There are other sources to provide the historic perspective on Halloween, so I won't go into that here. It wouldn't help anyway. Many will not understand that "Pagan" isn't another word for evil, but a place on the map. They also won't be comforted by the knowledge that Halloween, or "All Hallow's Eve" was actually started by the early Catholic Church.

My comments regard the children and what we're teaching them. One alternative to recent "traditions" of observing the day is to gather kids at church and dress them up as bible characters. I don't know too many kids who would be enthralled with the idea of dressing as bible characters for Halloween. Other times, perhaps, but not then.

I see a real value in allowing children to dress up as things they fear. It helps them work through their fears, especially when the adults around them can assure them of both adult protection and the constant presence of God. It isn't enough to tell children to resist the forces of evil; they need to practice. One way I practice loving my enemies is by trying to see things from their perspective. When I can mentally step into the shoes of a wrong-doer, I can better combat the wrong while loving the perpetrator. Costuming is a concrete way to teach this concept to children.

I certainly agree that the dark side should not be celebrated, but neither do I think it should be ignored. Adults and children alike have their dark side. Pretending it isn't there only compounds the problem for people wrestling within themselves. The "spiritual warfare" I hear so much about lately is directed too much outward and not enough inward. The spiritual sojourner must fight inward battles of the soul before presuming to fight outward battles of the world. How best to encourage children through this process? By glossing over it? By pretending there is no dark night of the soul? I think not.

Kids are smart and they come to us packed with wisdom and insight that we are foolish to disregard. Yes, they need guidance, but they also need respect. When a child is fearful of monsters under the bed, it is the wise parent who realizes that this is a manifestation of insecurity and that the child needs empowerment. Most of us know to turn on the light and show the child that there is no monster there, as well as reassuring that the child is never alone -- that God is always there, and that the grown-ups are just down the hall -- that the child is being taken care of. But do we understand the symbolism of turning on the light?

God calls us to take the light of truth into dark places. When we turn on the light and reassure a child we only do half of the job. But if we hand the child a flashlight and teach the child to shine it into the dark places, we are empowering that child. When the child reaches the teen years we can use that to build on and teach our young people to shine the light in deeper and broader ways.

The same goes for costuming. If a child fears witches, for instance, dressing as a witch is a way to take the power out of both the fear and the witch. The child who can be a witch for a day has an opportunity to understand the concept of witch from the inside out. With helpful adult presence, pretending to make potions, cast spells, etc. is a way to discover that it is invasive to do these things, that harming people is not OK, and that even if one could have magic powers one would have to use them responsibly. It provides an opportunity to indulge the fantasy of supreme power while teaching that supreme power belongs only to God and that we as mortals must constrain ourselves to dealing gently and realistically with others.

So many children are taught to fear this being named "Satan." Well, I have met Satan, and he is me. In my darkest moments I am quite capable of imagining myself doing all manner of evil. But something stops me from acting on these imaginings. That, of course, is a sense of right and wrong, a desire to do right, which is love, and love comes from God. When we call upon the light of God to overcome the power of Satan, we are actually calling upon the wisdom and strength to choose to act in a godly manner. When we allow children to dress as something fearful, we allow them to recognize the fearsome thing within and empower them to choose to act in godly ways in spite of it.

Children learn on a concrete level. They cannot understand things the same way adults do. If we simply moralize at them, it becomes a matter against which they may (and often will) choose to rebel at some point. But if we teach them the nature of evil by personalizing it for them and teach them to overcome darkness with light on a concrete level, it becomes instead a matter of personal survival and integrity. Being right with God is no different from being right with ourselves. Hurting others hurts ourselves, and yet we all possess the capability of hurting others. It's a paradox. It's tricky and confusing, and that's what makes it seem sinister.

In the child's world, witches, ghosts and goblins are concrete manifestations of inner turmoil. We fear most that which we do not understand, and we least understand ourselves. Through knowledge and understanding, demons are disempowered and we are freed from them.

I've heard some say that simply invoking the name of Jesus will subdue evil, but I haven't observed that. Indeed, some of the greatest atrocities of mortals have been committed in the name of Jesus (the Inquisition leaps to mind, as do the Salem Witch Trials). Thrusting the name of Jesus at a modern gangster is going to do about as much to subdue him as would babbling "abracadabra," and in fact might just anger him more. Holy words have their greatest impact on holy people. It is holy acts which impact the unholy.

To behave in a righteous and holy manner toward the child who professes to be a devil is a powerful and transforming witness indeed. It's a lot easier to offer that witness in your living room or at your doorstep to the small devils than in dark alleys and conference rooms to the big ones. It's probably more effective, too.