I’ve never been a Hallowe’en fan and I reckon its current popularity says a lot about the state of our present culture. And I’m not alone either. Sunday Times’ columnist India Knight has the same aversion too. “It’s horrible,” she writes. “I hate being scared. I don’t think it’s nice for children to be frightened or traumatised… I hate people being made up to look sick or freshly exhumed. .. It’s one giant bad vibe. Nobody - let alone a small child - needs that kind of imagery in their heads.”

Sadly, Hallowe’en has been well and truly high jacked and we are all the poorer for it. For let’s not forget that ‘Hallowe’en,’ a shortening of All Hallow’s Eve and signifies the night before All Saints’ Day. For centuries on, All Saints’ Day the church celebrated the lives of Christians who were now in heaven. And rightly so: We can learn so much from those the Bible likens to a ‘great cloud of witnesses.’

The tradition dates back to the time of Polycarp, a second century bishop of Smyrna who was martyred in AD 155.: “For 86 years,” he said “I have been (Christ’s) servant, and He has never done me wrong: How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” And so, as they prepared to burn him alive, Polycarp offered up prayers of faith and praise.

In the years following Polycarp’s death, Christians would gather annually to take communion beside his grave and by the seventh century the church had established a holy day to honour all the saints and heroes of the faith.

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Hallowe’en. Can you? Why focus on the dark and the chilling? Why not spend a little time pondering the virtues of those who have influenced our lives - and the life of our country - for the better?

The BBC adopted this approach last Sunday morning when it highlighted the achievements of Martin Luther and Thomas Helwys. We owe Luther a great deal even though his challenge to the church of the day resulted in strife and conflict. For Luther’s basic contention still stands: we cannot buy forgiveness, either for ourselves of for others. God, he said, simply wants us to trust Him.

Thomas Helwys was an advocate of religious liberty. But this was a dangerous concept in the early 17th century, and as a result, Helwys was thrown into Newgate prison where he died by 1616 at the age of 40. But he was right. No one, not even the king, can tell us what to believe or not believe.

And I could go on. But I daren’t finish without stressing that Hallowe’en is a great time to remember those ordinary Christians who have had a profound effect on our lives too. People like ‘Betty’ who was a key figure in Mount Pleasant Baptist Church when I became pastor there 1979. I am convinced that the fantastic growth we experienced at the time owed much to the extraordinary way that people such ‘Betty’ lived out their ordinary Christian lives.

For example, ‘Betty’ and her husband always sat at the back of the church to make sure they didn’t miss a visitor. They had a Sunday lunch ready if they would like to join them.

But nothing sums her up better than the comment she made when we were discussing the Bible’s understanding of homosexual activity. It was not something she was used to talking about, and she had no doubt that it was unacceptable. But, in words I will never forget, she said with a smile: “But, you’ve got to luv’em boy.”

I reckon it’s about time we recaptured Hallowe’en don’t you? We’d be a lot better off if we did.

Rob James is a Baptist Pastor broadcaster and writer who currently operates as a church and media consultant for the Evangelical Alliance Wales. He is available for preaching and teaching throughout Wales and can be contacted at [email protected]