CELEBRATION!

He finally did it. My brother graduated from seminary after long years of hard labor and rigorous toil! This was cause for celebration. And so we did!

We took a Caribbean cruise earlier this summer. Celebration! A few days of doing absolutely nothing but lounging around on the boat, eating, listening to music, seeing shows, eating, cavorting on the beaches (Yup! My kind of activity exactly!), eating, shopping, taking pictures, sleeping in, eating, reading, watching the waves …. Oh, and did I mention eating?

(So there we are, all dressed for a formal dinner: my brother, sister-in-law, nephews, Dad, and I.)

We celebrated!

Celebration is actually a spiritual discipline, oft overlooked. It is, in fact, the completion of the discipline of worship, inasmuch as it dwells on the greatness of God demonstrated in His goodness to us, His children.

We celebrate as we enjoy one another, our world, and all of God’s goodness, resting upon our faith in God’s magnificence, His beauty, His love. And we celebrate in concert with our fellow-believers, who, along with us, know and love the Triune God, as we together eat, drink, sing, dance, and tell of the goodness of God.

For everything created by God is good,
and nothing is to be rejected
if it is received with gratitude.
1 Timothy 4:4

In fact, in the Old Testament, God’s people were commanded to put aside money for such celebration.

You shall surely tithe ….
You shall eat in the presence
of the LORD your God, …
the tithe of your grain,
your new wine, your oil,
and the firstborn of your herd
and your flock …
Deuteronomy 14:22–23a

And notice the purpose of this celebratory activity:

… so that you may learn
to fear the LORD your God always.
Deuteronomy 14:22b

As we embrace the season of enjoyment, we really begin to see how great and lovely God is, and how good He has been to us. And thus we “learn to fear the LORD [y]our God always.” Awed reverence for God is not the donning of tight collars and the disposition of sour faces. Nope! To fear God this way includes making merry and having a good time! In the Caribbean!

Celebration diminishes our deprivations and sorrows, and magnifies our abundance and joys. And in celebrating the goodness of God we find the grace to continue to serve this good God!

The Bible is full of this exuberant activity:

You have turned for me
my mourning into dancing;
You have loosed my sackcloth
and girded me with gladness,
that my soul may sing praise to You
and not be silent.
O LORD my God,
I will give thanks to You forever.
Psalm 30:11–12

Earlier this week, I attended the funeral of a parent of good friends. It was a celebration! The goodness of God was manifest even as we grieved, for that loved one had gone home.

Death is swallowed up in victory.
1 Corinthians 15:54

The victory that believers have in Christ Jesus who paid for sins on the cross and rose from the dead. The goodness of God! Cause for celebration, indeed!

C. S. Lewis’ imaginative creation, the demon Screwtape, remarks with chagrin, “[Pleasure] is His [God’s] invention, not ours. He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one.”

We celebrate for God has the last word.

Rejoice in the Lord always;
again I will say, rejoice! …
And the peace of God,
which surpasses all comprehension,
will guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4, 7

Celebrate!