Will I Ever Wear a White Shirt Again?

Please, No Spooky Costumes...

It's that time of year again. October is coming which means all sorts of wonderful things including leaves changing color and pumpkin spice everything (although my hubby is boycotting all things pumpkin spice since he thinks it's gotten out of hand). It also means Halloween is coming. Of course you knew that because you saw the rows of Halloween Candy at Walmart five weeks ago.

And, as Halloween comes so come a thousand opinions about whether those of us who are Jesus followers should celebrate. What constitutes celebrating? Should we trick or treat? Should we go to the fall fest? It's just candy. But, if my kids participate are we supporting evil? Well, I cannot answer those questions for you or your family.

But, I can tell you this. My family will not have a sign up anywhere that says, "Please, no spooky costumes."

I mean, we mean well when we say this at our church event or neighborhood party. But, what does it really say? It says the same thing many unchurched people already believe to be true about the church: You are not welcome here. You are not good enough. You have not arrived. You clearly aren't following Jesus closely enough to come to my event because we all have on "holy" costumes here.

I mean what good is it to create a safe place and shine our lights for all to see if the people who need it the most cannot come because their costumes are too spooky? Isn't that who really needs to be there?

When we invite people into our spaces, we can choose to invite them as they are or we can keep them out until they are good enough.

Here is what our family did last year for Halloween: We came up with a few activities (apple bobbing & pasta necklaces), created a photo spot (I'm not crafty, so it was simple), and put out drinks and snacks. We invited friends from school, our small group, and trick-or-treaters walking by.

Now, imagine if we had a list of costumes that were unacceptable in our front yard. Maybe the sign could say, "Keep walking" or "No witches allowed". I think if I'm going to have a party like that, I should go inside and close my blinds, and only send out private invites.

I get it. Really. But, Halloween is evil. Yes, it can be. Actually, every day can be. And, there are people who intentionally use Halloween to do horrible, evil things. In fact, our family actually doesn't do much in the realm of spooky. Our decorations tend to be more about autumn than halloween. Our costumes are fairly tame.

But, what I've learned is that most families are just looking to have a little fun. They don't spend all of their days at home talking about monsters and witches and ghosts and "bad guys". Their kid just wanted to be that for Halloween. So, how am I going to respond? I mean, it's one of the few days of the year where all of our neighbors are out and about. So, I think I'm going to welcome them all in, no matter what their costume looks like or what kind of party they are going to later on in the day. We can choose to create safe places for our kids or a safe place for those who don't yet know Jesus to experience real love, real friendship, and maybe meet Jesus. I think He cares a lot more about their souls than what costume they are wearing. And, I want to be able to teach my kids to see people, not the costumes they choose. My kids may not be dressed as zombies or goblins, but you will most certainly see them hanging with kids who are.

How can you change something you do for Halloween to invite those who need Jesus most onto your porch or into your church parking lot or gym? Are you thinking about them as you plan? What are you willing to give up so that they will come?

Redeem It...

Halloween is just around the corner. Honestly, I think Halloween takes so much away from my favorite time of the year. Football. Apple Cider. Pumpkins. Boots. Leaves. Cooler Temps. Whatever you love about fall probably gets overshadowed by this late October holiday. It seems like all they do in school for three weeks is related to Halloween--spiders, witches, monsters, etc. And, you know what? We don't really celebrate spiders, witches, and monsters in our home. We talk about the true darkness of Halloween. But, our kids, just want to have fun. So, we have had to make a choice.

Some think our choices are to retreat or surrender. We could hide out for a couple of weeks. Or we could just give in and let it be what it is.

We have chosen neither. We have chosen instead to step into an opportunity. We have chosen to be light on a day that represents darkness. This is not the easiest choice, but it lines up best with what our family values.

So, here is what Halloween looks like for us:

First, we have lots of conversations about Halloween. I constantly have to talk to my kids about the things they are doing at school--they aren't bad things, but sometimes they represent things that we don't want to be about. We talk about how witches are real, not some fun, fake character. We talk about so many things I hate having to talk about with my elementary and preschool kiddos about.

We enjoy fall. We have lots of fall fun. And, we show our kids that fall fun doesn't have to be scary or dark. We use the scary things around us to talk about God and how light shines in darkness.

We try to avoid the things that celebrate Halloween as dark. For instance, on the street behind us, there is a house decorated in a way that highlights the evil and darkness of the day. We don't walk that way. We stay away. We don't want our kids to get used to it or think it is normal. Our kids are young and impressionable, and we must be wise as we protect their eyes and ears.

