Medway Messenger column, 2nd November 2001: Hallowe'en Is The Trick, Jesus Christ Is The Treat

Let me tell you about the time I broke the law. 

I was living in London in 1984, and a friend of my sister worked with her boyfriend on a pirate radio station. On a Saturday night in their schedules they had a studio debate. They had invited a witch to appear, but Caty, my sister’s friend said they also wanted another guest who “would stand up for the real God”. That meant muggins. 

I associate many memories with that night. I was driven to and from a secret location, and we survived a police raid in the middle of the broadcast.

The memories return to me at this time of year, given that many people have, er, ‘celebrated’ Hallowe’en this week. 

Hallowe’en has its ancient roots in the pagan Celts of these islands. 1^st November was Samhain, their New Year’s Day, and 31^st October, the Eve of Samhain, was thought to be a time when the supernatural world could invade the earthly world and spirits walk the earth. Customs and sacrifices were developed reflecting the need to survive the winter, to honour the dead, and to honour spiritual forces, being protected from evil spirits and ensuring good fortune. 

To me, it sounds like the common thread was a sense of fear. It is no wonder to me that when the Celts became Christians they looked for a more healthy way of celebrating. They didn’t need something centred on fear, since Jesus Christ had liberated them from that: the Bible told them that he was more powerful than any spiritual forces. Instead, they thanked God for the saints. 

Now, in an era of declining Christian faith in Western Europe, people are searching to fill the spiritual void. But as the novelist GK Chesterton once observed, when we stop believing in God, we don’t believe in nothing, we believe in anything. And the old superstitions have made a comeback. Oh, and they are now highly commercial.

 People are looking for power in their lives, and that leads them into the realm of the spiritual. Healing crystals, spells, horror-scopes, and other practices all form part of the search for power for themselves or over others.  All are either nonsense of malevolent, but followers sometimes say that in the search for spiritual power the one place they won’t touch is the Christian Church. It’s not the answer, it’s part of the problem.

To some extent I have to agree. The Church has been part of the spiritual problem. In places it still is. But we are rediscovering the life-giving power of Jesus Christ. As we pray through him, he transforms circumstances and he transforms people. He demonstrates his power, which was never for himself, but always for others. Think of when he was taunted to use his power to come down from the Cross and save himself. He wouldn’t: he was saving the world. So the Christian call is to use power sacrificially for others, not ourselves.

 So I don’t find anything to celebrate at Hallowe’en. I don’t rejoice in darkness, evil, fear, and selfishness. I can’t understand parents inducting their children playfully into the gentle art of blackmail by accompanying them on the streets for an evening of ‘Trick of Treat’.

 No: Hallowe’en is the Trick. Jesus Christ is the Treat.

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ About Me ] [ Articles ] [ Kulcha ] [ Links ] [ Musings ] [ Sermons'R'Us ] [ Search ]

Copyright © David D Faulkner, 2006 except where other sources are attributed or noted as inspiration.