Light up the Dark

October 31, 2018

Things have changed over the years. When we lived in the middle of Sinclairville, and then on the Main Street of Cassadaga, it wasn’t unusual to have upwards of 250 Trick or Treaters on Halloween. From little kids to grown ups, they would come marching up our sidewalk, the little ones dressed as the latest children’s heroes, the older ones usually made up in ghoulish style. 

Back in the 80’s and early 90’s, the morning of November 1st would find toilet paper strewn over the telephone wires, pumpkins smashed in the street, and perhaps the remnants of a bonfire in the main intersection of town. The occasional car sported signs of the eggs that had been lobbed from behind bushes. Funny how when our boys graduated, all that seemed to stop. 

Nowadays it’s pretty sedate. We live on the very edge of the village, so the only kids that stop are our grandkids and a few of their friends. We have mulled cider and donuts, coffee and cookies, and great conversation around the table while the kids search for Halloween bags hidden throughout the house. It gets pretty raucous, but it’s over before we know it. This year, granddaughter Gemma even brought treat bags for Linda and me, while her older brother tried for a new record stuffing nine TimBits in his mouth at once, while Linda and Jen gagged.

There’s been a lot of debate in Christian circles about the appropriateness of observing Halloween. It certainly has taken on sinister and occult overtones through the years. The scary movies I grew up with have morphed into celebrations of the macabre and of gore for the sake of gore. The classic Frankenstein and Dracula tales are actually stories of redemption. There is no redemption in the modern tales; only survival.

Growing up as an independent Baptist, I was pretty illiterate about wider Church history, and it wasn’t until later in life that I learned of the significance of this date as the day 501 years ago when a young monk took hammer in hand and pounded his convictions onto the door of the Wittenburg church. Martin Luther had no intention of setting off the firestorm that ensued, but it was on October 31, 1517 that the Reformation was born.

I think it’s fitting. While we have been taught to eschew the occult, neither do we fear its dark powers that are celebrated tonight. We can face the darkness because a candle was lit that set Europe ablaze with the Gospel, and it continues to burn brightly. Protestants and Catholics alike have benefitted from Luther’s bold confession concerning faith and Scripture alone for salvation: “Here I stand; I can do no other!”

Tonight, I am thankful for the joyful light of salvation that we celebrated around our table, and for this historic day when the darkness must bow to Gospel light.