Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Halloween is Coming

I have to confess, I'm having a very difficult time getting excited about Halloween. I've had numerous people this past fall asking if we are really going to have confirmation on Halloween. Why wouldn't we take advantage every opportunity possible to possibly grow in our faith? In fact, why don't we have more things like Bible study happening around this congregation?

Here is the other part that I'm struggling with when it comes to Halloween. How do the various activities lead people towards Christ? Yet how much time, money, and effort does the average person put towards this one particular day? It is festival, from where I'm looking at it, that encourages wearing masks, greed, and gluttony. On the other hand, as followers of Christ, I see us being called to being real, generous, and sharing Christ with others. What if we invested as much in the latter set of values as we do in the former?

Here is what I find kind of ironic. October 31 is Reformation Day, celebrating the Reformation and Luther's posting of the 95 thesis. One of the bottom lines of the Reformation (as I understand it) was placing Christ first. Maybe this next Wednesday we can place Christ first instead of all of the other worldly stuff we normally place first.

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