The Church's Halloween

Several of my friends have made mention of how the movement from holiday to holiday is now subject to a accelerating commercial influence.  So much so that sales figures have given Halloween a larger and larger share of retail space and time.  I laughed when one of my friends complained that a big box retailer was allowing Christmas to encroach on the ghosts and goblins.  My question is how to find a way to make a costume out of a "sales figure." Just kidding.

It has always been that way that popular culture and church calendars have danced back and forth with when and how to make their observances.  Until the puritans took their turn pruning the faith in dear old England it was common for whole villages depending on the observance or celebration to join in parading statues of the Virgin Mary or replicas of the Holy Cross with thuribles and choirs making the way.

We see those sorts of customs still in our neighbors to the south: The Day of the Dead or as it is known to us anglophiles Día de los Muertos. I have a mask in my office made for the occasion that was gifted to me by a UGA student who was fortunate enough to be in Mexico on the holiday.  It's creepy.

Our own American appropriations are not very informative of much of the theological or spiritual potential.  Instead we have cared for how our children have fun and are safe "trick or treating."  And the adult observances are beholding to baby-sitters aplenty watching those same children so the parents can go on their "Wild Rumpuses." Like I said, lots of fun but not a lot of theology there.

So this coming Thursday we will gather our youth and greet the trick-or-treaters that come by our parish house, decorate a pumpkin or two and then make our way through the nearby Madison Cemetery after sharing a liturgy proper to All Hallow's Eve from the Book of Occasional Services.
Our prayers will include naming those for whom we give God thanks because they showed us how to be faithful in their being holy through their living AND their dying.

Our observance is not a celebration but a solemn and prayerful way to acknowledge that God is God of the living AND the dead. We expect there to be a reverence and awe invited and nurtured by our  liturgy that over time may replace or at least contrast the silliness and "wild rumpusing" that we have substituted through our popular customs.  If not reverence perhaps a curiosity or two about the night and how it might be more spiritual, might actually help us be more faithful ourselves.

Halloween may deserve its own space away from culture's and commerce's other nearby holidays but it also needs to stay connected to those greater observances of All Saints' Day and All Faithful Departed.  Popular culture gave us what became the Church's All Saints' Day.  Christians found a way to give God the glory through their version.  We can still do that too!