The Art of Celebration
This past week I spoke at my home church for their Youth Large Group event. The topic I was tasked to speak on was, celebration. Which is completely ironic since we are counting down into our final week before Boldly Seeking turns ONE!!!!
Now thinking of celebration I was really struggling, because how does one define celebration? Party? Festival? But, once you bring up those words, what other things come to mind.
Leaning into what the students had already learned and what God was speaking to my heart, the idea of celebration is actually really simple. There are three categories that define celebration, Why do we celebrate, how do we celebrate, and when do we celebrate.
The first question “why do we celebrate” has a simple answer, and thanks to the Youth Pastor of my home church because just the first two categories launched me into the mission of celebrating every day.
Why do we celebrate? God commands us to celebrate. Exodus 23 explains that the chosen people were to work six days and rest of the third. Moving down to verse 14 God commands the people that three times a year they are to celebrate a festival to Him. The command to celebrate goes back even further to Exodus 12 at the Celebration of the Festival of the Unleavened Bread. Verse 14 says “this is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord - a lasting ordinance.” Similar to verse 17 God tells his chosen people that celebrating this festival is important because it reminds the people that God brought them out of Egypt.
Why do we celebrate - because God commands us to celebrate.
The second category is “how do we celebrate?”
The Youth Pastor, again, making perfect sense as I looked backed on celebration.
We jump to Luke 15 the Lost Parables. The point of the week the students were talking about this passage the main point was this,
“When we are looking for the things and the people that God looks for, we will find a lifetime of reasons to celebrate! “
How do we celebrate? We Look, We Find, and then we celebrate. We get to celebrate the one lost sheep being found and returned home. The same is for you and for me friends, the story of Jesus and the 99 WE are the ONE. We are the one sheep who is lost, but every time we run away and come back God celebrates. Even the smallest victories like telling the truth or forgiven. We are left with the verse Luke 15:10
“In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of angels of God over one sinner who repents”
How do we celebrate? We rejoice over the big and small victories.
Now friends - hold onto your seats because this question is my favorite. When do we celebrate?
There are three main events in the Christian calendar, Easter, Christmas, and Communion. Each one of these has a similar theme, when we celebrate these events, we celebrate to remember.
When we celebrate - we remember God’s faithfulness.
And as humans this idea can be hard with our short-term memories, but why do we celebrate even our birthdays? We celebrate God’s faithfulness and the gift of life. We may not remember the cake or presents, but we will remember the celebration of life, the life we had, and the gift of life ahead. But, despite God’s continued faithfulness, we get easily distracted by the big and small challenges where we forget the times where God has provided or parted the waters for us. In our times of struggle and anger, we are more apt to shake our fists and complain to God rather than organize a party.
We celebrate as Christians to anchor us to a deeper story beyond our past, present, and future struggles. God’s faithfulness carried from the Garden to the darkness of Easter, the joy of Christmas, and the wedding feast of Christ with his Bride, the Church.
So when do we celebrate, we celebrate in the GOOD times and in the BAD times. I read this story and I think it brings us to an important thought on HOW crucial it is for us to celebrate in the good and bad times of life.
“A man tells his friends about a dream he had. He dies and goes to heaven. When he walks into heaven he sees Jesus waving him over to join him at a small round table. He feels welcomed and accepted as he sits down in this intimate setting with the Lord. They talk and have a conversation. Jesus then said to the man “ I have a question for you.”
The man panics as he thinks this is the moment where he is about to be grilled on how many people he did or did not bring to Christ, or that moment 20 years ago that no one knows about, or he will have to account for all of his lies and failures. Maybe he didn’t pray, serve, or even love enough.”
But Jesus leans forward, intently listening for his response to his question:
DID YOU ENJOY THE GIFT OF LIFE?
Did you enjoy the gift of life?
God has called us to celebrate, to celebrate to REMEMBER God’s faithfulness in EVERY season of life. It can be hard to celebrate in the bad times, but it’s when we celebrate that we find joy. Celebrations like Christmas can be temporary and connect us with other people, but in those moments together, joy is produced. That joy carries us through each day so we don’t have to wait for the next celebration because we can celebrate every day, good or bad.
Why do we celebrate: We celebrate to remember God’s faithfulness
How do we celebrate: by rejoicing over the one sinner who repents, over the one small victory
When do we celebrate: in the good and bad times of life.
Maybe you are in a low time of life, but you can celebrate that you have a community around you right here willing to support you and walk through life with you. On the other hand, maybe you are on the mountain top. Celebrate! Celebrate the thing that makes you joyful in that moment.
It is when we celebrate that we can rejoice in and remember God’s faithfulness.
So when we get to heaven and we sit down at that intimate table for God to ask us…
Did you enjoy the gift of life?
Are you going to be able to say yes or no?
