Underoos. Ok I admit it. I wanted them. If you are old enough to remember 8 track tapes, I bet anything that you did too. Unfortunately my mom never even gave Hanes or the more conventional Fruit of the Looms a consideration let alone those super duper super cool underpants. Me and my bro grew up sporting those wretched Korean made and Korean tagged whitey tighties. A product of the gifts and glad tidings of my relatives from the motherland…there was nothing remotely glad about those tidings.
Unlike most other objects of desire, as a kid, this particular covet was not a product of the pressure to be like others or to go along with others. I don’t ever recall friends talking about their longing for those colorful long johns. But I wanted them. I wanted them because there was this undeniable need to pretend I was stronger, faster, smarter more powerful than I actually was. Underoos just seemed to make it easier and more fun to do. It was why I wanted them, it was why I imagine so many kids wanted them.
I know as a pastor I am supposed to discourage people from getting all into the Halloween spirit and things (and for good reason). But this is what makes Halloween so fun. Living someone else’s life always seems so much more fun. For that one day (unless of course you’re into cosplay) we are allowed to pretend. We are given the license to make ourselves up and wear underoos over our clothes. There is something about putting on a costume and bearing a mask that gives you confidence; it gives you power. It covers the imperfections, hides the shame. You can forget about your problems, lay aside your inadequacies and live out your fantasies; at least for a day.
For Christians every day is Halloween.
Though we were wretched, poor, just flat out unacceptable and intolerably unattractive to God because of our sin, He forgave, accepted and embraced us. Why? Because He lowered His standard? Because He chose to forget? No because by His grace He applied to us the beautiful, perfect life of His Son Jesus (the Bible calls this “righteousness”). He loves us not because we are good, not because we are trying harder to be good, not because we are generous or kind. He loves us because He has clothed us with the righteousness of Christ. Christians are not better people; just covered with the beauty of God’s Son.
The Christian life, in the end, is waking up every day knowing we are allowed (no commanded!) to put on the clothes of Jesus (Col 3:9-10;12-14; Rom 13:14). Listen to what CS Lewis says about the Christian life in Mere Christianity
To put it bluntly, you are dressing up as Christ. If you like, you are pretending. Because, of course, the moment you realize what the words mean, you realize that you are not a son of God. You are not a being like the Son of God, whose will and interests are at one with those of the Father: you are a bundle of self-centerd fears, hopes, greeds, jealousies, and self-conceit, all doomed to death. So that, in a way, this dressing up as Christ is a piece of outrageous cheek. But the odd thing is that He has ordered us to do it…
Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already. That is why children’s games are so important. They are always pretending to be grownups—playing soldiers, playing shop. But all the time, they are hardening their muscles and sharpening their wits so that the pretence of being grown-up helps them to grow up in earnest. Now, the moment you realize ‘Here I am, dressing up as Christ,’ it is extremely likely that you will see at once some way in which at that very moment the pretence could be made less of a pretence and more of a reality.
Halloween is people of all ages dressing up and pretending to be the person they could never be, living the life they could never live, for fun. Christianity is people of all ages dressing up and pretending to be the person they will one day be, living the life they will one day receive, for good.
Who do you want to be this Halloween?
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