Spiritual Disciplines | Celebration
There seems to be this prevalent idea throughout Christianity that encountering the presence of God results in a profound sadness or tears. We reduce any time where we do not come to the confrontation between our imperfection and sin with the holiness of God to being lacking in the Spirit. Furthermore, we tend to divide the sacred and the secular as being dichotomously opposed to one another. There is ample time to confront the depths of our depravity as we draw near to God. But when we only focus on our current distance between where we are and where we should be, we develop an understanding of a God who is consistently displeased with us and views us as never good enough. When we neglect the Spiritual Discipline of celebration, we ignore the qualities of God that shattered heaven and earth to pave our path home into eternity with Him and we ignore the blessings of life that God pours out on His people.
Celebration is the collective coming together to share in the goodness and blessing from God that lead to a collective joy rooted in the body of Christ. Celebration and confession are two sides of the same coin fulfilling Paul’s instructions to the church in Rome to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15, ESV) Confession involves the believer being open and honest with their struggles while celebration involves sharing the blessings of God as well. It is the Furthermore, this vulnerability finds its foundation on understanding that God reigns over all things whether they be enjoyable or not. We celebrate because of Jesus Christ’s victory to restore creation and mankind to the glory God originally intended as a blessing and because of the tastes of future glory we receive now. Sharing in how God continues to impact us shows the world around us that our God lives and cares for His people! No joy is too small or too large as to not give credit to God or to keep it to ourselves.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:4-9, ESV
The Occasions for Celebration
When celebration becomes simply finding the joy in the context of community, we can share the numerous occasions in our life and open up about the blessings God has given us. There is a different kind of emotional vulnerability we must exhibit with one another by sharing our joys. When we share our life in community, every aspect becomes important. One aspect of receiving good news from God can be the salve to someone else’s wound. We need each other. We need each other during the trials and during the joys. Thus, during whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, we can share the celebration of our joy with the body of Christ.
- Personal Life Events Personal victories come in all shapes in sizes. From the medical victories that signal the end of our struggle or even getting a new job, everyone will have good news at some point. During these times, we are free to share this joy with our church family. Usually, we are quick to share prayer requests with one another (as we should be) but how often do we share in the answer to prayers? Think of the testimony for a person struggling to hear from God by celebrating in the answered prayers from someone else. During the times God feels far off, the believer can be encouraged to know that God still listens, still hears prayers, and still works for the good of His people.
- Community Life Events Some events, though, are bigger than just one individual. The church and the body of Christ should be deeply imbedded into the local community to the point that, should the church close its doors, there would be a lasting impact on the community. When events happen in the community worth celebrating, this is a perfect time to come together and collectively give thanks to God. We can celebrate the hand of God who works throughout the community for the good of the people.
- The Work of Christ In The World Finally, our worship services should be a time of celebration. All too often, we worship God with the face of one infested with sour grapes. Christ reigns victorious over death. By the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross we are freed from the clutches of sin. If we cannot come together to wildly celebrate the victory of God, what else can we celebrate. The Gospel of Jesus Christ will forever be the greatest event in human history and the celebration of Christ’s reign now and for all eternity. Our worship should also reflect the celebration of this fact.
A brief caution on celebration. The goal of celebration will also be to give glory to the giver not the gift. Celebration of the blessings of God can easily move us towards a materialism that will halt our spiritual growth. Instead, we praise God in all circumstances through our vulnerability. Furthermore, when people are vulnerable with their joys, understand that, while joyful, is still a vulnerability. For whatever reason, when someone brings something to us, we must continually bear in mind that this is a joy. We cannot always know the whole story or the reasoning behind why this may bless a person, but we should not make fun of it. The world will give too many chides and criticisms for things in which there is nothing inherently wrong or sinful. The body of Christ should build one another up and pursue joy in the forms that God grants to His people as we celebration with one another.
