Last night during a conversation with a friend, the subject of a church hosting a Halloween Party came up. My friend indicated that it just didn’t seem to fit together in his mind; a Christian church having a party to celebrate a pagan holiday. I quickly made the usual response, “oh it’s just for fun….You got to let yourself have fun…blahdy, blahdy, blahdy. ” It wasn’t that I was not giving his thoughts the weight that they deserved, it was that I honestly couldn’t understand a problem with the situation. In my mind it was simply a straight forward party; people having fun together, dressing up and acting a little silly.
But as I drove home that part of our conversation began to replay in my mind. I started thinking through why it is that I do not have a problem with a Christian Church hosting a party to celebrate a Pagan holiday. My mind started dancing around the subject and I probably cha-cha’d around the concept for a good hour or so before I finally called it a night.
All that mental dancing produced a few solid, put you hands on, thoughts.
First let me say that I do not have a problem with any person deciding not to celebrate Halloween, each person must choose what is appropriate and best for themselves. I can’t tell you how to live your life, I can simply tell you what I think the right answers are for me. I post them here for you to consider and to possibly assimilate into your own way of doing things. That being said….
There are, of course, my stock answers to this question. I don’t have a problem with another person choosing to celebrate any holiday whether they do so because of spiritual, religious, mental or just for the fun of it reasons. As long as the purpose is one that will bring no harm to another person or entity, I don’t honestly see why they can’t do it. But then again, I also tend to be a little more liberal than some.
Now on to my complex, multiple rounds around the mental dance floor responses… Halloween is a hybrid holiday. Many different religions, non-religions, cultures, etc. have had a hand in developing the holiday. It is one of those holidays that can be taken too seriously or to literally. Some people look at the holiday and only see the roots that relate it to the early pagan rituals. Others see it simply as a time to dress up and get lots of candy. Still others associate the day with the traditional All Hallows Eve.
I think that for many people the day is a time when they can step outside their normal boundaries, let their hair down and have fun. We have evolved into a society that expects a person to remain a specific way at most (if not all) times. We apply stereotypes to people and then expect those people to accurately reflect the stereotypes. But sometimes the stereotype limits the individual upon which it has been applied causing them to avoid certain situations or behaviors that according to general society do not gel with how the person is perceived. We therefore limit people.
People who have been limited by their applied stereotype often seek ways to step outside their box. Some do it by going out to the bars for the night and “letting their hair down.” Others go on vacation to places where people don’t know their given status. There are many ways to stealthily slip outside of the box, but on Halloween a person gets to do it freely for all to see and they can chalk it up to the holiday. This is one reason why Halloween is so popular with adults.
Being that church should be a place to support people’s growth and nurture them as they try new and improved ways of behaving, I personally see an interesting fit between Halloween and church. On Halloween people are looking for ways to be a little larger than what they normally are, they are expressing things that they keep hidden from sight. Why not allow them to come into the church rec room and bring those hidden flights of fancy? When they are among friends and within their church, they will more easily express the positive impulses, while being more inclined to keep in check that which could bring harm to others.
I don’t personally believe that God has placed us upon this earth to obtain a stereotype and to limit ourselves to that image. I believe that God wants us to learn and to grow into loving beings that are able to freely express our loving nature. When we limit ourselves based on the perceptions of others we stifle the voice of God. We only allow our hearts to hear that which fits into the role we have defined ourselves to occupy. Maybe when we find ourselves in the pigeon hole we need a little Halloween to help us break free and see another facet of who God has designed us to be.
