Halloween -- What the Hell?

...for our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 

Ephesians 6:12 NRSVue

 So, I hardly ever go to Tim Horton's, and drive-throughs are against my religion, but we had a hankerin' for a coffee after a ramble on our first sub-zero morning of the Fall. In I go, where I'm standing in line beside a woman of about our vintage dressed in a shiny purple devil costume, complete with horns. I point up to the breakfast menu and say "I don't see any deviled eggs." And her response? A blank stare -- nothing, nada. C'mon, I thought it was moderately clever!

I continue to be gobsmacked by the relatively recent obsession with Halloween, and I say this as a father of three young children who on some years in the 1990s trundled through falling snow on the streets of Sudbury. It was all good fun, as it is now when we go out with two of our grandkids as they scramble for loot. Today, though, the decorations seem to be up well before Thanksgiving, as is the case with our next-door neighbour whose entire lawn has been covered with inflatable plastic figures which hiss for weeks. Even news broadcasts spend an inordinate amount of time chasing around to various locations where homeowners have created over-the-top displays. 

There are lots of skeletons, and a multitude of demons and devils, including the woman in the Tims. Strangely, there is an almost total disconnect from the origins of All Hallow Eve when the Celts recognized the "thin place" between this earthly existence and the invisible world. This likely predated Christianity but it was co-opted as the time to both recognize saints and acknowledge that dark forces were on the prowl. Jack-o-Lanterns warded off the evil spirits, because they were real, and so was Satan. 

Some evangelical churches are against Halloween altogether because of the sinister connotations but others have decided to join 'em if they can't beat 'em. They hold their own  “trunk or treat,” events in parking lots hoping to create a safe environment to draw crowds which might otherwise avoid religious institutions.

Who knows what's best. I'm not suggesting that we return to the not-so-good ol' days of fear of Hell. I do know that evil seems to be on the prowl in our world today, as reflected in the verse above. 

And I wonder how we got to this strange event we call Halloween...deviled eggs, get it? Deviled eggs!