When our children were young, and I was employed full-time as a youth pastor, Beloved and I never encouraged any kind of celebration of Halloween. We never took our kids trick-or-treating. We never turned on our porch light and distributed candy to the neighborhood kids. I never even organized an alternative "Christian-themed" event at any of the churches I served. I protested against the exaltation of all things spooky and death-related by purposefully ignoring it all.
Well...not completely ignoring it. I DID teach a lesson or two about the pagan and superstitious origins of jack-o-lanterns, gruesome disguises, and the like.
What I also did was inadvertently give credence to the stereotype that Christians are people who are grouchy, hateful, and have no desire to interact with anyone different from them.
Besides, our North American culture has done the same thing with Halloween that it did with Christmas: totally separated the current customs and celebrations from any meaningful connection to their spiritual origins.
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Truth is...As with most things, there is probably a balance between the extremes that should be strived for. I hope my current practice of dressing like Santa Claus to hand out candy canes tonight is somewhere close.
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