Thoughts on Christians and Halloween: part 1

We are getting close to Halloween, and I know that you are all waiting very anxiously for my final word on whether or not you can celebrate it. I picture you by the computer, costume in one hand, lighter in the other. Do I do this or not? What does Pastor Andy say? Well, here is the first of three posts on this. I think I’ll do a new post each day, so check back tomorrow for part 2. Enjoy, and if you decide to go with a no on Halloween and have extra candy you need to get rid of please see me.

I received an email this week commenting on the Halloween poll and my upcoming thoughts on participating in Halloween. In the email the person wrote that the blog post really got her thinking, and then she also wrote about the things that could unite or divide us. I include that because I think this is the direction that we need to go in terms of how we engage culture – because after all, that is what this question really is about, right? How does a Christian engage culture with all of its dirtiness, shades of evil, redeemable qualities, etc.

Full disclosure: as a child we always participated in Halloween and it was really more of a family time and fun time. I was Dracula one year, I think Frankenstein another. Typical stuff I think. For me Halloween brings back memories of carving pumpkins, roasting pumpkin seeds, potato fried cakes and cider when we went out to my relatives in the country. Halloween was fun and candy and also time with siblings and my parents. So… it’s important for you to know where I come from on this. I am biased. It was fun. I never joined a coven. I participate in Halloween and love seeing kids dressed up and asking for candy.

With that said, I realize that good Christians disagree on this, and I am ok with that. I also like Trunk or Treat stuff because churches provide a safe place for kids to go on Halloween and this is a much bigger issue than when I was a child. But some people don’t participate at all, and I’m fine with that. I think the key is this, as the emailer wrote above, are you really thinking this through? Wherever you stand on this, is it intentional? Are you living your faith out in what you do? Anne and I had some friends in seminary that were from St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. One Fall I asked Theo if they were doing Halloween, and Theo responded to me, “No, where we come from Halloween means something very different.” That made sense. For some people this is too close to something else and they either don’t participate, or they do church sponsored events. We have to live out our faith in the way that makes the most sense in the context of our lives with the guidance of Scripture. The only challenge that I would give those who totally withdraw is this: what are you doing? In other words, if you sense a great outpouring of satanic activity in your area around Halloween and choose to stay home (a valid viewpoint), is your response limited to withdrawal and no action? I ask this because it seems to me that if it is a problem of such magnitude that you are refraining from participation that you should probably be praying for God’s hand to be battling the powers and principalities. I don’t mean this last bit to be snarky at all, but rather I do want to point out that if things are really bad you are called to Christian action of some sort.

There is a way of thinking of how Christians interact with culture that was set up by Richard Niebuhr that had five options – which includes seeing Christ as outside of culture, Christ alongside culture, and Christ transforming culture. So, we can have the body of Christ outside of culture, keeping pure and setting an example, Anabaptist movements are like this, such as the Amish. The concern here is that culture can corrupt the body of Christ, so in order to keep it safe we are segregated. This would be the stay at home option. Or you could have Christ alongside culture – this can give you something like a niche market Christian movement. What I mean by that is having Christian alternatives for things, but having them like the things of culture. I think the Trunk or Treat falls into this category. Or you can have Christ transforming culture, where the Body of Christ is in the culture and redeeming elements of it, transforming it for the glory of God. I could go on about this option, but it wouldn’t be fair because it’s the one I ascribe to. This point of view would ask the question, how would a Christian participate in Halloween activities? These paradigms are all fine. I strongly believe in one, but that doesn’t mean that other people are less Christian for not thinking as I do (or vice versa I would argue). Again, the real issue is, are you being intentional in your thinking of how you are living out your walk?

But, perhaps this raises a question for you.  Does anything go as long as you can stretch things in some manner to include Christ?  Tune in tomorrow at 8:20 AM when the next post is scheduled to go up.  I’m trying a new way of doing this where it will automatically post, so I’m excited, how about you?