Halloween: To Celebrate or Not to Celebrate

Rev. William Cwirla has a well-balanced and thoughtful article on this subject in the most recent Lutheran Witness. I quote just a bit here:

Love of neighbor and concern for his or her salvation will give us pause for a few questions. What will your neighbor, your family, your children, your brother or sister in Christ think of your Halloween celebration? Will it help or hinder their faith in Jesus? Does your Halloween fun witness to the victory and freedom of Jesus’ death and resurrection, or does it lift up the powers of darkness and death? Does it draw undo attention to the dark and demonic, or does it poke fun at those things that already stand defeated? Are you able to talk frankly about the reality of death and the devil with your children and tell them of the victory of Jesus?

Freedom in Christ is always tempered by love for your neighbor. You are completely free in Jesus to serve your neighbor in love (Rom. 14:1–23).

The whole article is worth reading.  Dancing on the Devil's Grave, by Rev. William Cwirla.