Once again, I am sitting in class,
looking out the window instead of paying strict attention, like I should. This
has been a problem for me my whole life, by the way. On nearly every report
card was the comment, “Daydreams too much.” Or “engages her
neighbor rather than paying attention.” Anyway, as I sit tuning out my
professor, trying not to miss anything but really not focusing, there is a
group of people who are walking by in costume. There is an aging Viking. It might be
Thor, but if so he’s lacking a little. Like abs. A princess.
Frankenstein.
A whole mash of zombies.
I have no idea what they were doing. My class didn’t dress up, and its not
actually Halloween.
I admit
that I have a love/hate relationship with Halloween. Evil is such a present
reality, and I don’t ever want to make light of the real evil that exists. People
have real experience at the hand of evil. Halloween seems to make light of
that. There are real monsters out there. Some of us are living with them or
grew up with them. Some of us have suffered at their hands. History is full of
them.
On the
other hand, dressing up and pretending to be scared, having things jump out at
you while you know you are completely safe, and eating candy is fun! Decorating
for Halloween is so much easier than for other holidays; the cobwebs are
already up! Little people dressed up as some adult figure are so darned cute. I
love seeing the princesses and cowboys and batmen that show up at the door. Even
the pets get in on the dressing up these days.
When my
kids were little, our church dealt with this tension by having harvest parties
where we bobbed for apples and ate doughnuts off a string and played carnival
games, and where kids dressed up as Bible characters. Today, my kids are grown
up and making their own choices about Halloween.
However you
feel about Halloween, I hope you are thinking about the issues. I hope you
wrestle with how God would have you glorify him on that day. Actually, that’s my hope for you everyday. Every
day, we should be wrestling with how to live in this world, how to participate
in culture, and how to do it with integrity of how we say we believe. How can I
bring glory to God in my classes? (I know what you’re thinking; perhaps I
should stop looking out the window!) How can I bring glory to God in my home,
in my workplace, among my friends?
Beloved, do not imitate evil,
but imitate good.
3 John 11
Hate evil, and love
good, and establish justice… Amos
5:15
I elected not post this on Halloween because I wanted us to
focus on the real issue. I don’t care how you address Halloween; I care that
you address evil in every part of your life. Do you think about entertainment?
How do you decide what TV shows or movies to watch? What about work ethics?
Would you engage in practices for work that you wouldn’t engage in otherwise?
Is it OK to lie to your boss about being sick? Is it OK to lie for your boss?
Is your language different when you drive than it is at church? Do you smile at
the lady you are gossiping about later?
How
do you make choices about how to live your life, every day?
Each moment, we get to choose what we will do or say,
whether we will bring glory to God or not. We get to choose how to live for
him. We decide what others around us will see and know about God. We decide
whether we will draw closer or turn away from him.
So its not
whether we dress up and eat too much candy, its how we reflect him to the world
around us in this moment. We need to address the evil around us, to armor up
and be aware of the choices we are making. Evil is real. We don’t need to be
afraid, but we do need to be aware, and not participate in it. It’s not who we
are anymore.
Put off your old self, which belongs to your
former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed
in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the
likeness of God in true righteousness. Ephesians 4:22-24
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