I'M BACK

Well, here I am back from vacation and attending a meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Chicago. I should have lots of material to discuss now. After all, I saw two operas, Bizet's The Pearl Fishers and Massenet's Manon. I saw two musicals, Wicked and Candide, two plays, Amadeus and The Screwtape Letters,a review, Side by Side by Sondheim, an awful lute concert, a good Gospel Concert, and a so-so Reformation Day program at a church which used to do a lot better. I heard at least 37 learned papers read on all sorts of religious topics, some so learned that I didn't understand anything the scholar said and a few so stupid that I could have done better myself. I also bought more than 50 books. (Well, there are great used book stores and the publishers sell discounted books at the meetings.) And I ate a LOT of fine food at restaurants (and drank some fine beer, but not lots.) With all of that, what do I want to tell you about? Halloween.

It's the first time I've been in Chicago for Halloween in 32 years. That night I had to travel on elevated trains to get to the Sondheim production in Evanston. I don't think I had ever traveled on the elevated on Halloween night before, so I have nothing to compare it to. It was positively surreal. The trains were filled with what appeared to be college students going to and from parties dressed in costumes. I assume they were wearing costumes although some younger folk dress pretty strangely on ordinary nights, so it is hard to tell.

I made notes of a fraction of what I saw. There was a vampire, a zombie, several bloody dead people, a surgeon covered in blood and carrying a head, two coffee farmers dressed in burlap sacks, several cats, many cross-dressing guys, an evil fairy, Mother Nature, Spider Man, a prisoner, two terrorists, two 50s characters with slicked-back hair and white t-shirts with cigarette packs rolled up in the sleeves, Uncle Sam, a pharaoh, 2 skinheads, and my personal favorite, a Rubic's Cube. We also had someone who looked very sick from drinking too much who managed to move to a different car before she threw-up. Except for her, everyone seemed to be having a jolly-good time.

I really should have worn the pirate hat and eye-patch I took with, but I didn't want to appear conspicuous. Perhaps I was more conspicuous by not dressing up. However, no one older than their 20s was parading around incognito, so it's better that I left my disguise in my suitcase.

I know if I researched it, there would be a lot of scholarly papers on people who wear costumes and such on occasions like Halloween, but I don't care. There are a good number of Christians who find all the Halloween stuff to be absolutely Satanic. I acknowledge that Halloween marked some old pagan observation which the Christians tried to appropriate by dropping a Holy Day on top of it. (November 1 is All Saints' Day.) That never worked as witnessed by Christmas which certainly preserves more old pagan customs than Halloween.

Well, I'm not going to be an old fuss-pot and complain about youngsters having a good time although I really wish they would do it without the consumption of huge amounts of alcohol. I prefer the ghostly sort of spirits to the distilled ones on Halloween. But moderation is a virtue. Even Paul enjoined Timothy to "take a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments" (1 Timothy 5:23). A little wine, note. Or perhaps a little beer. There is that misquote attributed to Ben Franklin: "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." (Franklin actually wrote that about wine, but beer is funnier.) Or my favorite remark on the consumption of alcohol from the Rule of St. Benedict. ". . .we believe that a hemina of wine a day is enough for each one. . . . Indeed we read that wine is not suitable for monks at all. But because, in our day, it is not possible to persuade the monks of this, let us agree at least as to the fact that we should not drink till we are sated, but sparingly. . . "

Now how did I get off on that subject? Well, I'm going to finish my tea (Ceylon orange pekoe with a spoon of blood orange added for exotic flavor) and read a half-dozen books or so. (Ha!)

May the Lord God bless you on your way and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne




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