For every Halloween I can remember - we’ve had a debate about what we should do and what’s expected of us as Believers in Christ.

Even though we are dressed up as a hunter and a turkey, and it’s for a Halloween Trunk or Treat, we talked about this opportunity before and after.

For us, we tend to focus on the intent behind the celebration and the outreach that we may or may not be able to have. To be honest, though, sometimes we still don’t know if we are doing the right thing.

Here’s my 2 cents concerning Halloween, but take it with a grain of salt as I do not claim to be all knowing and tend to take each instance (and October 31st) on a case by case basis.

Matthew 12:33-37 says ' “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” '

For us this means that we must try to be cautious about what comes out of our mouth and how it affects our witness. We can’t control what people think of us, but we can control what we do and how we do it.

With that said - we have done and celebrated almost any way possible. Such as:
We’ve “hidden” in the house with the curtains closed.
We’ve “partied” with friends going home in a drunken mess.
We’ve quietly celebrated with friends watching Halloween type movies (this is actually our favorite thing to do).
We’ve dressed up and waited in crazed anticipation for trick-or-treaters.
We’ve participated in “clean” church events that ranged from dark cardboard mazes to brightly lit cake walks and bobbing for apples.
We’ve escaped the house and spent time as a family eating a ton of pizza, swimming, and playing basketball.
We’ve dressed up and we’ve not dressed up.

…and do you want to know the truth about something?

We kinda like scary movies.
We kinda like (okay - LOVE) all things fall.
We kinda - really - love candy.
We kinda like dressing up.
We REALLY love spending time with our friends.

So that’s what Halloween has become to us. A time to spend with friends.

While we decorate for fall with leaves and pumpkins and beautiful red, yellow, and orange flowers, we don’t decorate for Halloween… except, this year. This year we are going to celebrate with a Pre-Halloween Party. We are going to have Halloween themed snacks, drinks, decorations, rollers, games, and hopefully a perfect time to gather, fellowship, and just enjoy time together with friends (both old and new).