Oct 31st can mean a number of things to anyone in our world. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ you definitely have options on how to celebrate this day. Some of us will find ourselves enjoying a Fall Festival of some kind or we may be cruising through a local Trunk or Treat. If you have children then, dressing up as funny, silly or scary characters may be a part of your plans for that day as well. This day may include lots of sweet treats for certain; for children young and old. We will surely see lots of fall colors and decorations on this day too.

Others in our world may choose a more sinister or even evil practices as they desire to worship in ways that blaspheme God. But, there are many, many different ways to enjoy this holiday and it can mean so much more than ringing doors and saying, “trick or treat.”

If we return our thoughts back to history for a moment we may be surprised to find something of significance that occurred on Oct 31st of 1517 in Germany.

Martin Luther was a theologian, German monk, and a reformer of the early church. Luther became known among his peers, in the Middle Ages, who had a different point of view on faith than some of his colleagues who sought to worship in the Catholic faith. To summarize briefly, Luther sought to bring changes to the Catholic church that, in his lifetime, were creating many questions about the fundamentals of faith in God. More information about his tenets of faith and the events of his life can be found online in many places. Two places where I researched for this blog were; https://www.biography.com/ and https://www.christianitytoday.com

My main point in writing this blog is simply this; in our culture today, Oct 31st can be a day of worship and can provide us time to celebrate the freedom to practice our faith in God. Halloween can be so much more than candy corn, costumes, scary movies, and/or jack o lanterns with crazy faces carved in them.

If I choose to, I can take time to breathe a prayer of thanks to God for men (and women) like, Martin Luther, who shared his own ideas about faith and in so doing, helped create a time of reform for the church. This reformation helped the Bible to be translated into languages so people could read the scriptural texts for themselves. The reformation gave us all the chance to have a different point of view about God and about His grace for us. In having these differences, we can now fear no persecution because of those differences in our faith and belief in God. What a great day Halloween/Oct 31st really is; historically speaking.

What is Halloween to you? How do you celebrate this day? Does Oct 31 hold any times of worship for you & your family? After this blog post, what changes, if any, do you need to make as you enjoy the many options of events and activities?