The Spirituality of Celebration
Brittany Beacham
Hanukkah. Kwanza. Ramadan. Diwali. Christmas.
Celebration is a core aspect of spirituality. The things we celebrate reveal a piece of who we are, a piece of what we value and believe in the most.
Life requires celebration – times of joy and rest. The modern rituals surrounding holidays often leave its observers that much more weary than when they started. And yet, from the beginning of creation to today, God has set aside for his people times of rest (Sabbath) and celebration.
Passover, the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Offering the First Fruits, the Festival of Weeks, the Festival of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Festival of Tabernacles were times set aside for remembering the good things God had done for his people – pointing them to things He had done for them in the past, reminding them of His provision and mercy for them in the present, and the promise of what He would do for them in the future.
When He sent is His son, Jesus the Messiah, He too modeled celebration. Throughout the gospels, we see Him not only observing His traditional Israelite holidays but feasting with friends and using celebrations as illustrations in His parables. Not only that, Jesus’ first public miracle was rescuing a party host who had made a critical ordering error (John 2:1-11).
As a Christian, celebration is an important aspect of how I live my faith. Christmas is spent not just in shopping malls and rushing from one event to another, but in twenty-five days of scripture reading, reflection on the Nativity and an intentional practice of hospitality. Easter begins and ends not with a quasi-spiritual bunny, but with a week marked by remembrances: the highly public adulation-turned-betrayal of Christ, the agony of His crucifixion and the earth-shattering, curtain-tearing, eternal glory of His resurrection. Forty-days later we remember that the power of His Spirit has been given to us for the purpose of building his Church everywhere he may send us.
The core of celebration is God. His goodness and faithfulness in who he is and in our lives, celebration is meant to give glory to Him. Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost – our celebrations point to Christ and His saving work in our lives. We celebrate these things, and our joy in the celebration of the goodness of God gives him glory.
On the fourth Sunday of every month, our church gathers together and participates in what we call God-stories. We share together the things God is doing in our lives – the things bringing us joy, and the ways He is present with us in our sorrow. Ultimately, we celebrate. We tell God-stories and celebrate the ways God is at work around us. We celebrate, and we give Him glory.
I have grown to deeply treasure the celebrations of my faith. They remind me, first and foremost of the good things God has done for me, and secondly, that I serve a God who longs for His people to be filled with rejoicing, celebration and joy.
