Another halloween roadtrip

Well, this years Halloween in Indianapolis is nothing compared to the fun and frivolity of last years spent in White Fish, MT. It is a funny thing how this bizarre holiday has developed. The once pagan holiday created by the Celts almost 2000 years ago was a time to acknowledge a blurring of the line between the world of the living and the dead. (They even wore costumes!) Then in 800 Pope Boniface renamed the day All Saints Day to commemorate the Catholic saints and repackage an unholy day with a slightly lesser form of unholiness. Then around 1000 the Catholic church once again added All Soul's Day to honor the dead, recapturing the original Celtic intent. The time became known as the "Hallowed Mass (Hallomas)"

So, in light of history it still amazes me at the continual transformation of this holiday, and for that matter, most other holidays. The church at various times tried to repackage the day and then embrace it. Many churches even today denounce the day as a day of evil and "the work of the devil". Certainly, there are elements that are undeniable in that regard but I don't see anyone really addressing the issue here. The same question the Celts were trying to answer by starting the festival 2000 years ago still exists without adequate Christian response in the context of Halloween. That question is a search for what happens after death and we as believers seem more content on handing out candy at church instead of our homes than we are of addressing the answer found in Jesus Christ. He provides the answer and the hope. He has made the line between life and death blurred because once we gain His eternal hope, death has no hold on us and is not viewed as the end of life as we know it, but the beginning of eternal joy in the presence of God.