Christ Lutheran Church: Welcome

Reform Halloween! - November 2, 2008

Reform Halloween!

All Saints Sunday

Luke 15:11-32

November 2, 2008

Rev. Dave R. Garwick

The big airline in Australia is called Quantas Airlines. A few years ago they ran a series of TV ads featuring a cute, cuddly little koala bear which was clinging high up in a eucalyptus tree, trying to get away from all the visitors that Quantas was bringing into Australia. The slogan was this little koala saying, "I hate Quantas".

Now picture your pastor up a tree on Friday night saying, "I hate Halloween." A few years ago I preached a sermon against Halloween and, my goodness, I just about got run out of church in a trick or treat bag by the mothers of young children. I found out in a hurry that Halloween is a sacred cow around here. I called it "The Devil's Ball". "Pastor, how COULD you!?" Here these moms had shopped and sewed for days to make their little ones into cute little whatevers and here I just told the children that their mommies had sent them to the devil's ball. I could see their point.

So, over these last thirteen years that it's taken me to get back the courage to bring this up again, I have had a chance to refine my thoughts just a bit. It's not all the cute costumes that get me. In fact, I saw a senior high student with one that I think took the cake. It was simply a long raggy looking orange T-shirt with big bold black letters that said, "This IS my costume. Just give me the candy!" That's getting to the point.

Any rate, it's not the cute and clever costumes that I have problems with. It's all the stuff that goes on about death and demons and horror - and not just the costumes, but the haunted houses and the TV shows and the movies and on and on and on.

What I object to about all that stuff is that this is the exact opposite of what we should be teaching our kids about death and what follows. When do you think people make their most lasting association with things? At the very age that we send them out among all the goblins and ghouls! One of the major points about our faith in Jesus is that, if you're connected to Him, then death is NOT something that you're supposed to fear. And it does NOT lead to scary stuff but directly to the most wonderful heaven beyond imagination. Why? Because when Jesus died on the Cross, He paid for all the damage we have done in life, so that heaven can be a sure bet for all who trust in Him. Because when Jesus rose from the dead, He made death a temporary thing that we no longer have to fear. And when He then showed himself to more than five hundred people, He was not scary looking at all!

And THAT is why we celebrate All Saints Day - to celebrate the glorious homecoming of all who have gotten promoted there in the last year.

Now actually, today is not All Saints Day. This is All Saints SUNDAY. All Saints Day was yesterday. It's always on November 1st. And it used to be called "All Hallows Day', meaning that all the faithful who have died are safe, hallowed, or holy.

The day before All Hallows Day would, of course, be known as "All Hallows EVE." And that became shortened to Halloween. So Halloween was supposed to be the preparation for celebrating the holiness of the dead in Christ.

But here's where things get tricky. The day that Christians now called "All Hallows Eve" was also the day that non-Christian Druid pagans had long celebrated as something they called Samhain. And in the primitive pagan religion they were terrified of what came after death, and so they dressed up in scary costumes and carved weird faces into pumpkins and lit bon fires all night long to scare off the demons from snatching any more of them. Since the Druids did not have a Savior to destroy death, they were on their own to protect themselves.

So back in the 700's the pope figured that if we Christians took over their holiday, maybe we could give them hope and convert them into Christians. But NOW look who's celebrating WHAT! I am willing to bet that more children of this congregation were doing the Druid thing on Halloween than are in Sunday School this morning. Ask a hundred people on the street what Halloween is about and almost all of them will talk about the Druid scary stuff - not the holy safety of the saints.

I am tempted to say that this is all about marketing. After all, Halloween is the second largest holiday next to Christmas. But I wonder if the deeper truth is closer to what Jesus himself talked about in the Parable of the Lost Son that we just read in the Gospel Lesson.

Remember what that youngest son did with the inheritance his father gave him? He blew it on all sorts of sinful living. So when he came to the end of his rope, and all he could do was to go back to his father and beg for mercy, what did he fear? Remember how he rehearsed what he would say to his father? "Oh father, I have sinned against you and against heaven and earth and I no longer deserve to be called your son." He figured that he would be lucky to get anything at all from his dad.

I wonder if deep down inside that isn't exactly what we ourselves fear. That we have so screwed up in life, that we're going to get it in the neck, exactly as we deserve, or maybe we really DON'T trust Jesus. Maybe THAT is why we get into the scary stuff of Halloween, because we ARE terrified of what we've got coming after death, because we think we're on our own, because we're afraid that we're going to be demon dinner.

But in that parable that Jesus himself told, what DID happen? The son did NOT get what he deserved. Instead his father opened his arms to him and welcomed him home with great joy and celebration. THAT is the reality that we celebrate on All Saints Day. Remember, the One who told that story is the same One who died in our place, who fought Satan in our place, to make it all possible.

And THAT is why the apostle John wrote in this morning's Epistle Lesson, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" So, kids, let's reform Halloween to All's Hallow Eve. Amen. May it be so.