All Hallow’s Eve, a day originally set aside to honor the dead martyrs, is now a day when masquerading is the norm. The buzz among the kids is, “What are you going to be on Halloween” — the key element being that you get to be someone or something that you’re not and its okay. You can be anything you want.

Something about human nature loves this. Some — more theatrical people — love it more than others. Our street, barricaded off because of its popularity, will turn into a steady flow of masquerading humanity, and by no means is it just kids. The adults are into it just as much, if not more than the kids.

Maids, princesses, zombies, superheroes, astronauts, Presidents, movie stars, lions, witches, and I have seen some wardrobes, will file by, and people will be in various stages of hiding their real identity. The fun part is to not have anyone guess who you are.

On one night of the year we get to hide our real identity and it’s expected. But the rest of the year we hide our identity and even though it’s not okay, we do it anyway because its human nature. All this dress up on Halloween is not so unusual; we do it all the time to a lesser degree, but we do it anyway. We hide what we don’t want anyone to see.

What would that be? Doubts, fears, inadequacies, insecurities, sins, weaknesses, and our judgment upon others including attitudes of superiority in an attempt to level the playing field — these are just some of the things we hide … anything that might make people think lesser of us. And in Christian environments, there tends to be even more masquerading, because the expectations are so high for what we all are suppose to be.

Dressing up is fun. Wearing masks is okay as long as there is an accepting place where we can be when we take them off. Because of Christ’s forgiveness and the new arrangement for living made possible by God’s Spirit in and among us, Christian community should be the safest place in the whole world to go unmasked.

If you’re too old for Halloween, or Halloween has gotten too old for you, it’s time to realize that you’re younger than that now. You can both enjoy the mask and enjoy taking it off.

Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:1-2)

But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)