Knocking on doors and assuming the centre

As October nears its end, it is not uncommon to start seeing fake cobwebs, skulls, witch figurines and pumpkin heads adorning your neighbours’ front yards. Even here in Australia, everyone knows Halloween, and many people do something to celebrate, whether trick-or-treating, locking your doors and pretending you’re not home (lest other people come trick-or-treating), having a costume party, or something else altogether. In fact, we have it on good authority (though this author has never seen this firsthand) that some people throw a ‘harvest’ party, with similar pumpkin and food themes. Lots of this comes from America, but it’s been practised commonly and publicly enough that it caught on and spread like wildfire (that may also have something to do with it being a very commercial celebration, with all those costumes and lollies to buy).

Now, you can probably find a plethora of articles written about how celebrating Halloween is somehow implicitly condoning or celebrating witchcraft, and various other spooky evil things, but this article isn’t it.

Let’s quickly talk about the title and traditions of Halloween. The traditional activities associated with it do bear resemblance to certain pagan festivals that are said to have been the precursors to Halloween. However, the name Halloween doesn’t come from the pagans, but from the church.

Rather than spend a long time in history, the summary is this: back in the early 9th century, an Emperor at the advice of his Pope and Bishops instituted the celebration of All Saints’ Day on the 1st of November. So, just as the day before Christmas is Christmas eve, and the day before New Years is New Year’s Eve, the day before All Hallows Day (All Saints Day) was All Hallows’ Eve, or in the modern lingo, Halloween.

That’s a fun bit of trivia, but All Hallows’ Eve gets even more interesting. In 1517, an Augustinian monk in Germany initiated an academic and ecclesiastical discussion by nailing his 95 Theses to the place where public notices were pinned – the Wittenberg church door, and this also happened on the 31st of October, All Hallows’ Eve. Thus, the 31st of October became a busy day, because now it is the day that Christians celebrate Reformation Day, owing to the work of Martin Luther as the ‘start’ of that Reformation (sorry, Jan Hus, maybe more about you another time).

So, either way you want to think about it, the 31st of October is a day for knocking on doors. It’s a truly wonderful and special day in the Christian calendar.

What does that all have to do with ‘assuming the centre’? Well, as Christians we have great freedom to celebrate All Hallows’ Eve pretty much however we want (ok, performing a genuine magical incantation to an impure spirit is not permissible), and folks often choose from one of a few options that we mentioned earlier: (a) trick-or-treating, (b) harvest party, (c) nothing at all, or (d) a Reformation day celebration. Our encouragement to you, if you are trusting in Christ, is to not think of this day as a day of spiritual and cultural defeat. Assuming the centre means treating your position as obvious, common, straightforward and normal, regardless of what is happening around you. This is what we do when we assume and demonstrate a Christian worldview around non-Christian friends. We don’t firstly try to establish its validity with defences or pleas, we just profess its truth and enjoy its blessings. Maybe you’ve never celebrated Reformation Day, and maybe now’s the time to start. Halloween may stick around for a while, but Reformation Day will doubtfully ever leave us, just as Christ’s bride will never be held back in her world mission by the gates of hades that she pulls down.

Halloween can be yours. Reformation Day is yours. In fact, truth and beauty and value are yours. Don’t be embarrassed, just assume the centre. We have nothing to fear, because the God who wields all of history like a paintbrush is on our side. We will celebrate Reformation Day for many moons yet. If you, gentle reader, are still merely putting on costumes this Halloween, and haven’t yet trusted in Christ, then we exhort you to put on his imputed righteousness this Halloween, spooky as that may sound, because he is the only way for salvation.