Now that we're done with Reformation Sunday, it's time to wrestle with the questions posed by Halloween. A year ago, I wrote this post for the Living Lutheran site. I'll post some chunks from it for your reading pleasure below:
"And those of us with a social justice conscience must ask ourselves: Is the best use of our money? Even if you celebrate simply, you’ll likely spend a bundle on candy to give out to trick-or-treaters."
"We could make our decorations. Instead of buying strings of orange lights that come from China, we could buy pumpkins from the local congregation that uses the pumpkin patch to fund education programs, and we could support local farmers when we buy mums, which last until the poinsettias make an appearance."
"As the shadows deepen and the Northern Hemisphere moves to a darker part of the year, we see people battling the gathering gloom by carving pumpkins and lighting candles.
The ghosts of the pagan customs that remain in the way we celebrate Halloween show a yearning to believe that death is not the final answer.
The good news contained in our Christian Gospels reassures us that death will not have the final word."
but bestows favor on the humble
1 year ago
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