Well, it seems that all of a sudden, we’ve found ourselves in October (how?!), which means you’re probably digging out your cosy clothes, endlessly scrolling through a camera-roll full of blissful sunny memories and ordering pumpkin-spiced everything.
Yep, love it or hate it, Autumn is well and truly here. And that means that the familiar old question is about to roll back around once again – to Halloween or not to Halloween?
Maybe you’ve spent your whole life celebrating Halloween with family and friends and have the very best memories of it, or perhaps your family always tended to give it a miss and do something a little different instead. Halloween can be a bit of a grey area, everybody has their own opinion, and that’s ok.
It really is.
The tricky thing about Halloween is that it simply wasn’t a thing when Jesus was around, so He didn’t ever mention it.
So maybe I should back up a little, you may be wondering ‘why would anyone have an issue with this sweet-filled, pumpkin-packed excuse to dress up anyway?’
Well, at its most basic, Halloween has a pretty dark history, it’s a celebration of all things spooky and ghoulish. For some people, that makes it a no-go-zone. Although the Bible never explicitly mentions Halloween, it does mention that we should try our best to put all our attention, energy and focus onto things that are “true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” (Philippians 4:8). And as a celebration, Halloween definitely doesn’t fall into those categories!
And that pretty much sums up why some people would rather avoid this festival altogether. If we’re supposed to light up the world, maybe we should think twice about celebrating something so dark.
Other people, however, come at it from the point of view that to light up the world, we kind of need to be in it, right? Jesus is bigger, better and so much brighter than Halloween, so maybe it’s the perfect opportunity to bring light to one of the darkest nights of the year, where we can shine the brightest.
Either way, here’s the bottom line:
If Halloween has always left you feeling a little un-easy, you should never feel like you need to force yourself into it; find a sweet alternative, pick and chose the parts you’d like to get involved with, or steer clear of it altogether.
Perhaps you could challenge yourself to find a way to make this Halloween the brightest day of the year, all treat and no trick. You could spend some time with God, or even use it as an opportunity to share your faith with your friends.
Turn that FOMO into JOMO (joy of missing out – get it?)
But, if you’re someone who finds joy within the festivities, who sees Jesus in every trick-or-treater, who loves to use Halloween as an excuse to dress up as a crayon: then take the opportunity to light up every street, every doorstep, every room you find yourself in.
Turn it on its head and make it something that brings you (and others around you) joy and glorifies God. Maybe you could host an alternative halloween get together with your friends, dress up in your best fancy dress and celebrate all things autumnal!
As people who think Jesus is pretty wonderful, it’s great that we take a minute to ask ourselves these kinds of questions, not just about Halloween, but about everything this world throws at us.
Is this good for me?
Will it fill me up with life, or drain it out of me?
Will it make me more compassionate? More joyful? More hopeful? More in awe of the world around me? More like Jesus?
These questions are yours to ask, and God’s to help you answer. Maybe this whole Halloween thing is yours and God’s to figure out together.
Regardless of the answer that you and God come to, here’s the most important thing to remember… you ready? It’s a biggy.
God does not stop being God on October 31st. Shocker, I know.
Whether you celebrate or hibernate; He’s still there, still moving, still speaking, still working, still loving you, still caring for you, still using you. Nothing can put Him on pause, no day can halt His plans, no festival can get in His way.
8 comments
Celebrating Halloween is worldly, it seems then, better not to celebrate this. I read awful things about how it originated. I do not want to type/say what I remember reading of this dark Hween day, as it is I work with the pricing team in the USA, and make sale signs for that word… H…ween. Perhaps I should not do this job anymore. My heart is not with celebrating this dark day. Please, also know, I am not judging anyones salvation, however, if you researched this day, how it started, if you are a Christian, please, do pray about this, whatever may please the LORD Jesus. In Jesus Most Kind and Precious Name. Thank you, Thank you for your time. Carol
Further to my last anonymous post I should say I grew up in quite a strict Catholic family. Also I am not disputing anything you have said, I guess I just wanted to share my perspective from way back when.
I have to say having grown up in the USA and now being almost 60, Halloween costumes never had to be scary. They could be but more so they were always fun. Over the years I dressed as a firefighter, a fairy princess, a scarecrow, Peter Pan, Cat in the Hat and so many more. It was just a fun time and for us growing up it was really more a celebration of Autumn, the pumpkins, the beautiful fall colours and yes trick or treating because as kids we loved candy!! When I came to the UK 32 years ago, Halloween was not a thing here. It became a thing and obviously through social media, making the world so much smaller it became a bigger thing. Now it seems huge here. But I always thought that it was sad here that people thought you had to dress up scary here in the UK. That was never the way I grew up. For usit was just fun to dress up, be with friends and have candy. And Halloween parties consisted of bobbing for apples, trying to bite a donut hanging on a string and other fun innocent games. I guess what I am trying to say it doesn’t have to be dark. I guess it has a bit to do with your interpretation which you have said in your post. Thank you for sharing.
That is really helpful and cleared a few things up for me! Thanks this was awesome ?? ?? ?? ??
The blog seems to be saying that Halloween is okay but then says adapt it to glorify God but the two seem to be opposites; Halloween is about worshipping death which is idolatry and there are a few verses other than Philippines that would warn against it, such as Galatians 5 that says witchcraft is an act of the flesh. Isn’t the only way to glorify God through Halloween, to explain why we’re not taking part; that we believe in a God that has conquered death and we get much more joy from worshipping Him.
I love these sm thank you! I always find the ones by belle especially helpful (funny bc that’s my name too!)
The blog seems to be saying that Halloween is okay but then says adapt it to glorify God but the two seem to be opposites; Halloween is about worshipping death which is idolatry and there are a few verses other than Philippines that would warn against it, such as Galatians 5 that says witchcraft is an act of the flesh. Isn’t the only way to glorify God through Halloween, to explain why we’re not taking part; that we believe in a God that has conquered death and we get much more joy from worshipping Him.
Oh my gosh, this was beautiful!!!