Bethany Village‘s Pastor Bob Ashburn reflects on Halloween.
Halloween is the day before the first day of November. Why am I making this so complicated, instead of just saying it is October 31st? It’s because Halloween is the eve (“een”) of All Hallows’ Day (All Saints’ Day), which is November 1st, an important day in the Church Calendar. Tradition held that since November 1st celebrated the lives of those who were the good saints, then the day before was the time for all the others to have their celebrations. Naturally, because these weren’t the good saints, the celebrations weren’t good celebrations, mostly involving trickery or the taking of treats from others. In some places, this was a day when all sorts of evil ran rampant!
Fortunately, we don’t look at Halloween in that way now. Christians today reject the notion that Halloween is a day for all things evil. It is now a celebration of fun for children and it involves the sharing of candy with our neighborhood children. We had such a celebration in Linden House at Bethany on October 23rd, where we invited children from the families of our residents and staff to come and receive treats from our residents. There were no tricks and there were no scary costumes – and we all enjoyed the holiday. May you also enjoy a fun day on October 31st!
God’s blessings,
Pastor Bob
