The Rev. Mark Pendleton

October 31, 2021 The Rev. Mark Pendleton Christ Church, Exeter No Reason to Cancel Halloween 28One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?" 29Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' 31The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." 32Then the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that 'he is one, and besides him there is no other'; 33and 'to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,' and 'to love one's neighbor as oneself,' -this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." 34When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that no one dared to ask him any question. Mark 12:28-34 +++ This morning I am reminded of the truth of a what the French mystic Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751) called the "sacrament of the present moment." In calling attention to what is means to be awake and alert he said: "the purest form of spirituality is to find God in what is right in front of you." We see this at work in today's gospel. The scribe gets the answer that will bring him closer to the Kingdom of God. Which commandment is the first of all? he asks Jesus. Jesus sums up the 10 commandments in only two: love of the Lord with all you are and all you have and love your neighbor as oneself. To know and do this is much more important than burnt offerings and sacrifices. It is good and right to start with what is in front of us - the challenges of the day, the people we meet, the hardships and joys that come our way, and then build upon them to discover the heart of God and a bit more truth about ourselves. Today right in front of is Halloween. With an eye to both the past and the present moment, what lays behind the ancient and Christian roots of this day that has brought us to where we are: this day ranks right up there with Christmas morning in the level of excitement for children everywhere- and some adults out there too. Halloween is one of those cultural events that is hard to ignore yet even harder to know what lays behind the costumes, masks, and the wide attraction of this season of year. We see candy going on sale in stores in August and neighbors decking out their yards in September. Many of us can connect the history of All Hollow's Eve to All Saints' Day that follows on November 1st, but we would be a growing minority in our growing secular society. You may have heard that some Christian churches today reject this day and want nothing to do with the ghosts and the scary costumes. There is nothing new in this really, as in our own New England the Puritan ancestors of the U.C.C. church up the street did not celebrate Christmas until the Episcopal church, along with Roman Catholics, started celebrating in mid-1800's. There will always be outliers. The roots of this day go back centuries. We can credit the ancients Celts in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales for giving the world Halloween. These tribes that lived on the edge of the Roman Empire celebrated a harvest festival called Samhain (pronounced "SAH- wane"). It was time when the spiritual world became visible to humans. Almost a page out Harry Potter, it was believed that the gods enjoyed playing tricks on mortals as they mingled among the living. The living responded by offering harvest foods - like pumpkins - to ward them off the spirits. When Christians finally arrived in these lands to bring the faith to the Celts, they met a people who believed in a thin veil or line between the physical and spiritual, the mortal and immortal, the living and dead. When people travel to these lands today you will hear the locals referring to some places as thin places. Some would say that the church was never be able to fully wipe away the deep roots of these beliefs in these lands. What they did was build upon what was. They brought with them beliefs and teachings that did not rely on the sacrificing of gourds and pumpkins to ward off the dead. They preached the God of Jesus Christ, who lived among us in this world and who was raised from the dead to new life. It was this resurrected Jesus who said to his followers, "remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 29:20) No evil spirit then or now could stand up to the power of God. The proof were the great saints of the church who lived fully in the light of God and reflected that light upon those who would listen and follow. Our faith never teaches us that there is no death, that evil is made up and that darkness and despair will never visit us. We know it does. What we learn again and again that we are never fully alone in these uncertain and fragile times. We hear in 1 John 4:18: There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear. And in Hebrews 13:6 The Lord is my helper: I will not be afraid. Is there anything to fear behind the scenes of Halloween that we should know more about? To me, no. At a moment in our history when everything can be painfully serious, an annual time of some fun and dressing up may be just what the doctor ordered. I see nothing sinister in dressed up ghosts and goblins running through the streets once a year -- though to be honest we are likely to see more superheroes, football players and princesses. I see no religious reason to cancel Halloween. Let's hold the outrage for something more dire. Yet the roots of this day can help us reclaim holiness in our daily lives: to help us walk in the light, through the shadows, the temptations, and the struggles that each day brings, for we do not walk through the valley of the shadow of death alone. Our God is our comfort and help. Let us end where we began: the greatest commandment -- what is right in front of us. There is no need for us to offer up harvest offerings of pumpkins and wear masks to ward off evil spirits. Our God has no need to be appeased or bargained with but to simply to be loved. And for us to do likewise to those near and far. That's it. That's everything. 1