I was thinking as I drove home from work on Friday, that even if cars end up eating the ozone layer and baking us all to a crisp, in some way, God has sanctioned their existence in the pleasure that a dog experiences when he sticks his head out the window.Mallory responded to this thought by asking why it is that dogs love sticking their heads out the window of a moving vehicle, but they hate it if you blow in their faces....
What Has Jesus to do With Halloween
Every Sunday the bulletin at Divine Redeemer makes me smile. This week, among other things, it advertised a church sponsored haunted house. That's right, not a Fall Festival, not Trunk-or-Treat, but an honest to goodness, scare the pants off you, vampires and werewolves, haunted house.
One of the many thing I love about the church is that they take humanity as it is and go from there. They don't start with the assumption that if we know Jesus we're perfect already and just need to be kept that way.
Championing Halloween shouldn't just be the job of the Catholic Church though, Christianity in general should realize what a perfect opportunity for evangelism it is when, for a month out of the year, everyone in America acknowledges the existence of a spiritual reality.
I don't know about you, but I would much rather talk to a pantheist or the pagan about Christianity than an agnostic or an atheist. At least the devil-worshipper is working with all the same dimensions of reality as the Christian. They acknowledge that a spiritual world exists and that it interacts with the physical world in a meaningful way.
Every child, unless otherwise guided, by the age of 12 will have a fully developed set of pantheistic beliefs. They'll see God in nature, in music, in their friends and family. They'll see evil in the destroying power of divorce and family strife, in ignorance and hatred, in alcohol and even in the fact that the more they know, the less sun-shiny their world seems. Everyone feels the transcendent in music, in physical exertion, in the fuzzy feelings of a first love, the rush of the wind and a warm summer rain. It is only our teenage years or an earlier and more unnatural introduction to materialism that will either make us cling to our false gods or throw them, along with our stuffed animals and LEGOs into an attic, only to be held from that point forward with nostalgia rather than a truly spiritual fascination.
There is something so hard-hearted about not believing in any spiritual reality of any sort, and something ignorant about a Christianity that doesn't realize the real spiritual good that Harry Potter, Eragon, and Halloween are doing.
Christians should be able to embrace Halloween as the only time the most people will acknowledge that a spiritual reality exists at all.
It's amazing how much the shadow tells us about the light and how ineffectual a battle we would be fighting if we set out to conquer rap music, immodest clothing and fast food without allowing Christians and non-Christians alike to see that our battle "is not against enemies of flesh and blood...but against the spiritual forces of darkness of this present age."
Also, the bulletin announced that the Colorado Springs Catholic Young Adult Group would have their monthly "Theology on Tap" meeting at Jack Quinn's at 7pm on Wednesday. Nothing like a Bible study at an Irish pub. Seriously. These people really know what's up.
Your Halloween video:
9 comments:
First off, Science Man here to say that carbon emissions add to the green house layer making it harder for heat to escape the planet into outer space, but they don't effect the Ozone Layer which absorbs most of the more harmful wavelengths of ultraviolet radiation.
Second, I disagree that Halloween is the only time most people acknowledge a spiritual side, because most people treat the whole thing as a mythology. It's fun, but nobody really believes it. And at the same time, you could say the say thing about Christmas or Easter, both of which are celebrated as secular holidays by many people (perhaps rightfully, as both of them were adopted by Christians from pagans, and not the other way around). And it ignores demographics, because Nontheism is still a minority in the US. Most people loudly proclaim the spiritual side at least once a week.
Thirdly, I disagree with your description of childhood. I never really believed in anything. I professed to believe what I was told I should until I came to the conclusion that I didn't.
That doesn't apply to super powers, however. I'm still secretly convinced I am only a chemical bath away from laser-beam eyes.
"unless otherwise guided"- excellent.
Hey- what about the kids who saw Hollow-Ween as nothing more than an excuse to dress up in camouflage and carry around a toy rifle?
I still turned out- oh wait, never mind.
Pat
PS- I played with legos until I was 17, and I recently Indian-Gave (took them back rudely) from my Step brother. I build a pretty sweet ship. It's got this kick-ass engine compartment. Ask Mandy.
Here in Baptist country we have 'Theology a Latte' (catchy, right?). However, the coffeehouse its held at still sells beer, and every speaker I've seen so far(including Joseph Pearce) has downed at least one drink during his talk. I guess you can take the Catholic out of the bar, but you can't take the bar out of the Catholic
"I guess you can take the Catholic out of the bar, but you can't take the bar out of the Catholic"
Hahaha, Ms. Miller, I've got a LONG line of cirrhosis-ridden family members in the ground who'd DRINK to that!
And no comments about the "Milkshake" banner? I thought that thing was hilarious, but maybe you just didn't spend four months of your life listening to this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CIUkmERKA4
I got the milkshake banner. And yes, it's funny :) Anyone ever watch Dodgeball ALL the way to the end? Anyone? Also, I will never ever sneak up on an unsuspecting pumpkin again.
I agree that it's easier to talk to someone who acknowledges the spiritual world than someone who doesn't - the conversations I've had at work with non-Christians haven't really been about Christianity specifically, but about spirituality and the ways in which we approach and interact with the spiritual world. I think it's a good way to start because then they know that you have an opinion and are willing to talk about it. Plus it takes the pressure off of explaining all your beliefs at once and takes out the risk of alienating someone who disagrees with those beliefs.
Halloween isn't the only time that people acknowledge the spiritual world, but I think that it makes a good segue into talking about the reality of spirits that are brought to our attention more this time of year than any other. Yes, Christians adopted some pagan holidays into the church calendar and made them "Christian holidays", but that too is incorporated into how we celebrate the holidays right now. There is significance in so many of the things we do to celebrate Christmas and Easter and even Halloween that harks back to the 'Christianizing' of these days. Remove those elements, and you'll be left with a strange and possibly not fun holiday.
Cherrie
An internet friend of mine showed me that exact Milkshake banner months ago. It's an example of a larger meme.
http://macrochan.org/search.py?tag=Themes%3ABayeux%20Tapestry
Keep in mind a lot of those are 4chan jokes, and many may be NSFW.
Hey, I really enjoyed the post.
Is taking humanity as it as and going from there the same as Championing part of it? I think (but am curious for other ideas) that these two only go together if the championed part of humanity is ACTUALLY good. What (rather than ease of conversation) actually makes celebrating bad spirits better than celebrating a lack of spirits?
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