Halloween. Here's a brief something I sent out to our church a few years ago. Some of you all might find it helpful. I forget if I've posted it before. As another Halloween approaches, and as many of us are working on building alternatives, I wanted to take the opportunity

to offer a few thoughts and pastoral suggestions. Here's the background. First, Halloween first, is

All Saints Day. The All Saints Festival was first established during the times of persecution

in the early church when the number of martyrs accumulated to the point where it was no longer

possible to commemorate them all. In the time of John Christosome, all the martyrs were remembered the point where it was no longer possible to commemorate them all.

In the time of John Christosome, all the martyrs were remembered on the first Sunday after

Pentecost. In 608 AD, the Pantheon, a former pagan temple to all the gods, was dedicated in Rome

as a Christian church. The day to that dedication, May 13th, became the day of All Saints.

The day was moved to November 1st in 741th, became the Day of All Saints. The day was moved to November

1st in 741 AD with the dedication of the chapel of All Saints. Second, in the British Isles,

the day was known as All Hallows Day. The eve of that day, the night before, was known as Halloween.

In the minds of simple people, the night before the day of the Holy Ones was thought to be

a last-ditch party on the part of the unholy ones, devils, witches, fairies, imps, and so forth.

With this kind of superstition, of course, we have nothing to do. Obviously, the custom of kids

dressing up in order to play trick-or-treat did descend from this view, but the thing that is

objectionable here is not the dressing-up in itself or the consumption of view, but the thing that is objectionable here is not the dressing up in itself

or the consumption of candy, but rather the dressing up as wicked creatures.

Third, Reformation Day is on October 31st and commemorates the posting of Luther's famous

theses, which is usually regarded as the inauguration of the Reformation.

It is frequently honored by churches on the last Sunday of October. As it happens,

Reformation Day is also Halloween. Fourth, and the bottom line for us is that both of these two days

belong to the Christian Church and not to the pagans. And the days have been ours for many centuries,

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