To all of who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:7)

Hebrews 2:14- 15 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-- that is, the devil-- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Revelation 2:10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Robby couldn’t sit still in school on Tuesday because all he could think about was the monster costume he and his mom bought at Wal-Mart. He was going to have a great time with that costume! Trick-or-treating. Lots of candy. Hiding behind his mask and traveling to a make-believe world in an instant – where his little sister couldn’t come. Oh, and scaring the bajeebees out of his little sister, too.

For Robby and the approximately 40 million other trick-or-treaters in the United States this Halloween, the festive occasion wasn’t really a scary one at all. It was just fun. Even at the age of five years Robby has watched enough TV and played his fair share of X-Box to know that Halloween is just another charade of fantasy. A game where you need to pretend a little bit. Nothing to be scared of.

The Celtic people of Ireland of 2,500 years ago who initiated many of the present day customs we celebrate on Halloween would be appalled. Nothing to be scared of? Make-believe? For them, the end of summer, end of harvest, end of their calendar year, and beginning of the dark days of winter was all too real. It was terrifying. They celebrated the festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-an) as they observed the ending of summer on October 31^st. The Celts people, who were Druids, believed that on this day, Baal, the Druid god of spring and summer, ended his reign, and Samhain, the lord of the dead, began his reign with the onset of winter.

As Samhain began his reign, the Celts believed that only on this night – October 31^st – the spirit world could intermingle with the living – as those who had died throughout the preceding year could come back in search of living bodies to possess. Naturally, the people did not want to be possessed, so they would dress in ghoulish costumes to frighten away spirits or they would set out food – treats – to appease the spirits from tricking them into becoming possessed. "Trick or treat" took on a completely different meaning for the Celtic people as they lived in fear of death.

Without the Gospel, without Jesus, mankind will always live in fear of death. Without the Gospel there is nothing to look forward to after death.

In the 7^th century A.D. the Christian Church began to celebrate "All Hallows Day" or "All Saints Day" to replace the pagan festival of Samhain and give resurrection comfort to Christians. Since "All Saints Day" or "All Hallows Days" was celebrated on November 1^st , the evening before – October 31^st -- was called "All Hallows Eve" and was suppose to be a prelude to All Saints Day. Halloween is simply an abbreviated version of "All Hallows Eve" – a church festival reminding people that death is nothing to be afraid of because through Christ we are all made saints.

Today most people don’t really celebrate "All Hallows Eve" anymore nor do they really celebrate "Samhain" but rather they celebrate what we call Halloween - a secular holiday. On Halloween the world would still like to "celebrate" the fear and death, while the Church would still like to remind you that through Jesus the fear of death has been removed. Halloween is about scaring people. All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day are about giving eternal comfort to Christians upon the death of God’s saints. Naturally, according to our human nature, when death comes to our door, we should be afraid, very afraid. Supernaturally, according to Christ and his Word, we have nothing to be afraid of.

What happens when we die? Should we be afraid of death? Is there anything after death? Those are questions that have been around for a long, long time and many people have tried to find the answers. Those are the kind of questions that the Celtic people tried answering 2500 years ago. People are still searching for the answers to those questions today in our so-called "modern" society.

In our world today, we can all too easily smell the "stench" of death. Death is in the fast-paced lives that we live. Death is in our obsession with "making it" no matter what, even if that means selling our very souls. Death is in the prevalent values of consumerism, materialism, and individualism, which exploit people and the world’s resources without any limits. Death is in our hunger and thirst for entertainment, which promotes violence as the means to solving life’s problems. The list could go on almost endlessly.

If you watched any TV or movies last weekend, you would have seen vampires, zombies, Freddy Krueger and Jason. All that blood and gore and death only emphasizes our natural fear of death. We live in a culture of death. So it is only fitting to borrow a quote from the horror movie, "The Fly": "Be afraid. Be very afraid."

Naturally, people fear death. They don’t want to think of death. They don’t want to discuss death. People don’t want to prepare for the eventuality of death. They don’t want to make out a will or purchase a cemetery plot or meet with the funeral home director or even meet with the pastor to plan their Christian funeral. Death is just too unsettling or morbid or depressing for them.

People try to deal with their feelings about death in different ways. For some, death is uncomfortable. I know of parents who won’t take their children to a funeral because they don’t want to expose their children to death. They think it is the end of all things. They won’t be able to run or play or love anymore. For some, death is excruciating. I’ve been to a funeral where a young man had been tragically killed. As the casket was being placed into the hearse, the mother ran to the hearse, grabbed the casket of her dead son and began screaming and crying uncontrollably.

