LifeDate Winter 2024 – Life Shines in Darkness
by Grace MacPherson
We worship a God of life … who broke death itself and rose to give us life.
Fall has never been my favorite time of year. I love the crisp air and changing colors, not to mention my family’s four birthdays in eight days—but each year, I struggle to not resent the way my family’s celebration of life is interrupted by the world’s celebration of death.
From the first hint of cool in the air to the early days of November, my neighborhood is filled with graveyards. Overall, I’m not against Halloween—I still enjoy dressing up or handing out candy. But what disturbs me about this holiday is the often blatant celebration of death I see each fall.
For a lot of people, Halloween is just a fun time with family and friends—a time to get out the costumes and enjoy fall treats. But over the last few years, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in Halloween decorations. Where I used to see pumpkins and tombstones, I now see skeletons and zombies. And this year in my neighbor’s yard, a ring of hooded figures stood worshiping a house-tall skeleton that stood on a heap of carnage.
My gut response to that display was more than my typical annoyance at a particularly macabre yard. It was fear—not for myself, but for our culture. Displays that celebrate death cannot help but influence the children who see them every day.
And increasingly, this is the norm in our culture: Death is no longer something to fear, but something to celebrate—even to worship.
But for the Christian, death is neither something to worship nor something to fear. Death is our gravest enemy—but one that has already been conquered, one that is more laughable than frightening. On the same day so many people celebrate death, we Lutherans thank God for the Reformation that brought back the pure teaching of the Gospel: We have eternal life in Christ through grace alone.
That display in my neighbor’s yard worshiped death. But as Christians, we worship the One who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6 NKJV).
We don’t worship a god of death—a god who demands human life in payment for our sins.
Instead we worship a God of life—the God who took on human life in Mary’s womb, who was born of a virgin to die like a criminal, who broke death itself and rose to give us life.
We celebrate our God of life every year at Christmas and Easter—but this year, I celebrated life at Halloween, too.
Every tombstone and skeleton in my neighbor’s yard was more than a marker of a cultural obsession with death. For the Christian, every Halloween decoration can be a reminder of eternal life—a triumphant cry that the dead will not remain in their graves forever. On the night when our culture celebrates death, we face even the most disturbing displays without fear: The living God has already conquered death for us.
And as it turned out, a heaven-sent snowstorm covered my neighbor’s yard the day before Halloween.
It was a strange and dreadful strife
When life and death contended.
The victory remained with life,
The reign of death was ended;
Holy Scripture plainly saith
That death is swallowed up by death,
In vain it rages o’er us.
Alleluia!
So let us keep the festival
Whereto the Lord invites us;
Christ is Himself the Joy of all,
The Sun that warms and lights us.
By His grave He doth impart
Eternal sunshine to the heart;
The night of sin is ended.
Alleluia!
(ELH 343:4, 6)
Grace MacPherson lives in Casper, Wyoming, with her family. She is the author of The King’s Sword and Domitian.