Light in the Dark.

I had some interesting discussions in the last few days.  There is such an interesting polarity within Christian circles about the *insert creepy music* darkest night of the year.  Yup, Halloween has come and gone and I'm still terrified. 

As someone who grew up in a strong Christian household and also "celebrated" Halloween (if to you celebrating is dressing up in a fun costume and going out to get candy), I've never really seen a big problem with it.  Yes, there are those who love their fear and gore, and likely some weirdo people out there, but really, those people are out all year long.

In some ways, I can understand why Christians feel uneasy about Halloween, often with the rationale that Halloween was created to celebrate evil.  I personally am not willing to give the devil a whole day, so rather than hide out in the basement, I am going to use it as the opportunity it is. 

Over the years I have heard quoted the popular "Be in the world, but not of the world" (which I had always believed was a direct quote from the Bible... interestingly, it's a mix of a handful of verses in John 17).  We have Christians have used this as an excuse to segregate ourselves, with the pious attitude that we are doing the world a service.   Being in the world, in my opinion, is not merely being physically present on the earth.  What purpose does that serve?

We are called to be salt and light.  Lets think about that for a minute.  What do you do with salt?  You mix it in.  You use it, ideally in a way that it is unnoticed, in small amounts to bring out the flavours of a large amount of food.  You don't collect all the salt and hide it in the cupboard, (unless you have high blood pressure of course).  Similarly, when does light have the greatest effect?  When it's dark.  And when is it even more effective? When there are a lot of lights together in the dark.  We aren't called to put all our lights in one room together, hiding out in hopes that the rest of the dark world will just see it and come like moths to the flame.

But that's what we do.

We have taken our kids out of public schools so they aren't influenced, but in the process we forget what good influence our child can have on a classroom of peers.  We surround ourselves with people just like us, and don't seem to care that all our friends are from church.  We abstain from all activities with "non-church people".  What good is light if it's hidden in the cupboard?

Halloween is an opportunity.  At the most basic level it is an opportunity to meet your neighbours, people you share pavement with and may not have opportunities to meet.  It is an opportunity to be hospitable, open your doors to the kids in the neighbourhood, show love and appreciation for them.  It is an opportunity to be part of keeping your streets safe, and those bound for trouble somewhere else. 

We are called to be light... and what night could use more light than Halloween?