Cultural Relevance: Christians & Halloween

Recently, in my women's Bible study, the topic of Halloween came up. A member of our group expressed her belief that Christians should not celebrate Halloween because it's an evil holiday that makes light of Satan and his demons. Everyone in the group, with the exception of me, seemed to agree. I'd rather mock Satan and his evil forces than to acknowledge his authority by spending Halloween afraid of the evils that might be taking place. After all, in the very Bible study during which this came up, we'd just read the account of Jesus casting demons out of a man. God has dominion over Satan and his demons, so what have we to fear? According to Luke 4:36, "With authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."

And while I don't particularly enjoy the grotesque costumes and decorations that some choose to use to in their Halloween celebrations, I believe the holiday presents Christians with a unique opportunity to interact with our neighbors and demonstrate our love for them (without an agenda). In the cities in which I've lived, it's been my experience that life has become so fast-paced, and our culture so independent, that many people don't even know their neighbors anymore. "People typically arrive home from work and immediately drive their cars into the garage," writes Christian blogger Tim Challies of his neighborhood. "More often than not they do not emerge again until the next morning when they leave for work once more. We are private, reclusive people who delight in our privacy. We rarely see our neighbors and rarely communicate with them." As such, Halloween seems, at least to me, to present a golden opportunity to develop relationships with our neighbors. Last year, I wrote about how inspired I was by what pastor Jonathan Bow's family does to celebrate Halloween. In addition to handing out candy, they grill up hot dogs, pass out hot chocolate, and engage in real conversations with their neighbors. My little sister Denise put together Christian-themed treat bags to hand out to the children in her neighborhood. Our church back in Albuquerque, City on a Hill (now Mars Hill Albuquerque), participated in a Halloween carnival at a poverty-stricken neighborhood elementary school. Aaron and I haven't yet decided exactly how we're going to celebrate Halloween this year, but you can bet our house won't be one that's dark and unapproachable.

I'm tired of our tendency to separate ourselves from the culture in which we live by only listening to Christian music, reading Christian books, participating in Christian networking groups, going on Christian cruises, sending our kids to Christian schools, avoiding mainstream holidays... the list goes on and on. I'm not saying that anything is wrong with any of these activities in and of themselves; it's when we stop interacting with those around us who desperately need to hear the Gospel that our behavior becomes problematic. We are on mission for Christ, and if we're going to be relevant at all and see lives transformed to live for Jesus, we need to figure out how to live in this world and culture without being "of" it. I believe that's what discernment is for.

Great reads on this topic:
Matters of Opinion: Hallowing Halloween by Anderson M. Rearick III for Christianity Today
Halloween Fast Approaches by Tim Challies of Challies.com
The Big Question: Halloween? by Jonathan Bow, pastor at Crosspointe

"Christians should... celebrate Halloween with gusto. If we follow the traditional formula of having a good time at his expense, Satan flees." -- Anderson M. Rearick III