries before there were terrorists or suicide bombers or an economic downturn, Halloween was an acknowledgment that if the ghosts and goblins were going to be able to scare people, they had better turn loose in full force before the influence of the saints was lifted up. Because the powers of darkness knew that once the saints were remembered, the forces of darkness would be rendered powerless. The ghosts, gremlins and goblins would have to scare people while they had the opportunity: All Hallow’s Eve (All Saints Eve) was their best shot.
Isn’t it interesting that even the powers of darkness recognize the supreme superior power of God and God’s goodness when the people who follow God so often forget? In the Gospels, the demons knew that Jesus was the Son of God when the disciples weren’t so sure. (Mark’s gospel testifies to this dynamic repeatedly.)
From what I hear, I’d say that those who follow God are very much impressed by the powers of darkness. People are deeply fearful (apparently, we trusted in our prosperity more than we realized); anxious (apparently, we haven’t trusted God as much as we thought) and discouraged (apparently, we have seen the storm more than the Savior). No one has to explain to me the reasons for despair. The ministry of superintendency brings me face to face with harsh, discouraging realities daily. I understand completely the temptation for negativity to creep into shaping my attitudes and encounters. Our culture is drowning in negativity, fear and anxiety.
That’s why Halloween – All Hallow’s Eve—can be such a transformational day for us. And no, I don’t mean a costume. Halloween is the day when Christians laugh in confidence in the face of fear and evil. Halloween is the day when Christians affirm that the ghosts and goblins and gremlins had better fly around and do their worst because once All Saints Day dawns tomorrow – once we put our minds on the goodness and faith and encouragement and light we have received from the saints—the forces of evil have no power over us. Halloween is the day for us to say to the forces of evil: Give it your best shot. You will still fall short once the power of God is lifted up in the lives of godly people. Halloween is the day when we LIVE the words Martin Luther penned in his majestic hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”:
“And tho’ this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, We will not fear for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The Prince of Darkness grim: we tremble not for him His rage we can endure. For lo! His doom is sure. One little word shall fell him!”
This fearful, negative world of ours needs us to give witness to the true meaning – the original meaning of Halloween: Christians need not be afraid of anything. We have an unshakable confidence—characterized, because it is a gift of God, by humility and peace. God has won a cosmic victory over evil in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and this victorious God dwells in us. We should gladly affirm today that God’s goodness is the ground of creation and that we are creatures made in the image of God.
I have just finished reading Bishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter, Mpho Tutu’s book: Made for Goodness and Why This Makes a Difference. I encourage you to read this deeply spiritual testimony. As you know, they have personally faced some of the world’s deepest powers of darkness in the brutal racism of South Africa. In this life-giving testimony, they write: “God does dwell in us. This is the essential truth of who we are. We are creatures made in the image of God. At the core of our being is goodness. That is not to deny the reality of sin. Sin is real. Depravity and cruelty are real. Evil exists. But sin, cruelty and evil are not our essential nature. They are aberrations. What is normative is goodness. Wrongness runs against the grain of creation. Evil is so contrary to our nature that we must construct justifications to allow ourselves to do what we know to be wrong and cruel…Cruelty and spite are not the essential qualities of human beings. They are departures from the human norm.”
Oh, that this Halloween could be the day when we face fears, anxieties, and the evil in this world with the light and victory of Christ who lives in us. What cause for celebration when we fix our mind firmly on the goodness of God and God’s triumph over every evil. To personalize the celebration, on Halloween, let us draw up a list of saints of our lives—those who have shown us God’s love and encouraged the best in us. We are not denying the harsh realities of life or the evil of this world – just celebrating the victory of God and putting evil in its rightful, secondary place. Restoring God’s goodness to its rightful center of our hearts can make all the difference. Happy Halloween, indeed!