I'm Okay with Getting Halloween Wrong

Former Halloweiner here! There was a time it was by far my favorite holiday! By late September, fall cleaning was complete, and the ghoulish transformation of our home began. Meals could no longer be eaten in the dining room: it was used for a macabre spread of floating eyeballs and severed limbs. Every haunted hayride and trunk-or-treat we could squeeze into our schedule, we did. And costumes were designed, fitted, and tweaked by the time the first leaves began to fall. BUT GOD...

In my childhood, Mom and I spent Saturday afternoons watching horror flicks. I loved a good mystery, but it didn't stop with Nancy Drew --the scarier the better. I cut my metal teeth on Ozzy and Iron Maiden; I loved their connection to the demonic and the lore of backward masking. I had a close relative who dabbled in the black arts (or seemed to) and had a pentagram etched into the floor. Personally, I leaned more toward pornography and dark practices. BUT GOD...

I heard there were connections between the "celebration" of Halloween and the Satanic. Pastors warned how easily we can become "sucked in." I knew all about portals from witnessing what the demonic had done in my family members and me. I toyed with the idea of skipping Halloweening but feared I was "taking religion too far." If I just threw out all of those cute little witches, I'd be okay, right? BUT GOD... 

Here's the thing about that "clean slate" I mentioned last week: why on earth would someone who refuses to eat hours after she's been to the dentist for a cleaning, hastily, recklessly muck up the clean slate given her by Jesus? Jesus died so that my sins are paid for; I have a fresh start without shame. Jesus, my Representative, rose to life so that I can live a new life, an eternal life in a way unbound by things of this world (sin, death, expectations, judgment, fear, etc.). Jesus ascended into heaven so that His Holy Spirit would dwell within me changing me and sanctifying me for as long as I submit and obey. Is messing around with Halloween that important to me that I would risk desensitizing myself to things anti-Christ in nature? Is being like everyone else so important to me that I would open a portal for my child the way I've seen portals open for others? Has the Holy Spirit given me clear warnings against celebrating a day that celebrates death when I am called to life? Has the Holy Spirit given me clear warnings against celebrating a day that celebrates darkness when I am called by the Light of the world to be light to the world?

And, I have to be honest: even as I write this, wonderful memories of our children and past "celebrations" tease me into thinking I'm being a bit extra about all this. My flesh begins to tingle with the excitement of visiting a haunted hayride or walking dark streets with a host of others in disguise. But I'd be a fool to think there is no deception in a holiday that exalts the other-spiritual. And that's really what it is, isn't it? It's a promotion or a glorification of the spirit world; but certainly not the spirit world of the Holy Spirit. And if not Him, then who?

Riaan Swiegelaar, a former reverend with the South African Satanic Church and, by God's grace, obedient Christian, doesn't waffle on his warning to parents about Halloween. He says it is the highest "holy" day on the Satanic calendar, a day when human sacrifices peak in number. Swiegelaar notes that the founder of the Church of Satan (Anton LaVey) and co-founder of Satanism as a religion had a very well-known quote: I want to thank Christian parents for allowing their children to celebrate the devil one day of the year.

The Church of Satan has this to say about Halloween on its website:

Satanists embrace what this holiday has become, and do not feel the need to be tied to ancient practices. This night, we smile at the amateur explorers of their own inner darkness, for we know that they enjoy their brief dip into the pool of the “shadow world.” We encourage their tenebrous fantasies, the candied indulgence, and the wide-ranging evocation of our aesthetics (while tolerating some of the chintzy versions), even if it is but once a year.

So, am I taking religion too far? Am I Doin' Too Much? Perhaps I am, but where is the risk? If I am indeed erring on the side of caution, what have I lost? But if I choose to meet the approval of public opinion or the retailers or even my child, what will I lose? There are things far too precious I am unwilling to gamble, so I'll just have to be okay with getting Halloween wrong.  

Midweek: Word for Word Bible Comic's Epistle to the Galatians

So, I really thought I'd be back to our Midweek articles on Walking the Twelve Steps with Jesus, but "best laid plans" and all that. Instead, I received an email from our friend at Word for Word Bible Comics, Simon Amadeus Pillario. His beautifully illustrated word-for-word (hence the name) edition of the Book of Galatians was released this month, and he asked some bloggers to offer our opinion. The way it works, we receive free digital copies of each book, post our reviews, and talk a bit about his next project. So, without further ado...

I have reviewed Word for Word in the past, but I have to be honest, I was a little taken aback by this request. I mean, I can imagine illustrating a book like Esther or Judges, plenty of action going on. Song of Solomon is rife with visuals; and even the Gospels, for all of the teaching contained in them, contain plenty of scenes to be played out in the hands of a skillful artist. But Galatians? How, exactly, does one illustrate what is being said in a letter? Artistically, imaginatively, and with great respect to the text, if you are Pillario. Take, for example, a passage like Galatians 2:4,5 which reads:

This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

Paul is recalling previous acts, the nefarious plots of outsiders against the Gospel. The artist uses the text, the New International Version, to craft drawings of Paul's recollections that are detailed but a bit less colorful than his illustrations of the Galatian church actually receiving the words of the letter when read publicly. As I read this passage in Word for Word's rendering, I noticed the abundance of historical recollections Paul used to support and illustrate his exposition of the Gospel. (Without those narratives, the letter to Galatia may have come across as correction upon correction, tenet upon tenet, and not been well-received at all.) My initial concerns about effectively illustrating an epistle were eliminated: Pillario's excellent attention to the narrative caused me to see it as I'd never before. 

