The Gospel of Halloween
Christ is Made King in Heaven
The Devil is Cast to Earth & Evil Floods
the Streets Good Overcomes Evil
The Saints Reign Eternally with Christ
Celebrating Dramatically the Good News for All Who Accept Jesus as King
Understand Halloween in Light of Salvation Is there really any “good news” (or “gospel”) about Halloween? Is Halloween something Christians can and should participate in? The answer to both is a resounding YES! Sure, the only thing people today know about the holiday is the commercialism associated with it, but in the same way that we do not let Santa overwhelm our views of Christmas or the Easter Bunny to replace our ideas about Easter, so we do not let werewolves, zombies, and witches dictate our beliefs regarding Halloween.
The first thing we should realize in regarding such beliefs is the word itself: “Halloween.” It is a contraction of “All Hallow’s Eve,” as in the Eve of the Feast of the Hallowed ones (Hallows-Even 🢚 Hallow-E’en 🢚 Halloween). “Hallow” is simply another word for “Holy,” and is used more often in the Lord’s Prayer’s “Hallowed be Thy Name.” Yet in this case, we are talking about the men and women who been hallowed (made holy) and raised into being Saints of the Living God. Thus, when we think of celebrating Halloween we should expect the celebrations to center around the process of becoming saints (Hallowed ones).
Seeing and Accepting Christ as the King For this reason, the celebrations for Halloween actually begin on the last Sunday in October, where we can practice that which begins the process of believers’ lives being Hallowed– their seeing and accepting Jesus as King. While the practice of annually examining one’s loyalty to God as King is nearly as old as the Exodus itself with the Old Testament celebration of Rosh Hashana, it wasn’t restored to the Church’s Calendar until 1925 by Pope Pius XI. He saw the need for it to be restored to annual practice in order to confront “the manifold evils in the world [that] were due to the fact that the majority of men had thrust Jesus Christ and His holy law out of their lives” (Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on Feast of Christ the King, pp.1,5,8). He understood and believed in the happiness that would result from humanity allowing themselves to be governed by Christ as King, thus this Feast was reinstated on the Sunday preceding the celebration of All Saints making it the head of a three-part celebration moving from seeing and accepting Jesus Christ as the King, confronting the evil in our lives that resist and are contrary to His rule, and then seeking the grace to fully take off the old man in order to put on the new hallowed man.
Part 1: The Feast Christ the King
(Accepting Jesus as the Inaugurated King, Rev.5) Thus, at the start of the festivities, the Church celebrates Jesus’ enthronement as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Who alone is worthy “to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Feast Introit, Rev.5:12). With this verse, the Church on earth joins the Church in heaven praising Jesus for His kingly inauguration after defeating sin, death, and the grave (cf.Rev.4-5). He is worthy because He has done what it took to restore all of humanity to God’s covenantal family and Kingdom (see Epistle Reading Col.1:12-20).
This Feast offers believers the annual chance to examine whether or not they are, or have been, loyal. This is paramount, because those who accept Jesus as King and remain loyal to Him by overcoming the evil of their age, will be granted the privilege of reigning with Him eternally as one of His Saints (cf.Rev.3:21). Hence for the remaining time of Allhallowtide, the focus of the celebrations shifts for believers to face down and deal with the evil that is in both their lives and the world, so that they will be among those who overcome and join the number of the saints in light. Part 2: Halloween
(Un-loyal Forces Must Be Dealt With, Rev.6-19)
Now just as it is in the Book of Revelation, so it is in our own lives that evil does not go away on its own free-will just because it hears that Christ has been made king in heaven. In fact, it comes to the surface fighting tooth and
nail against Him, which is what gets dramatized on the Eve of All Saints, or Halloween. The drama gets played out primarily in two ways:
1) We remember our old natures: walking dead, devils, witches, pretenders, etc., by donning our old lives, in costumes albeit, remembering the fleeting sweetness for an evening and then casting it off to celebrate becoming part of God’s family of Saints the next morning. 2) We dramatize the world’s attempt to flood the streets of the earth with evil beasts, antichrists, and monsters against the ascended-Christ only for them to be vanquished by the dawning sun when only the saints remain to reign.
These celebrations bear a resemblance to the Springtime celebrations of Shrove/Fat Tuesday whereby believers, in a fun manner, get rid of all that is inappropriate for the coming season. This evening and its traditions remind us that while Jesus might have finished His work on earth in the flesh, we have not. The Devil has been cast down to the earth (cf.Rev.12:12,17) because Jesus has been made King in heaven, so we now play out that drama by recognizing this reality and how we have too often been a part of Satan’s kingdom on earth, seeking then to cast off those old ways and identities, to renounce his claims to rule the world, and to longingly look toward that final dawn when “the God of peace will ultimately crush Satan under our feet” (Rom.16:20).
Part 3: All Saints
(Christ’s Victory and Our Being His Saints, Rev.20-22)
This ultimate defeat of Satan and all disloyal powers are the cause for the great praise that erupts during the Feast of All Saints. Despite all of their evil efforts,God still grants the grace for all generations of His Church to overcome them and to be knit together as one fellowship. We give thanks for all those who have gone before us in God’s faith and fear and look for God to give us the grace necessary to overcome our tribulations and to be able to join that great multitude.