Should Christians Celebrate Halloween or Reformation Day?

Well baby girl is due in five days, and her mom (my daughter) is showing signs that the time might be near. Baby girl is due on the same day her mom was due: Reformation Day. And of course this year marks the 500th Anniversary of the day Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

We tried to come up with feminine versions of Martin Luther, thinking it would be uber spiritual and just plain epic to have a child in the family who carries Luther’s namesake …

Martina

Marty

Marta

Martha

Mary

Lu

Lutherina?

Lutherette??

Pretty slim choices, if you can even call a few of those choices rather than desperate reaches. So baby girl will likely be named something totally irrelevant to Luther and the Reformation anniversary, and maybe that’s fitting, since, by all cultural accounts, I’m struggling to know whether the Reformation is still consciously relevant.

It is relevant. But are we conscious of its relevancy? Do most of us know what it is, when it happened, why it happened, or who Luther was? Or do we know October 31st to be Halloween, and nothing more?

I confess I don’t know as much about the Reformation as one should. I know I’m thankful indulgences are not a part of my faith. I tithe, but what would I do if I had to pay my stack of medical bills and indulgences? I sin way too much to be paying penance.

I also know I’m grateful to have Bibles placed in almost every room of my humble abode (not the bathroom). I’m grateful I’m not required to count on a priest who is in favor of indulgences to interpret the Scriptures for me, leading me to believe that someone other than Jesus must mediate between me and God. I can simply open the Word, read its contents as many times as I’d like, and trust the infallible Holy Spirit rather than a fallible priest to reveal truth.

Not least of all, I’m grateful I don’t have to participate in what has largely replaced Reformation Day. I love to dress up in costumes. I love all things (okay most things) sugary. What’s better than a crisp Fall evening of pretending I’m a pregnant nun or other nonsensical character and collecting candy corn, Snickers bars, Crunch bars, suckers, and some elderly man’s seven month old, leftover Easter candy?

I mean Resurrection Sunday candy, of course.

Our world, see, is topsy turvy. Like Edmund Pevensie, we value getting noticed and tasty num-nums far more than we value church history and the truth. Americans have replaced the spiritual holidays with originally heretical holidays and if Christians choose not to participate in the heretical, they are eloquently labeled as “the ones who poop on parties” in an effort to shame them into participation. Americans will do anything, it seems, to distract from the reality of their spiritual condition by making life fun. That distraction is the goal of the enemy, and a goal that has been widely successful.

So on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, what will you do? Many Halloween celebrations have been taken down a notch to make them less conscience searing for Christian folk. I’ve participated in those types of activities myself. But I confess I am not comfortable in taking what is no doubt historically Satanic, and trying to make it just golden enough that God might possibly excuse me for participating.

To be honest, I’m weary of that struggle.

So for me, provided baby girl is not making her entrance into this world, Reformation Day will consist of an effort to concentrate on the real and better significance of the day. And to further educate myself. I’ll read the Bible, of course. But I’ll also read up on Martin Luther. His life. His struggles, which I already know consists of great mental anguish. And his legacy of bravely posting a challenge to the church known as The Ninety-five Theses. Oh. And just so I can wrap up this blog with a clear conscience, I’ll also repent of my hypocrisy. For though I choose not to participate in Halloween, the truth is that not only do I love a good Easter egg hunt. I actively host an Easter egg hunt for my entire family … every Resurrection Sunday.

*Gasp, sputter, cough

Well. At least that dumb Easter bunny doesn’t have historically Satanic origins. Unless that whole pagan story of Eostre, the fertility goddess has any credence. And in my defense, the egg hunt always succeeds a worshipful, Gospel-proclaiming church service. I mean, pagan traditions are okay as long as we worship the one true God first, am I right?

Okay, okay. Come Reformation Day, I’ll double down on my repentance.

Or perhaps I’ll stick with my original belief that the Easter bunny, though clearly a ploy to distract, is not inherently evil, and that the focus of our hearts on Easter Sunday is more important than whether we throw a couple dozen dyed, hard boiled eggs out on the lawn and basically let the kids play fetch.

Come Easter, I’ll let you know what I decided. But in my heart, I can tell you that at the present, I’m decidedly more comfortable allowing an egg hunt than I am allowing the poo-pooing of a traditionally and purposefully evil holiday creep its way into Reformation Day.

Not judging those who trick or treat, trunk or treat, or go apple bobbing, which is so gross and unsanitary. Just stating where I am in my own spiritual growth.

Or spiritual decline. However you may look at it.