A Christian Halloween

Well, it's that time of year again. Soon we'll be bombarded with moralistic pontifications from Christians (including Lutherans) deploring Halloween and all its aspects- witches, ghosts, goblins, jack o' lanterns, and all the rest.

FIddlesticks. As it happens, the Rev. Dr. Scott Murray, pastor of Memorial Lutheran Church in Houston, said in his daily "Memorial Moments" devotional today exactly what I've always believed about Halloween- and I have more than a strong hunch, based on what he wrote on the subject of the supernatural, that Martin Luther would have agreed with it.

I don't think Dr. Murray would mind my sharing this with you. His excellent, orthodox, and very helpful daily devotions can be sent to your inbox, too, if you drop him a line at smurray at mlchouston dot org. Or you can read them every day by going here.

Anyway, here's what Dr. Murray has to say on the subject of Halloween. Again, I can just see Dr. Luther nodding his head:

It was a dramatic struggle on the day that Christ died. Death, hell, Law, and Satan all did their worst. They plunged Him into death. But the grasp upon the invincible Son of God was shattered, because death and all enemies could not hold Him. He is victor by right over our most implacable enemies. His life consumes death, so that death is a shattered shell. We Christians can mock death and laugh at our enemies because the triumph of Christ so completely defeats them. This is the basis for the Christian celebration of Halloween. We can mock and make fun of death, hell, and Satan by the foolish capering of Halloween, because they have no power to terrify or threaten us Christians. In fact, the mockery of Halloween is appropriate only for Christians. Those who do not know the triumph of Christ should be terrified by the power of those things that Halloween mocks. Christ has burned the hands and dirtied the pants of our worst enemies. We Christians can laugh at them in holy joy.

I vaguely remember a quotation from Luther on what he recommended the baptized tell Satan to do when they sense him lurking under our bed to plague them on account of their sins. Unfortunately, I recall, it was something which a a "G-rated" blog like this one (well, PG, on rare occasions) would not be able to quote.