Halloween Approaches! Good Christians Take Cover! (Newsletter Article)

This morning I walked into the grocery to a glorious sight – the Halloween candy was neatly tucked into the large shelves that greet you directly upon your entrance into the store. You can always count on the candy aisle of the grocery store to cue you in on what season is approaching (sometimes months in advance). See an orange bag of assorted bite-sized mass produced chocolate covered nougat filled candy bars? Halloween is on its way. Red, green, and gold wrapped Hershey Kisses? Hello Christmas. Sugar covered marshmallow bunnies and baby chickens? Easter approaches.

Where would we be without candy to mark our time? As a kid though, I was told by a teacher not to eat the Halloween candy I “worked” so hard to earn. She said that people might hide little razors in there. That was a risk I was willing to take. I think the real danger of Halloween candy is “candy corn.” It seems that for years now people have believed that this stuff is supposed to be eaten, but in my experience it is mostly composed of wax and more suitable as an adhesive for emergency home repairs.

Apart from the dangers of candy and the general scary nature of Halloween, some Christians have proposed that Halloween is not a suitable holiday to be celebrated by Jesus’ followers. But really, Halloween is really All Hallow’s Eve, or All Saint’s Eve, since the next day is All Saint’s Day, the day when we remember those who have died in the faith, who have joined in Christ’s victory over death to enter into his eternal presence. Really, what we recognize on All Saint’s Day is, to many people, the most hopeful and wonderful things that our faith proclaims – that death is not the final word, but God’s love for us in Christ Jesus is, and with it, eternal life beyond and after and above death.

So if anyone should be making merriment on Halloween, it should be us Christians, because we’ve truly got something to celebrate. If we dress up and act silly and (inexplicably) eat candy corn, we do so with a spirit that says, “Where, o death, is your victory? Where, o death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).

Not for eating.

Another Look: "Getting Lost"

First off, my apologies for being less than regular with the blog, but summer has a way of killing momentum, and I guess that is kind of the point of summer.

On to yesterday's Sermon, "Getting Lost."

We looked at the famous Parable of the Lost Sheep, as it is usually referred to. It could also be called the "Parable of the Dedicated Shepherd."

The parable can be challenging for church folk who have been Christians for a long time. This is because the parable seems to be all about the "lost sheep" and Jesus going out and bringing them in - adding to the kingdom, new church members, new converts. Nothing here for me, thanks, I'm already on the team.

But the message for religiously established (like the Pharisees) and most Presbyterian Church-goers, comes in the line about the "righteous who need no repentance."

These are the found sheep, or in the parable that closely follows, the Older Brother who despises the party thrown for his wreckless brother who thinks he can just stumble home after squandering the gifts his father had given him. The Found Sheep are responsible, respectable, and serious about their faith. All nice things to strive for.

But what have the Found Sheep lost? Often, they've lost the joy of being welcomed by God - sins forgiven, past forgotten, embraced and given a new chance to live. Not that God has withheld these things, but that the found no longer experience them as the amazing gifts they are.

I admit that I often envy people who are fresh off a religious conversion. They act like people who have been given a new life because they have. Everything is new and exciting and wonderful and they are just so thankful for it all. It's like the party that Jesus describes when what is lost is found.

It seems to me that in order to remember and live again in this kind of wonder, we need to get lost a little bit ourselves. We need to lose our serious attitude toward faith, our sense of being an established Christian, our belief that we more or less have things figured out about God and the world. We need to lose those things because they things we build on our own and they become our possessions - the lost sheep on the other hand know that they have nothing and receive everything from God as a pure gift. In that knowledge comes a joy and freedom that comes with emptiness - empty hands are open hands, ready to receive (same with hearts and minds).

Of course, we mature in faith and become more or less "established," but we never want to become those "righteous who need no repentance," because if we no longer think we need to repent, then we have likely forgotten just how much we depend upon God for every moment of every day - each of which is a gift beyond our comprehension.

Another "Come to Jesus" sermon it seems. He keeps calling people to himself, and we can be happy that he always will - again and again.