Boo! Did I scare you? I doubt it. It is Halloween… how do you feel about that? I grew up in a church that didn’t celebrate halloween… rather we had fall festivals where kids would wear costumes that were “acceptable” – translated – no ghouls, ghosts, witches, dead things… etc.

Are you on that fall festival bandwagon? Are you involved in some protest over a celebration of this holiday? Or do you go along and do your part to stimulate the economy of the candy industry and dental professionals? I have seen people lose their minds over protesting this “evil” holiday… after all it sure is an easy high profile target.

Do you recall a teaching of Christ Jesus that told an accusing man ‘who are you to be concerned about a speck in your brother’s eye while you have a plank in your own eye?’ I love that story. Each time that I begin to criticize something or someone… this teaching starts clanging like cymbals in my ears.

It’s funny… I have celebrated the festivities of Halloween for about 38 years now… and I’m still a devout Christian. I don’t embrace the occult, demons, ghouls, ghosts, witches, warlocks, or any other living dead creature… I just like candy… especially FREE candy – woohoo!

What really disappoints me are Christians who protest and stand against this holiday, but then go about their lives, lying, gossiping, cheating, and other seemingly harmless acts of Christian disobedience.

Hypocrites.

Don’t misunderstand me, I am 100% behind any Christian that does not support or embrace this holiday for their beliefs… but it seems that I end up watching that person during the rest of the year to find out if it’s just a bandwagon thing or a deep seeded belief.

I enjoy that this is one day in the year that my wife, my daughter, and I can go out, act silly, laugh, and eat candy together without regrets. For me, Halloween has become a time that is all about our family and how much we enjoy each other.

As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. I only hope that our witness isn’t defined by 1 day out of the year. I think I would rather focus on teaching my daughter how to live like Jesus teaches us than worry about some man made holiday that originated with the Celts about 2000 years ago to celebrate the end of harvest and the beginning of winter.

Yes, there are many things that our family should and shouldn’t be doing. And who knows, as our lives grow and change, we may find ourselves on the fall festival anti-halloween bandwagon. But for now we’re going to focus on some more important issues like… learning how to love our neighbor as ourselves.

I’ll leave you with a tip. Get out from under your rock… turn on your porch light… hand out some candy… along with a small promotional card to your church’s children’s programming. Wouldn’t that be kind of like being a light in the dark? Just a thought…. or you can just sit in the dark and sulk.

Sometimes you actually have to shine your light in the dark to see how bright or dim your Christian witness actually may be.

May God’s presence be with you today.

- GREG
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