Grace Lutheran Church

Baldwin, Michigan

Reformation and Halloween

Lutherans celebrate two holidays on October 31st – Reformation and Halloween.  Other than their common date, they have little connection.

Halloween dates back over a millennium and a half to church observances for all the Saints (All Hallows) known and unknown, honored or otherwise forgotten by man, but not by God.  The date of November 1 was probably first celebrated as All Saints Day in Germany in the 8th Century AD.

There was a Irish pagan festival called Samhain that was also celebrated in the fall.  It combined elements of harvest festival and “day of the dead” observance.  Some of these customs may have influenced modern Halloween observances.

Halloween itself is the Eve of All Saints Day hence it has been called All Hallows eve and eventually Halloween.  How should we Christians respond to the holiday that has become so secular although with some pagan and even Christian overtones?

We do celebrate other secular holidays though often they combine serious observances with just plain fun, like Independence Day.  Halloween is hardly serious, mainly for fun.  What is wrong with fun?

Most of what Halloween has come to be is just plain about having fun.  Playing at dress up, going around and getting candy and treats (although your dentist might object), even enjoying a good ghost story or other deliciously creepy tale, is mainly just harmless fun.

Apparently some of the early Christian customs associated with Halloween involved the poor going around and begging for “soul cakes” (an early form of doughnut) and then praying for the souls of the departed.  Early Trick or Treat.  It also was a time to mock evil and the devil since Christ had defeated them and the blessed departed was safe from him in heaven.  These pious customs are perhaps echoed even today in our Halloween fun.  It can even be a teachable moment to point out to our children that we are saved from Satan and his minions by Christ and so can poke fun at him (which Luther felt that Satan simply could not stand).

All that said, there can be a darker side to Halloween, and not just increased cavities and tricks and pranks gone badly.  Dabbling in the Occult for real is not Christian. We look to God not the “spirits” for guidance, comfort, and help. Fun is fun but if we start to take it at all seriously and participate in occult rituals we are straying from the faith.

Now to our other holiday – Reformation.  Tradition tells us that Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses (statements for debate) on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517.  

There were many factors involved in the Reformation, but at the heart of what Luther did was rediscover the most important thing for us to know about God, that God loves each of us.  In the Bible we see God as omnipotent Creator, stern Judge, a Father who disciplines His children and in general someone not to be trifled with.  Yet more than all that, Luther reemphasized that God loves us and forgives us freely because of Jesus.  

I do not need to be afraid of God because I am a sinner.  He invites me to bring my sin to Him because He forgives those sins.  He will then help me overcome the sin that still clings to me, not so that I can be saved but because I have been saved.

This salvation does not depend on me at all, it all depends on Jesus and what He did on the cross to pay for my sins.  My confidence is in Him.  I know this, not by figuring it out, but because God told me about it in the Bible

It is this comforting confidence we have in our loving God that we celebrate at Reformation.  At this time of the year it can be fun to play at being frightened, but we know that our fear is of this world and we do not need to be truly frightened because we rely on our Mighty Fortress who is Our God, who loves us and has prepared a place for us in His heart, hear and now and in His home, heaven, forever.