We join in on the fun. We will trick-or-treat downtown with the rest of our community. We will get too much candy. We will run into friends and neighbors. We will get to rub shoulders with the people we do life with on a regular basis.

We invite our neighborhood in. On Saturday during the end of our trick-or-treating hours, we will have food, games, and fun in our front yard. We want to meet our neighbors. We want to have fun with our neighbors. We want to be intentional about opportunities to connect with them, and since everyone will be walking the neighborhood that day, why not be a safe place for fun!

We give it away. This year, we are giving some of our candy away. We are sending it to friends who are missionaries in Africa. You can give it to kids in hospitals or stuck other places who cannot trick-or-treat and enjoy the day with their families.

So, we don't do anything extreme, but we are trying to be intentional with the opportunities God gives us. We want to love the people around us. We want to have opportunities to start relationships. When we keep showing up as light in a dark world, we earn the right to speak truth into the darkness.

Jesus gave His life so that light would forever win over darkness. And, I am so glad He invites us to join Him in that mission. He came to redeem humanity. And, we are trying to do something to redeem Halloween.

A Few Thoughts on Halloween...

Well, this is a touchy subject. In fact, there are probably great cases against what I am going to say. But, this is what I think God wants us to do in regards to the world around us on Halloween.

P.S. This post is written with Christ-followers in mind.

Before I start, I simply want to say that I think evil is very real. I think witchcraft is very real. I think there are spirits in this world working against everything God wants to accomplish. I have friends who have dealt with this very closely in their own lives or observed it in the lives of close friends or family. If you need to stay away from Halloween for those reasons, I believe you should follow your instincts. I also love that I can live with hope. I love that I can live with the certainty that Jesus wins in the end. He overcomes all evil. He will reign forever!

As Christ-Followers, I believe we have three responses for Halloween:

1. We can run and hide. Actually, I don't believe this is reserved simply for Halloween. I know plenty of Christians who run and hide from the world every day. The world is evil. The world is against me. The world will corrupt my children. So, we close the blinds. We keep our kids close. And, we wait. I guess some are waiting for October to pass. Some are simply waiting on death. If you value safety & security, this is probably the best response for you.

2. Our second choice is to "pretend" to reach people. Now, hear me out on this. There are some great churches & great individuals actually trying to reach people in all their activities. But, I believe if you are going to do more than pretend to reach people it takes an intentional strategy.

We must first ask this question before planning a Fall Festival/Harvest Party/Trunk or Treat--whatever it may be: Do I truly want to engage people far from Christ or is this a safe place for Jesus lovers to come hide for the night? And, if you value safety, security, and as little interference in your journey to heaven it may even be okay to host an event that is not trying to reach people. Just call it what it is. I went to a church & their tagline for the Fall Fest was "Light the Night with Jesus". Now, I know the hearts of the people were well intentioned. But, well-intentioned hearts do not always equal strategy. Did anyone stop to think that an outreach targeted towards lost people should be different? I don't know about you, but I don't know about many lost people (or even Christians for that matter) who want to light the night with Jesus on Halloween. They want to have fun with their kids. They want to get LOTS of candy. They want to bob for apples.

3. Finally, we can choose to let God redeem this holiday. I am quite certain that God isn't in heaven saying--well, today is October 31; there is no use trying anything today. No, actually I know that God wants the hearts of those pursuing evil just as much as He wants mine. And, the longer I follow Him, the more I am learning that He wants me to love the things He loves. He wants me to love the people around me whom He created! So, we are choosing to value people & God's purpose & intentionality. We are choosing to engage in the fun in hopes that we can rub shoulders with some who are so far from God. We are hoping that some others who want to have fun with their kids & eat lots of candy will see that our family likes to do that too. And, as they get to know us, I hope they will see that we are different. I hope they will see that somehow we are fully engaged in this world while not actually being of this world. I hope they will see how much we enjoy being together as a family even without scary costumes or trips to a haunted house. I hope they will see how we celebrate each other without celebrating evil. So whether it's an intentional event at your church, parties in your neighborhood, or trick-or-treating in your community, how can we point people to Jesus on this day?

Our family is learning on the go as we navigate this adventure of following Jesus in what sometimes can be a scary place! So, as the pic says, THINK HALLOWEEN! Don't just do Halloween or Avoid Halloween--pray & ask God how you can engage! How is your family being intentional with these days of Halloween?