I don't intend to tell you how you should view Halloween. If your best judgment is to avoid any association with it, then do so in good conscience. If your best judgment is to be a part of the activities that do not intentionally engage evil, then do so in good conscience. (Engaging in evil cannot be your best judgment, so I'll leave that one be.)
I do invite you, however, to consider the missional possibilities.
Jesus loved His neighbor. He considered loving our neighbor to be the second greatest commandment out of the entire Old Testament. While never engaging in or celebrating evil, He was often found participating in the gatherings of others, especially those whom the religious despised. "He eats and drinks with sinners" was a continual criticism. He valued spending time with those who didn't believe.
We've talked about ways to genuinely love our neighbor in the way Jesus does. No bait-and-switch. No strings attached. No manipulation in order to force our agenda on anyone. But love them, pray for them, and be authentic with them - enough to where matters of faith might be discussed with the "gentleness and respect" of 1 Peter 3:15, but never as a condition for our love.
Halloween brings our neighbors to our doorstep, and us to theirs - people that we may struggle to find ways to connect with. Rather than just exchange cavities with one another, how can we be missional with this cultural phenomenon? Again, no manipulation, no bait-and-switch, no strings attached - but ways to cultivate authentic relationships with our neighbors, to love them as ourselves (you wouldn't bait-and-switch yourself, would you?).
Here are some ideas of how you might be missional with Halloween in your neighborhood, if you choose to:
- Be at home, answer the door, and give out candy. That's not hard.
- Don't just give out candy, give out the good stuff. It costs more. If our purpose is to spend as little as possible, then give out the cheap stuff. If our purpose is to bless our neighbor, give out the good stuff.
- Don't just give out good candy and shut the door, talk to the parents and the kids. They don't want a long conversation right then (they are on mission, too!), but if you don't know their names, for example, exchange names. Wish them to be safe and have fun. Connect, if even a little.
- Would it be more welcoming to actually be outside, welcoming people as they come, creating more chances for dialog?
- If you take your kids, stay in your neighborhood, even if the candy is better in the next neighborhood. Introduce yourselves, mention where you live, find out names, or just say 'hi.' Don't be so far away that they can't see you (but not so close that your kids roll their eyes).
- As you go from house to house, pray for your neighbors! As kids leave your doorstep, pray for them and their families.
- Consider having a little block party afterwards - invite people to come back later. Again, no bait-and-switch - that's dishonest and very un-Gospel.
- Be creative! No formula, no program - just a chance to take a cultural opportunity to be missional.
- It's almost certainly not very missional to drop religious material into their sacks - there's no relationship in that.
Again, if your choice is to not be a part of this at all, that may be the right decision for you. But if nothing else, this exercise might spark in us other ways to think about familiar things in unfamiliar ways.
For more ideas, please see the following two articles, where I got several of these ideas:
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