Halloween

I love Halloween. It's one of those times of the year when so much energy, fun and excitement come together. That, coupled with the turning of the seasons, the chill in the air, the leaves turning colors, just makes for a really awesome time of the year. Of course, I'm not into Halloween as much as some of my friends. One of them loves Tim Burton movies. That's a little weird. On the other hand, some of you reading this might think it incredulous that I have fun during such a pagan time as Halloween. Well, sorry... but I'm sure you'll get over it.
Here is a few view points I have about Halloween:
- What a great time of the year to get out and meet your neighbors. When else does the whole neighborhood come out, take walks, see all of everyone else's kids?
- There are elements in Halloween that are part of a Biblical worldview. Now some of you are really freaking out. Let me explain... and then you can delink me. (But leave a comment if you do delink. :-) ) Halloween can be a little creepy, with all the ghosts, goblins, and witches that are tradition about the holiday. The ideas of good versus evil, light versus dark and right versus wrong should be part of a Biblical worldview. Jesus spoke about all of those elements and the Bible is clear that there is a spiritual battle happening in and around us. As Eldredge says, "To live in ignorance of spiritual warfare is the most naïve and dangerous thing a person can do. It’s like walking into an al-Qaida training camp, wearing an “I love the United States” T shirt." There is of course, plnety more that I could write about this subject.
- Halloween is a great time of the year to engage your students. A number of years ago, a youth group we worked with would have a leader scavenger hunt in a local mall. The leaders all had to dress up in any kind of costume, and then go walk around the mall. The kids would show up at the mall 30 minutes later, with copies of the leaders pictured normally, and would have to try to find as many as they could. The way they found them was to walk up to them and quote John 3:16. If the person was not a leader, they would, of course, think the student was a crazed religious fanatic. The one year I helped out, it was crazy fun. I had a bunch of teen age guys at the mall laugh at me because I had a fake beard that looked ridiculous. A great ending to an activity like that would have been to talk about the masks, how often we put up a front, how Jesus can see through that, and how God calls us to be authentic.
Anyway, we will be taking the girlies for a night away for fun. The Seawitch Festival in Rehoboth Beach is about 2.5 hours away. It should be a lot of fun.