2 surprises about Halloween
What does God think of Halloween? How are Christians to
respond to all the spooky outfits, scary masks, witches hats that dominate the
scene at this time of year? Should we simply retreat, batten down the hatches,
avoid all shops and hope no one knocks on Wednesday night? Before answering
that question allow me, to share with you my top tip, that I think is guaranteed
to ruin any good party (do not ever say I am not a generous person)! So imagine
the scene; you’ve arrived at a party – the venue is lovely, the music is
playing, the food is fantastic, conversations are flowing, everyone you want is
there and at this point in the party, no one has done anything silly or
embarrassing. No one has been on the dance floor and made a fool of themselves,
no has attempted to sing along to the music in a tone deaf way, no one has had
too much to drink and started acting a bit silly. All told, everything is going
well so far. Well here is how to ruin the party. Just wait until there is a bit
of a pause, perhaps, after someone has cracked a really good joke and then
raise your voice a little and say “I tell you what, this seems like a good time
to speak about death!” That would be it wouldn’t it? To wait until everyone is
having fun, the party is in full flow and people are enjoying themselves and
then mention the dreaded d-word: death.
Now here is the link with that anecdote[1]
and Halloween. When you see the sorts of outfits that are sold in the shops and
supermarkets at this time, isn’t it as if our society says ‘let’s have a party,
a celebration, a festival, and use it, to talk about death’ – isn’t that what
it’s like when you come across the scary, horrible-looking, death-imitating
costumes in the shop aisles? Don’t they just scream “death” and remind us of
this horrible enemy in our midst?
Well here is the first surprise as we return to our question
(how are Christians to respond to Halloween). The first surprise is this –
Christians (unlike the world/non-believers) have a good reason to celebrate
Halloween by putting on scary costumes and joking about death etc because
unlike the world we have a King, Jesus Christ, who has conquered, triumphed and
overcome death. We Christians have a Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has experienced
this horrible enemy death, but who thankfully has defeated it (Hebrews 2:14-15).
As Paul asks provocatively in 1 Corinthians 15:55
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is
your sting?
His answer: thanks be to God who gives us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are united to this Jesus Christ have every
reason not to fear death. Christians can look death in the eye and say “horrible
though you are O death, one day... one day we will have the last laugh on you”.
We Christians can mock death because even though we know that it is horrible
and painful and sad, yet we can still laugh at it because we have a Saviour who
has completely triumphed and defeated death. Christians need not therefore fear
these scary costumes that appear at this time of year, and we should be free to
mock death by wearing ghoulish outfits as a mock on this defeated enemy –
death.
If you’ve seen the film Crocodile Dundee, you’ll know that
there’s a scene where the main character, Dundee is walking home late one
evening when he gets accosted by 3 kids wanting to mug him. The lead member pulls
out a penknife and shouts “give us your wallet” and Dundee’s girlfriend in a
bit of panic, urges him to respond quickly by giving the thugs his wallet.
Dundee retorts by asking “Why?” to which she replies “because they’ve got a
knife” And Dundee’s comical response is to say “That’s not a knife... here’s a
knife” as he draws out a machete! And it’s a little like that with the victory
accomplished by our risen, reigning Lord. You can imagine him looking at all
the scary outfits which people don at this time of year and saying “You think
that is scary? Wait until you see the fierce dragon that I had to fight. He is
horrible and cruel and everyone he attacks loses. Everyone that is, except Me”.
Halloween then can and should be for the Christian a time to
laugh. Not a fake, shallow, pretend laughter, but the kind of laughter which is
filled with a certain hope that even though the present may be painful, even
though the present may be full of tears and sadness, yet in Christ we are
confident that our sorrows will be turned to joy.
Here is the second surprise related to Halloween. Modern day
Christians should reclaim the celebration of Halloween, given that it was our
forbears who encouraged people to wear scary outfits as a parody of death.
Halloween as you may know was originally known as All Hallows Eve. It is the
day before All Hallows/All Saints Day, when the Church remembers those who have
died in the faith and give thanks for their faithful witness. All Hallows Eve
therefore was (and is) an occasion to tease death by reminding ourselves of the
wonderful hope of the final resurrection as we give thanks for those who’ve
fallen asleep in Christ. The medieval Church thus encouraged Christians to wear
frightening and death-imitating costumes not because they were morbid or
because they didn’t have access to GAP or Calvin Klein but rather because they
were confident that death had been defeated. Christians therefore wore horrible
outfits not because of a lack of fashion sense but to satirize death and say to
it, ‘you’re a loser!’ or more positively ‘we will win!’ This by the way is the
reason that many old churches and some grand buildings have gargoyles. Have you
ever wondered why someone would build a beautiful church with intricately
designed mosaics, pretty stained glass windows, ornate looking furniture and
then include unappealing and oftentimes scary looking gargoyles? Well the
reason was simply to say to the congregation (and to the world) that though
death may still be present among us (which is what these gargoyles pictured)
yet in Christ, we shall overcome. In other words, gargoyles were a visual way
of saying that the medieval Christians were not afraid of death.
It is reported that Woody Allen when once asked about death
responded “I’m not afraid of death I just don’t want to be there when it
happens.” How different for the Christian! This Halloween then, let us not fear...
let us not fear the frightening costumes, let us not fear the knock on the
door, let us not fear the future and crucially let us not fear death. And why
not think of a tangible way (including perhaps wearing a scary costume?) to
teach and share with your family and friends, that in-Christ, death is not the
end!
