Spiritual Practices: Celebration
The accompanying reading plan for Celebration verses was sent to subscribers last month. When I sent it as an email attachment, I mentioned that I had come to understand that I was a person who set goals or objectives and once they were reached, I didn’t really acknowledge them. I tend to just move on to the next objective. Yet that is not what I see modeled in the Bible. From the Old Testament to the New, we see celebrations.
Celebrations in the Bible
In the Old Testament, we find celebration was spontaneous as well as a regular part of life as instructed by God. The feasts and festivals were a time of communal joy, worship and remembrance of God’s goodness. God outlined a number of celebrations or feasts to the people through Moses. Passover celebrates the release from slavery, the Feast of Unleavened Bread celebrates the haste of their departure from Egypt. The Feast of Weeks remembers the giving of the 10 Commandments and the harvest. The Feast of Tabernacles remembers the wandering and celebrates the harvest. Thanksgiving is also a common part of the offerings made during these festivals.
Other celebrations in the Old Testament included spontaneous worship and praise. David danced when the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem, and he wrote many songs celebrating God’s goodness and mighty works. Miriam sang after crossing the Red Sea and seeing the defeat of the Egyptian army. Purim was established by the people to celebrate the deliverance from Haman through Esther’s intervention.
In the New Testament, we find exhortations to rejoice in the Lord. These include urging believers to rejoice as well as examples of heavenly celebration and gratitude.
Reflections on Biblical Celebrations
Particularly the Old Testament celebrations are interesting to me, since they are instructions from God. He marks the milestones in the life of the Israelites and encourages them to remember what was before and enjoy what the new situation or circumstance then was. I think is what has most struck me about celebrating… and that I haven’t really celebrated milestones or changes.
Yet this is something that God ordained for his people to do. We need to mark the changes in our lives, the changes in our spirituality, the changes in our pace or work or whatever we are doing. They were released from slavery and marked that. God provided for them, and they celebrated. They conquered their enemies with God’s help, and they praised him. In seeing all this in the Bible, I realized that this is also my joy or maybe even responsibility as his child; I should be celebrating.
Making an Effort to Celebrate
This year, I talked to a new friend, mentioning this. We agreed we would celebrate important things. We have celebrated our birthdays and my book launch. We have celebrated her second year of working with a company. We are making an effort to take time to mark the occasion but also the process that got us to that new place.
I have also begun a daily thanksgiving journal as part of this commitment to celebrate. I haven’t been as consistent with noting my thanks, I admit. I think I’ll have to do a one-week challenge then maybe a two-week challenge to build up the habit of praising God for his work around me.
How do you celebrate milestones? Maybe you have a family gathering, buy yourself a new book (he he) or something else… I’d love to hear what you do to celebrate goals and achievements. Would you share in the comments?
