I love scary stories, including scary movies. I enjoy the catharsis that comes from fear that has a bottom--that is, fear I can lose myself in to the degree I choose because I know that through it all I am safe and that the things that scare me are fictional. Fear of this kind is so much better than the fear created around world events in the news, and I am certain it is healthier. Practicing fear can even empower us by teaching us how to control our fear. For fear, like worry, is merely something within us that we ultimately create from within.
Halloween is a time when we can openly play at fear to practice facing and overcoming it. And that is why one of my favorite holy days is Halloween.
But Halloween is only safe, the things that scare us are rendered toothless only because of the day that follows: All Saint's Day.
"Though hordes of devils fill the land
and threaten to devour us,
we tremble not, we trust God's will:
they cannot overpow'r us.
Though Satan rant and rage,
in fiercest war engage,
this tyrant's doomed to fail;
God's judgment must prevail!
One little word shall triumph."
- A Mighty Fortress, Verse 3
All Saint's Eve was a night on which it was thought that hordes of devils filled the land. People began donning scary costumes as protection. If you were dressed as a demon you could move around the world incognito. You wouldn't be possessed or abducted by a demon because you were one of them. Through this trickery, people protected themselves from evil spirits.
But why were demons thought to be so active on All Saint's Eve--on All Hallow's Eve or Halloween? Because of the day after. You see, when the sun comes up on November 1st, the light of all the saints breaks into the world of darkness and fear. On the day of saints, no evil can survive. It was thought that the demons knew--could feel--what was coming, that they were doomed. And so in a last-ditch effort, they would become hyperactive while the darkness lasted. To no avail.
All Saint's Day commemorates just that: all the saints. Before the Reformation, that meant only those of the faithful who were beatified and canonized as "Saint." After the Reformation, the Church began to understand that the category "saint" was a bit more expansive. Luther said that all the faithful are saints (and at the same time sinners, lest we forget). Today in the Church, we particularly consider those who have died to be saints. And according to the book of Hebrews, the saints who have died are a "great cloud of witnesses" to Jesus, who surround us always. On All Saint's Day, the power of that communion is overwhelming.
On the Day of All Saints, many churches remember, and speak the names of, those who have died in the past year. This morning, I have been reflecting on those who have died in my life. Friends, those of the Beloved Community here in Toluca and back home, and countless Beloved Strangers around the world. And even as I remember them, each one, and I grieve, that sorrow gives way to joy. Why? Many imagine death to be cold and dark. This is why it is so comforting to hear stories of near-death experiences in which people see a bright light. Remembering the saints, we remember the good news--that death is actually warm and bright. How is cold, dark death changed into the warmth of day, into the brightness of a new morning?
"But now a champion comes to fight,
whom God himself elected.
You ask who this may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he,
the Lord of hosts by name,
No other God we claim!
He holds the field victorious."
- A Mighty Fortress, Verse 2
Jesus.
Just as in the stories of vampires and exorcisms, the Cross of Christ is our most powerful weapon against all that we fear. The cross was a turning point, the turning point from night to day. The field Jesus held was the hill at Calvary. And on that field, at the foot of the Cross, sin is turned to righteousness, despair is turned to faith, suffering is turned to comfort, sorrow is turned to joy, crying is turned to dancing, and death is turned to life. Yes, all of that--and more. The Cross is our ending and our beginning. The Cross is Jesus' defeat and Christ's victory. The Cross makes the communion of saints possible. More precisely, the One who breaks the darkness is the one who vanquishes the hordes of devils and establishes the great cloud of witnesses.
We find God and his Christ in suffering and death. Not causing these things, but striving against them. "[F]or God himself fights by our side" (A Mighty Fortress, Verse 4). And so all those devils cavorting on Halloween, trying to get in their last bit of mischief and evil, are sorely mistaken. They are not left to their own devices on the Eve of All Saint's. Evil is not its most powerful on Halloween, as the pagans would like to believe. No. Just as Jesus was most present and active on the Cross--in suffering and death, so Jesus is most present and active in the darkest night, in the midst of the most dreadful evil. The dread of Halloween can only give way to the new, bright Day of Saints because of Jesus. Therefore, Jesus works hardest and his presence is most evident in the night of Halloween. The same is true in your life. When you endure hardship or sorrow or suffering or evil of any kind, that is precisely when Jesus is the strongest within and around you.
And so, as the man said, "Do not be afraid."
"Were they to take our house,
goods, honor, child or spouse,
though life be wrenched away,
they cannot win the day.
The Kingdom's ours forever!"
- A Mighty Fortress, Verse 4
Jesus makes this true.
Thanks be to God for that. Amen.
