Another Halloween Post.

It seems like the pro-Halloween articles multiply exponentially every year.

As for me and my house, we’re still not doing Halloween.

It’s not because we don’t believe in “fun” or dress-up. We do that to some degree about 80% of the days of the year. Myself included.

It isn’t because we are anti-evangelistic or are against being missional. We have developed and nurture relationships with non-Christian (and marginally Christian) neighbors and community members.

I'm not anti-culture. Tomorrow's my birthday. My presents are on the table in the dining room wrapped in Stars Wars paper. I wish I could be in Taos for their jazz festival at the end of November honoring the late Frank Morgan. I love listening to Frank Morgan. I will watch college football this afternoon. Culture rocks.

Yes, I’ve seen the dozen articles that argue Halloween to be a “Christian holiday.” Here’s the thing about that: Martin Luther.

You see, I admit only one Christian holiday, strictly speaking: the Lord’s Day. Happens every week. Any other day I choose to have any involvement with is not because the Roman Catholic Church has declared it a holiday. I’m not Roman Catholic. 498 years ago today, Martin Luther unknowingly fired the first figurative shot of the Protestant Reformation. So, not only do I not observe Halloween (or All Hallows’ Eve), but I also don’t observe All Saints’ Day. I’m in the Southwest U.S. I don’t observe El Día de los Muerto, either. I don’t go to Mass. Don’t do Ash Wednesday. Don’t do saints’ feast days. I am, by my convictions from the Bible and historical inheritance from the Protestant Reformation, decidedly and annoyingly thrilled to be a Baptist.

So, no. I don’t think Halloween is “Christian.”[1] If we wanted to observe it, we would be free to by our convictions. No “Church” has told us to or told us not to.

Your kids sure are adorable in their costumes, and I love seeing the pictures. I’ve got my Santa Claus hat on right now, both to keep my ears warm and because we put our Christmas tree up last night. Because we can. That may seem weird, but lots of people will paint their faces as skulls or zombies or whatever today. I think that’s weird.

For us, it was Christmas lights, The Polar Express, the first fireplace fire of the season, and cocoa last night. Not because it was a “Christian holiday,” but because we wanted to. I don’t share this with my kids (maybe I should), but I cannonball dive into enough darkness in other people’s lives during the year as their pastor, trying by the grace of God to fulfill Galatians 6:2 in love. I don’t need to make darkness a comic and play with it tonight. Some people might find release in doing so. Not me. Children’s funerals, spousal infidelity, aging issues, addictions, and just plain old run-of-the-mill depression are enough for me. I am haunted enough and praying for countless spiritually dead people – pretend hauntings and the undead aren’t fun to me. So this is the confession: I might not be primarily sheltering my children (though, as my wife says, I wouldn’t let them watch a horror movie, so why would I open the door to a stranger with a bloody axe in his head?). It could be that I am choosing against the play-acting darkness because I’ve seen enough this year in the lives of people I love and shepherd. I don’t need or want any more. The phone could ring at any moment. I’ll seek my “fun” elsewhere.

Maybe I’ll grow out of it. Probably not. I don’t have to. Martin Luther. This is Reformation Day. I am freed from the Roman Catholic calendar, and bound only (in my theological tradition) to the Lord’s Day. Whatever else I choose to participate in is in Christian liberty of conscience (Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 ought to have some bearing on how we treat each other on days like this).

My Christmas tree’s up. Earlier than ever this year. It’s not a “Christian” tree. It’s a fun, light, sweet thing that’s now a little funnier and quirkier because we did it on Halloween Eve (All Hallows’ Eve, Eve?).

So I’m going to be just as fun-loving (I do love fun) and “missional” (the word used to guilt non-participating Christians into Halloween-ing) today as I was yesterday and will be tomorrow. Not because a day is “Christian,” but because I am, and this is what I am called to do every day wherever I am and in whatever I’m doing.

Let me finish with my favorite of Luther’s 95 Theses, number 62: “The true treasure of the Church is the most holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God.”

House decorated for Halloween, costume ready, coffee good.

