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This is pumpkin season; almost every house I pass has a colorful orange pumpkin on the porch. Most of these orange vegetables are for decoration only. A pie pumpkin, from what I understand, is one you make pies out of; they are hard to find. Over the years, Halloween decorations have grown. It’s not only pumpkins anymore. But expensive lights and cartoon-like balloons are everywhere. Martians coming out of windows, ghosts in all sizes, and the current large-scale skeletons coming out of garage roofs. It amazes me when I see pretend headstones in yards and, of course, witches in abundance. What does this casual parade of Halloween mean? Is it just the need to decorate for the holiday, or is it a deeper recognition of death itself? A visual awareness of the temporary life of human beings?
Death in our current society is something that we try to avoid or, at very least, make it as palatable as possible. So why are images of our ultimate state so abundant, and why do the afterlife, ghosts, and witches take over in late October? I think it is about something in each of us; many believe that when we die, we go somewhere, at least we hope, though we often don’t believe. For Christians, it’s one of the faith’s primary teachings. It was Jesus who defeated death, rising on the third day from the grave. St. Paul says of death: "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55). For many today, after all of our life and achievements, they believe there is nothing after death. Only nothingness for a human being. Death is very democratic; it comes for every human being, so it is a consistent factor in our living. But for the Christian, it is not an end; it is a transition to another state. However, all the ghouls, ghosts, and witches you will see on Halloween are images of human anxiety over our common end. They ask the question: "Is this all there is?
Halloween falls at the end of October and the start of November, as the seasons change, the leaves die, and the trees are bare; the natural world, which we humans are part of, shows us a visual transition. It is also, for many Christian churches, a time to recall all souls who have passed and, equally, on November first, all Saints. It reminds the living of their mortality. How we are responsible for our choices. It is also a time we remember those who have passed. On November 11, we call it Veterans Day, remembering all our soldiers and sailors who have given their lives for our country. November is a time to see our mortality and the promise of eternal life. We are not going into the grave to end our existence. We are transitioning home.
I want to share with you someone I met over the last several weeks. As a visiting Chaplain to a local hospital. It was a Friday afternoon, and I walked into a room where there was a small man in the hospital bed. I saw him and called out his official name; he corrected me and wanted to be known by his ordinary name. I took this as a sign of apprehension, but it was not. What I found was a dying soul, but a very alive person with two beautifully clear eyes and a certainty as to who he was. He was a Christian and had been all his life. It is not often I have a patient who is so clear and certain as to what death was. He was going home. He told me he had lived a good life. Beyond these words and the prayers, we said, the two of us were bathed in joy. For a moment, the room was surrounded by the sheer grace of our humanity and the promise of a loving God. A visceral celebration of this soul on its last journey. I was only there for about 20 minutes and had others to see that day, but I hated to leave this intense experience. As I opened the paper this morning, I saw that this person had passed. With a smile on my face, I was thankful for the memorable encounter we shared, grounded in our shared certainty and Christian understanding of death, and the grace it brings to our souls.
So, all these signs of the Halloween season- ghosts, skeletons, graveyard markers, pumpkins, and witches- are visual symbols of humans asking, "Is death the end?" "No, it is not," I can only answer: "Death is the gateway to heaven." I have had the privilege of seeing God’s love and His mercy. Each of us is loved and anticipated in heaven.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)