Enjoy Halloween, But...

 

Halloween is only a few days away.  Though some pastor types look at Halloween with scorn, I see it as a fun time.   It was fun when I was a child to try figure out what homemade costume we could come up with around our house that would fit my parent’s tight budget and to go house to house to gather candies from the neighbors.   When I was a parent with young children, the girls would get all excited trying to figure out what story book character or movie character they would become for a few hours on October 31.  With 7 grandchildren now from a young teenager to an infant, I am excited to see what disguise they will don on the day.  

The essence of what Halloween is about is for a few hours  children (or adults) becoming something or someone they are not with the help of costumes, makeup, and the like.      While in the spirit of Halloween and fun, I believe that it is okay for children to dress up in costume at Halloween I also struggle with people who falsely claim they are something or someone they are not.     When my children were young, they would like to play “pretend”.  For example, there were many times they had teas with their dolls.    They were just pretending and using their imagination.   While I think that creativity is a wonderful attribute, I believe that it repulsive to God when a person pretends they are pious when their heart is far from that.     Don’t take my word for it.   Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 6:

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.² “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

I believe that God is real, and he wants us to be real in who we are and in WHOSE we are.  I don’t know about you, but I believe that I have more in common with the tax collector we read about in Luke 18 who prays “God, be merciful to me a sinner” than I do with the self righteous Pharisees.   Come on, folks.   Enjoy the fun of Halloween, but never forget that there is no pretending to be someone we are not with God.    Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

 

  

PRAYER

            Lord God,  You see us as we really are and love us anyway.  Cleanse us of all our uncleanness, and make us more completely into the image of Christ; through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen.