What does Halloween mean to me?

At this time, most years people at work will ask me what I’m doing for Halloween. It’s an awkward question. I don’t have a fixed answer, but I do have some underlying thoughts associated with Halloween.

My understanding of Halloween is largely based on what I’ve seen in my lifetime (I’m a child of the 1960s) on television and in films. I also have read about Halloween in popular fiction. There isn’t much about Halloween which I find appealing let alone fun.

To be fair, Halloween feels foreign because it’s not something I’ve grown up with. I’ll come back to this.

My understanding from what I’ve read is that Halloween emerged out of Christian origins. Like many Christian traditions, the passage of centuries has seen changes in how the tradition is observed. What I’ve observed on TV and in movies doesn’t appear to have much connection with Christian faith.

So, what do I think about on 31 October each year?

It’s commonly, although not universally accepted that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on 31 October 1517 on the door of the All Saints Church in Wittenberg. This protest against the Roman Catholic Church at the time is considered the origin of the Reformation and known amongst some as Reformation Day.

To be fair, I didn’t grow up with this tradition either, nor was I nurtured in a Christian home. I did, however, have Christian influences in my childhood, youth, and young adult years. In later years, through the work and prayer of one particular saint, I’ve returned to faith in Jesus Christ.

So, while Reformation Day may be something as foreign as Halloween, it is what I’ll be thinking about on 31 October.

Ephesians 2:8–10.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”