Celebration

During most of my lifetime, celebration is the spiritual discipline that Christians have least mastered. We don't celebrate Jesus very well.

We repent. We confess. We strive to be righteous. We try to have a "quiet time" most days. We pray. We read the Bible. We make an effort to care about other people. We even study some.

In Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster wrote, "Celebration is at the heart of the way of Christ... we are called into a perpetual Jubilee of the Spirit. God has turned our mourning into dancing. Celebration brings joy into life, and joy makes us strong... Far and away the most important benefit of celebration is that it saves us from taking ourselves too seriously... After all, Jesus rejoiced so fully in life that he was accused of being a wine-bibber and a glutton... In celebration the high and mighty regain their balance and the weak and lowly receive new stature... Joy begets joy. Laughter begets laughter... modern men and women have become so mechanized that we have snuffed out nearly all experiences of spontaneous joy... One sway to practice celebration is through singing, dancing, shouting... There is not a thing wrong with noise at the appropriate time, just as there is nothing wrong with silence when it is appropriate."

And Richard Foster is from the Quaker tradition.

It makes me wonder, when you think of a party-throwing organization, does the church make the 10 Best list? Does it even make the list?

If so, wonderful! The joy of the Lord really IS your strength, and you know it deeply.

If not, what's stopping you? Are you a leader in your church? How about shaping the culture to be one of greater joy?

Like Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) said, "The Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot!"

And as the Apostle Paul wrote, "Don't live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants. Don't drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 5:17-19 MSG)


www.worshipcoach.us