Jesus-Pumpkining
I once went to a church where they got into a big discussion about whether or not you should participate in Halloween. A (very) few people thought it was fine. Some other people thought it was big-time EVIL. And a third contingency thought it was okay, so long as you Jesus-themed it--like by carving a cross or a dove into your pumpkin instead of scary faces.
That is not the funny part. The funny part is a quote from the youth minister (quiet seriously, I'm afraid), who in order to rebuke this heresy of Jesus-Pumpkining said:
"Carving a cross in a pumpkin is like putting a bible verse on a condom!"
The worst part is, I've never been able to figure out whether or not it would really be such a bad idea to put verses on your condoms. :-\
Labels: trunk or treat
posted by caparoon @ 7:42 PM
2 Comments:
Or worse, WWJD.
I grew up in a home that was the "Halloween is EVIL" camp; I also grew up playing D&D and Wizardry while my parents weren't looking. I am hoping that now I am a little more in the "happy medium" camp, no pun intended.
I have no problem participating in the seasonal festivities. Somehow, we also ended up with a animated book about a witch who picks up some interesting friends on the way to a party wile riding her broom. I am still waffling about that book. When it comes down to it, there are people in this world who practice dark arts, and the Bible clearly says "have nothing to do with these people". But those people do not have green skin, humongous warts on their noses, crooked, rotting teeth and red eyes. At least, I have never seen anything like that.
What I like about these festivities (whether it be trick-or-treating, or events at the library, Savoy Rec Center, etc) is that it is great community time, a chance to get out and see old friends, make new friends. And one of my sincere hopes is that we can use Halloween as a fun holiday, using Christmas as a counter-point, something that should be more sacred, and NOT a time to go crazy, NOT about exchanging gift cards, NOT about candy, but something more.
Yeah, I should look into that "having nothing to do" stuff some more.
My take on those kinds of verses, in general, is that having nothing to do with a certain kind of person is a pretty loaded request. Not loaded in the "tricky" way, but loaded in the "let's unpack that some more" way.
Because you can definitely see that interacting with "bad folks" is a key practice of the believer. And, at the same time, "bad company corrupts good character." So how are those things reconciled?
I think it probably goes back to participation. More and more, I think that almost everything goes back to participation.
God participates with himself. When we follow him, we are accepting an invitation from him to participate with him. And to participate with each other.
To participate with God, and his family, is to be together. To be (again with the being) as he is.
And when our focus is on taking part in God, and taking part in his family, we can't also participate in a secondary, contrary life.
While we can surely participate imperfectly in the primary way of life, we can't "be" that.
So when we're instructed not to have anything to do with witches (and no, not the warty version) or mockers, or the immoral brother, or darkness in general, are we being asked not to say "hi" in line at the grocery store? Or to have them in our homes? Or to work with them? Or go to there homes? Or to read books wherein the main characters are seemingly benevolent, well-intentioned practitioners of the spook-a-rific?
Or are we asked not to participate with them? To be with them? To be them?
Post a Comment
<< Home