His methods are explained on the first few pages of every book:

The Word-for-Word Bible Comic has avoided, as far as possible, creating a new interpretation, version or re-telling of the text. Using research to ensure the narrative is represented as authentically as possible, the pictures in the comic aim to represent what the text plainly illustrates. In the case of ambiguity, a multitude of qualified and respected Bible Commentaries (including Bailey, Lange, Archer and a range of others cross-referenced with Biblehub.com) have been deferred to. 

For further clarification, he says that if the text is clear or ambiguous but refined elsewhere, it is to be drawn clearly. If the text is ambiguous but reputable commentators agree, the artist implies interpretation through the images. If the text is ambiguous and commentators are divided, the images are to remain as ambiguous as the text. Word for Word's dedication to spreading God's Word accurately and in a unique and imaginative way is obvious. 

I would encourage anyone --comic/ graphic novel fan or not --to treat yourself and, maybe, someone on your Christmas list, to a copy of any one of Word for Word's Bible comics, available in print or digital format. (Pay close attention to the recommended age groups for each edition. Most are 12+) And if you're looking for that Thanksgiving or end of the year charitable contribution, become a part of the Kickstarter campaign for The Epistle to the Thessalonians. You can make your donation here: 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/word4wordbiblecomic/epistles-to-the-thessalonians-word-for-word-bible-comic-niv?ref=32zy0s

And be a part of something really special!

Waiting Is a Place

Two years ago yesterday, I got that for which I'd been waiting, that for which I'd been praying. So many days I'd prayed for God to take my mother home with Him while she slept quietly in our home, safe and warm and content. So many days I waited, after she became ill and was admitted to the hospital, for God to take her home or heal her. But on that Thursday morning, as I was praying whether to go to Bible study or whether to sit at the hospital with her, the call I received brought was the answer. Mom was no longer waiting, and neither was I. The days that passed before that call were bittersweet. Some were spent with family close by, and some were spent --just Mom and I --in the presence of our Lord. I sang to her, quoted Scripture to her, wrote quietly by her bedside. It was my aim to make her time in the hospital --however she would leave that place --as peaceful and comfortable as possible. And to make the time I spent with her as memorable as possible. Because waiting can be difficult.

Waiting is something that goes against our nature. Glance around any train station or waiting room and you will find people "passing the time." They stare blankly at a television, catch up on emails through their phones, and in rare cases still rustle the pages of printed publications. Anything on earth to distract them from the silence and uncertainty waiting can be. But time is such a precious commodity, why on earth would we want to pass it? Why do we resist the idea that waiting is part of our existence? Why can't we appreciate the minutes of rest we are offered while standing in line at a box office? or the twisted nuance of having a paper cup full of terrible coffee and chatting with an interesting someone at the service station? Life is composed of the good, the bad, and the ugly. It's all part of being on this planet. Yet, we have accepted the belief that waiting is of no use. It is neither here nor there, we say; just a nothingness that exists between the two, an in-between place. Dare I call it a place? Does it deserve that distinction? It is neither a win we can celebrate, nor a loss we can commiserate. We are waiting. Waiting to be healed or to be married or to be a dad. We are waiting for a loved one to transition to heaven. We are waiting for employment or for the adoption to be finalized --waiting to "get on with life," we gripe. But this is life. Why don't we get on with it now? in this space? as it is? Why must we have some label attached to our circumstances in order to be present and grateful in them? This may be an unanswered, in-between space in life, but it is life, nonetheless.

Waiting is still an activity. In between is still a place. Could our reluctance to accept this be why so many of us find it difficult to wait on the Lord? What does that even mean? It is to know with absolute confidence that, just as the morning sun rests --but only for a moment --right outside the door of night, morning will come, and the sovereign God who created all time is present with us in our waiting. It is to hear the chirp of tenacious crickets, so absorbed in their work, that the sleepy coo of mourning doves does not silence their symphony, and to be about the work we are given, to praise and bring glory to our King no matter what the time. It is to feel the warm glow of day holding promise and possibility just at my shoulders but trust the revelation is delayed until the best time; to sit with expectation in the grey cloak of whatever dawn and know that God's promises given to me are in His time, according to His good plan and will be revealed in an unmatched gloriousness for all of eternity!

Those days I spent waiting for my mother to be relieved of her suffering were some of the best and most profitable. As I sat there in silence or with family gathered, I grew more in love with her, more hopeful of what was to come, and more trusting of my Father who would work it all out for His glory and my good. I was graciously given a hope of something more real than anything in this life and well worth waiting for!