Contemporary Christianity bears some unsettling similarities to that of the late Middle Ages. Today, many ostensible evangelicals have what is basically a Roman Catholic view of salvation, marginalizing the Gospel and trusting in their good works to earn salvation. Superstition and materialism abound, as in the “prosperity gospel” that dominates the bestseller lists and Christian television. Many churches and church leaders, as in the age of the late Middle Ages, seem obsessed with ostentatious wealth and political power. Immorality is rampant. The theology of glory reigns, and the way of the Cross has, in many circles, been forgotten.

Is it time for a new Reformation? How might that happen?

Is trick-or-treating dangerous now, with the threat of poisoned candy from all of the real-life monsters out there? That is the impression of many parents. Actually, though, all that talk of poisoned treats is an urban legend. It’s not true. Needles and razor blades in apples, though, have been found, though very rarely.

I know what some of you are thinking: But that happened to a friend of a friend of mine! But such second-degree sourcing is a mark of an urban legend. Nevertheless, I do think parents need to be cautious. As we literary scholars know, myths and legends often have a true theme: In this case, the legend speaks of the truth that there really are evil people in the world who are eager to harm children.

By the way, the website Snopes.com, which tracks urban legends, is an invaluable resource. Pastors need to consult it frequently, since sermons are a major way that urban legends circulate. That and the internet.

On an earllier blog post, I complained about how Halloween is getting ever more gruesome, sexualized, and taken over by adults. But now I read that companies are making–and apparently parents are buying–sexually-oriented costumes for little girls! Pre-teens! As young as 8! Read this and be appalled:

Gabby is 11.

And the Playboy Racy Referee costume was only the latest that her mother had vetoed one pre-Halloween-crazed afternoon at Party City in Baileys Crossroads as too skimpy, too revealing, too suggestive .

Bawdy Halloween costumes, however, have become the season’s hottest sellers in recent years. Not just for women, but for girls, too. And parents such as Cirenza don’t like it.

Gabby eyed the Sexy Super Girl but decided against it. A friend at her Catholic school had worn that costume for a Halloween parade and pulled the already short miniskirt way up to cover her tummy. “That didn’t look very good.” But Gabby did like the Aqua Fairy, a vampy get-up with a black ripped-up skirt, black fishnet tights and blue bustier that comes in medium, large and preteen. A medium fits a child of 8.

No.

How about the Funky Punk Pirate Pre-Teen, with an off-the-shoulder blouse and bare midriff?

No.

Gabby pointed to the Fairy-Licious Purrrfect Kitty Pre-Teen, which, according to the package, includes a “pink and black dress with lace front bodice and sassy jagged skirt with tail. . . . Wings require some assembly.”

Cheryl Cirenza shook her head in exasperated disbelief. “This is all so inappropriate. It’s really disturbing,” she said, eyeing a wall of such girl and preteen costumes as Major Flirt in army green, the bellybutton-baring Devilicious and a sassy, miniskirted French Maid, pink feather duster included. She’d just turned down her 13-year-old daughter’s request for a Sexy Cop outfit. “When I was their age, I was a bunch of grapes.”

But that was back in the days when Halloween was still a homemade kind of holiday, when an old sheet with eyeholes was a perfectly acceptable ghost and clumsily carved pumpkins on the front porch were about as elaborate as the decorations got. Now, Halloween is big business. Americans are expected to spend upwards of $5 billion this year on candy, ghoulish decorations and costumes. And the hottest trend in costumes, retailers say, is sexy. And young.