
Everyone knows that Halloween is a pagan holiday. That's no surprise. The Catholic Church did it's best to re-work it by calling it "All-Saints Day," but in the end, it's a holiday that celebrates dead people rather than somehow promoting the story of God's Plan of Redemption.
Some Christians take their kids and hide in the back room with the house lights doused so trick-or-treaters will think no one's home. The thinking there is that we should give no glory to the devil on his greatest day of the year. But I think hiding in a dark room is right where the devil wants Christ's followers to be.
Some churches throw a big party to give members' kids an alternative as well as provide a safe place to bring little pagan kids to hear the gospel. That's cool.
I like to stay home and ham it up on Halloween. It's the one chance a year I get to meet all my neighbors. The holiday delivers them right to my doorstep. I don't even have to leave the house. I fill their bags with candy and compliment their little demonic costumes with the hope that I'll have a rapport with them in my neighborhood the other 364 days of the year (365 on leap years).
Another modern pagan holiday is the Super Bowl. That's right, sports fans, the Super Bowl is a "Holy" day in America. Don't deny it. Those football stars are to us what gladiators were to the Romans. In our community, churches are using the occasion to promote caring for the less fotunate by throwing Super Bowl parties and raising cash for the soup kitchens and places that feed the homeless. It's called the "Souper Bowl of Caring." It's a great way to redeem and retrain the way we look at holidays that focus on materialism and commercialism and exploit consumerism.

So how do we redeem this pagan holiday and help people to think about preaching the gospel to the poor? Any ideas?

Let's help 'em.
1 comment:
I second the motion!
Aye!
Our campaign also starts this weekend. Let's pray for great results!
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