Reformation Day

What does Halloween mean to me?

Most years, at this time, some 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 mainly comes from what I’ve seen in my lifetime (I’m a child of the 1960s) on television and in films. I’ve also read about Halloween in popular fiction. There isn’t much about Halloween that I find appealing, let alone fun.

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

My understanding, based on what I’ve read, is that Halloween has Christian roots. Like many Christian customs, over the centuries it has evolved in how it’s observed. What I’ve seen on TV and in films doesn’t seem to have much to do with the Christian faith.

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

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

To be fair, I didn’t grow up with this tradition either, nor was I raised in a Christian home. However, I did have Christian influences throughout 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 might seem as unfamiliar as Halloween, it’s 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.”