Others will try to find comfort in death by denying the existence of an afterlife. While I was out door canvassing one day, I stopped a man while he was cutting grass and invited him to church. He said he didn’t go to church because he didn’t believe in heaven or hell. He only believed in the grave, and nothing after it. Even some "religious" groups cannot give any kind of comfort to the hurting. I attended the funeral of a woman who had been murdered at gunpoint. The funeral was led by a Mormon "pastor." There was no mention of Jesus or heaven or resurrection comfort. All that was offered as "comfort" was family and friends giving their testimonials about what a wonderful woman and friend and mother the deceased had been.

All very sad ways to deal with death. But all very illuminating of why we should fear death. If death makes us uncomfortable or afraid, it is only natural. The writer to the Hebrews writes that we are "held in slavery by our fear of death." We are slaves to our fear of death. Why does death terrify us so? Death is terrifying because it isn’t natural.

God created Adam and Eve to live forever. They weren’t meant to die. They were cursed with death when they ate the forbidden fruit. God created man by forming him from the dust of the ground and breathing life into him. Death is the return of our human bodies back to dust. Death is having God’s breath torn from our bodies. Death is having our eternal soul ripped from our earthly flesh. That is not natural.

And not only is death unnatural, but hell is certainly unnatural. God created hell for the devil and his demons. But because of mankind’s sinful rebellion, God will send unbelievers to hell, not because he wants to, but because they deserve it. If they don’t want to love him and desire his heaven, then he will honor their desire and send them to the one place in the universe where he is not present – hell. And hell is a truly terrifying place – unquenchable fire, weeping and gnashing of teeth, unending pain and suffering, eternal darkness.

Naturally, be afraid. Be very afraid.

A man often walked through a cemetery on his way home. One night, though, unaware that a new grave had been dug in his path, he fell in. He struggled for some time to get out of the 7-foot deep grave, but finally gave up and settled down for the night. An hour later, a farmer out opossum hunting came walking through the cemetery and he too fell into the grave. He began a desperate attempt to get out, unaware that there was anyone else in the grave. The first man listened to him for a few minutes, then reached over in the pitch darkness and laid a hand on the farmer’s shoulder. "You can’t get out of here," he said ... but that farmer did.

Naturally, we fear death, but supernaturally, because of Jesus, we have no reason to fear death. In fact, Jesus himself says in Revelation 2:10: "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life."

As frightening and foreboding as death may seem, it can neither hurt nor destroy the child of God. Cancer took Donald’s wife, leaving him with three children, all under 12. The day of the funeral, Donald and his family were driving to the service when a large truck passed them, casting a noticeable shadow across their car. Turning to his oldest daughter, who was staring sadly out the window, Donald asked, "Tell me, sweetheart, would you rather be run over by that truck or its shadow?" Looking curiously at her father, she replied, "By the shadow, I guess. It can’t hurt you." Speaking to all his children, Donald said, "Your mother has not been overridden by death, but by the shadow of death. That is nothing to fear."

For the Christian, for the saint of God, there is nothing to fear from death. Jesus has already conquered death. When Jesus died he bore the full horror of death and satisfied the wrath of God. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21) And when Jesus rose from the dead he assured us that the iron grip of death had been broken. "Because I live, you also will live," Jesus proclaimed. (John 14:19) Jesus’ death has made the death of his saints but a sleep. "We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him." (1 Thessalonians 4:14)

Though the ancient Celts and modern Americans may question what happens when we die, Jesus has answered that truth once and for all time. Though we were born sinners who are terribly afraid of death, Jesus has made us saints who have no need to fear death. That is why the Bible tells us, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." (Psalm 116:15)

One Sunday in church, the pastor asked the children to come to the front for their children’s devotion. He talked about Revelation and about heaven. He then asked the children, "What do you think of when you think about heaven?" 8-year-old Shannon raised her hand, waved frantically, and answered excitedly, "Party time!"

Because heaven is "party time," we can live this life with joy and expectancy at death instead of with dread and fear. We are able to live a "death-free life." We confess in our Creed: "I believe in … the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting." We don’t have this resurrection or everlasting life yet, but it’s coming. We know it is ours through Christ. His sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper assure us of his resurrection promise. We have the promise that we will exchange our hospital gown for a white robe of Christ’s righteousness. We will exchange our tubes and medicine bottles for the crown of life. In this life we may be poor in spirit, meek, mourning, and persecuted, but there is a new life that is coming where we shall be like Jesus and live forever in a paradise without fear, darkness, shame, sin, death, pain, suffering or tears.

Halloween is about fear and death. And unfortunately even 5-year-olds like Robby will be confronted with temptation, violence and even terrorism. All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day are about life – eternal life. As we await the death of God’s saints, we look forward to sleep, party time, and joys eternal. There is nothing to be afraid of. Even with death all around us, through Jesus we are able to live a new, death-free life! This is the joy of the saints who have gone before us. This is the hope and future of all who are called saints in Christ. Happy All Saints Day, saints of God. Amen.