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[1] Of course, there is the sense in which all things are Christian, since they were created through Christ (John 1:1-3; 1 Corinthians 8:7; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:2) and are maintained at every moment by Christ (Hebrews 1:3).

Her Children Rise Up and Bless Her

“But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother” (Galatians 4:26).

I love this verse. I love it more and more as I get older and fall more and more in love with the Church.

Here’s Martin Luther’s comment on this passage: “...this heavenly Jerusalem which is above, is the Church, that is to say, the faithful dispersed throughout the whole world, which have one and the same Gospel, one and the same faith in Christ, the same Holy Ghost, and the same Sacraments. Therefore understand not this word ‘above,’ αναγωγικως, of the triumphant Church...in heaven; but of the militant Church on earth. For the godly are said to have their conversation in heaven, Philippians 3: ‘Our conversation is in heaven,’ not locally, but in that a Christian believeth, in that he layeth hold of those inestimable, those heavenly and eternal gifts, he is in heaven. Ephesians 1: ‘Which hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.’ We must therefore distinguish the heavenly and spiritual blessing from the earthly. For the earthly blessing is to have a good civil government both in commonweals and families; to have children, peace, riches, fruits of the earth, and other corporal commodities. But the heavenly blessing is to be delivered from the Law, sin, and death; to be justified and quickened to life; to have peace with God; to have a faithful heart, a joyful conscience and a spiritual consolation; to have the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the gift of prophecy, and the revelation of the Scriptures, to have the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and to rejoice in God. These are the heavenly blessings which Christ giveth to His Church. Wherefore Jerusalem above, that is to say, the heavenly Jerusalem, is the Church which is now in the world...the new and heavenly Jerusalem which is a queen and a free-woman, is appointed of God in earth and now in heaven, to be the mother of us all, of whom we have been gendered, and yet daily are gendered. Therefore it is necessary that this our mother should be in earth among men, as also her generation is. Notwithstanding she gendereth by the Holy Ghost, by the ministry of the Word and Sacraments, and not in the flesh” (from lectures at the University of Wittenberg in 1531, first published 1535).

The Church on earth is a heavenly institution, for its members receive identity and benefit from above. It is the result of our union with Christ, Who is at the right hand of the Father. This accomplished work – our being made part of the heavenly Church currently on pilgrimage down here – should remain an encouragement to us as we continue along the Way:

• “...God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-6).
• “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3).
• “...you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22).

On my run yesterday I followed a new trail up a ridge. It was steep, and the barely-there trail was lined with cat-claw. When I finally made it to the top, a long stretch of the trail was still very muddy after a rain a week ago. The sludge stuck to my shoes, making running feel like clomping. Didn’t matter. The 360° view was exhilarating. I could see the townsite where I live two miles away from a totally different perspective. I could count distant mountain ranges in a few seconds all around. Beautiful. Exertion, scratches, and weighted down by mud...didn’t matter. The view from the top made me feel like I was flying.

Biblical truth on our heavenly estate ought to be received by faith. We should remind ourselves of it often (like the self-talking “O my soul” of the Psalmist). It should become our worldview.

The Church used of God the Holy Spirit to birth you through the Word and Sacraments has a heavenly address. “Her children rise up and bless her” (Proverbs 31:28). Well, we are risen. Where's the blessing? May it be so. It’s easy, popular, conformist, and natural to our flesh to criticize and hate on the Church (ignoring the fact that we are her children – our criticism makes us look very foolish since it reflects on us). Change your vision and speak transcendent truth over and about the Church. Is it possible that this would cleanse her of the clinging mud more effectively than our sarcasm, grumbling, and skepticism (since when is it good for us to be in agreement with the evaluation of the world)? I have found that most of the things that irritate me about the Church can be traced back to my own prayerlessness, lack of faith, lack of love, pride, etc. Tripping over my eye (Matthew 5:29), dark-eye (6:22,23), plank-in-the-eye (Matthew 7:3-5), you know.

Rise up, Church. Look up, Church. Walk upward, Church. Let this become your worldview, manifesting itself through your speech, attitudes, and actions.

This is freedom, for she is free. Paul and Luther (merely echoing Paul) speak truth.