June 9, 2025 • 31 mins
What if celebration isn't just something we do when life is going well, but a spiritual discipline we need to cultivate intentionally? In this eye-opening exploration of sacred celebration, we discover that God actually commanded his people to celebrate regularly—not as an optional add-on to faith, but as an essential practice for spiritual formation.
The ancient Israelites were instructed to observe three major festivals annually, gathering to feast, remember God's faithfulness, and celebrate his provision. Even the tithe—often viewed today as merely giving to support religious leaders—originally included a command to "buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink" and celebrate in God's presence. These weren't frivolous indulgences but sacred practices that shaped their understanding of who God is.
Celebration serves profound spiritual purposes. It helps us remember God's past faithfulness, creates space for awe and wonder, and provides a powerful antidote to our natural tendency toward cynicism and despair. In a world full of pain and hardship, celebration becomes a defiant act of hope—not denying reality, but insisting that despair doesn't have the final word. When we celebrate, we get a foretaste of God's coming kingdom, which Jesus himself described as a great banquet.
Perhaps most surprisingly, celebration allows us to participate in God's own joy. Scripture tells us God "will rejoice over you with gladness" and "exult over you with loud singing." The God of the universe celebrates—and invites us to join him.
Ready to cultivate this spiritual discipline in your own life? Try incorporating simple celebrations: sing (even in the shower), host meals with friends, dance without self-consciousness, play games, observe Sabbath rest, mark seemingly small milestones, and occasionally "treat yourself." These aren't trivial indulgences but revolutionary acts that form us into people of hope and joy.
How might your life change if you embraced celebration as a spiritual practice? What moments of goodness and grace might you notice that you're currently missing? Join us as we discover how to "stagger around a little" and experience the healing power of holy celebration.
Join us! Facebook | Instagram | www.clcelkriver.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So we are in the end of our sermon series on rhythm
and we believe that we arepeople, that we are what we
repeatedly do, and so be carefulof the things that you do over
and over again, because it willshape who you are and the kind
of person you become 10, 15, 20years from now.
And, yeah, so they sort ofossify and become the kind of
person you are.
So there are these ancientpeople that have all these
(00:20):
rhythms and Christian practicesthat help shape them, turn their
hearts towards God and evenshape their desires, and so
we've been going through those,from fasting to silence and
solitude to submission.
Last week we talked aboutworship and how we worship as
individuals, also as collective,and this morning we're talking
about my favorite onecelebration.
Are you ready Now?
I don't know about you, butevery year around wintertime my
(00:43):
big family gets together and wehave a celebration and we have
food and there's lots of goodfood and drink and there's all
kinds of stuff to drink andpeople bring gifts and we
exchange gifts and we call thiscelebration Christmas.
I don't know if you've everdone this yourselves, but I have
to work on that day.
It's kind of a bummer, but mosteveryone else has it off, and I
(01:04):
love it, though.
It's a great celebration tohave friends and family, you
exchange gifts and you have ameal together, and my
father-in-law is a big Vikingsfan.
He got this as a gift lastChristmas.
Yeah, it's a Vikings helmet.
This is our year.
You guys, the Vikings, aregoing to win it this year.
I believe in it.
Jj McCarthy, all the way.
We're riding them all the wayto the championship, because
sometimes you just got tocelebrate and have friends over
(01:25):
and have a nice meal andexchange gifts and remember what
happened in the past, and nomatter how big or even how small
sometimes the moment is smallyou want to celebrate the moment
that's small as well, like mygoddaughter.
Her name is Emma and shegraduated from kindergarten.
A couple days ago, I got a textfrom my sister-in-law, excuse
(01:45):
me and I said Brian, emma hasgraduated from kindergarten.
Now, I know that everyone'ssupposed to graduate
kindergarten right, I get it,but like this is something to
celebrate, I said, hey, have nofear, I'm going to send her a
gift from Amazon.
Look for it in the mail.
So I sent her this reallybeautiful bracelet.
It had all these beads on itand a cross, and it had like a
little encouraging note.
It was all pink, like the younggirls like, and I wrote this
note in there and I said hey,emma, exclamation point.
(02:06):
Emma, with some vigor, you know, congratulations on graduating
from kindergarten.
You did it.
Woo.
Uncle Ryan that's me is soproud of you, I love you and I'm
praying for you.
Proverbs 3, 5 through 6.
I had to have the obligatoryscripture there because I'm a
pastor From Uncle Ryan.
Now, here's the thing you don'tknow she goes to a Catholic
(02:29):
church.
Her mom grew up in the Catholicchurch and as a Catholic,
they're allowed one Protestantgodparent, and it's me.
Yes, so I infiltrated.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,I've snuck in behind enemy lines
and I'm back there.
You know influencing and yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, I've snuck in
behind enemy lines and I'm backthere.
You know influencing andteaching them the real stuff.
In fact, at the baptism, thepriest was there.
(02:49):
I go, I can do these too.
So I go.
Do you want some help, father,with the baptism?
He's like no, I don't.
Fine, I got this picture backfrom my sister-in-law.
This is her.
This is Emma.
This her as Emma.
This is the 830, the same thing.
Oh, yeah, wearing the bracelet,because sometimes you just have
(03:10):
to celebrate, am I right?
Like yesterday morning, my sonand I went out to Ida Lake, like
sometimes we'll do in thesummertime, and we went bass
fishing and early morning bitewas good.
We caught lots of fish.
Here's Gavin and the 10 pounderhe caught.
Yes, yeah, you can celebrate,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it's 10 pounds.
(03:31):
Just trust me on that one, thecamera makes it look smaller 10
pounds.
We caught five fish each.
If you count dogfish as a fishI do I'm like I caught a dogfish
and they're like we're countingthat as my tally.
You know my tally.
So we tied five to five and thedogfish pooped all over my
kayak.
It was a mess.
He still counts.
So, like after we're driving,I'm like dude, we got to
(03:53):
celebrate this great morningBecause we're out there early.
It was a beautiful morning onIda Lake, we're going to Caribou
.
So I got a coffee with twopumps of vanilla in it,
sugar-free, and Gavin got acinnamon, something or other I
don't even know what it was.
Because sometimes you just haveto celebrate, no matter how big
or how small the moment or theevent or the day is, and just
(04:15):
celebrate and bask in thegoodness of life, are you with
me so far?
Now, if you think I'm weird,this is actually Jewish law.
You heard it read a moment ago.
Here's the law.
It says three times a year,three times a year, every year,
you're to celebrate.
This is Jewish law.
There's three festivals theFestival of Unleavened Bread,
the one of the harvest and theFestival of Ingathering.
(04:37):
These have like different names, so I'm going to go through
them quickly.
The first one, the Festival ofunleavened bread, is also called
the Passover.
This was a great moment in theJewish history, in Israelite
history.
They were slaves in Egypt for400 years and God delivers them,
using Moses and Miriam and hisbrother Aaron, and they get set
free and they're liberated.
And so every year they wouldhave a celebration to celebrate
(05:00):
this moment.
And when they did, they had ameal, they had food and they had
wine and they had friends andfamily come together and over
the years, as it grew and theymoved forward as a nation, they
would regather in Jerusalem.
There'd be thousands, if notmillions, of Jews coming to
celebrate Passover.
Now we know, in Jesus' day,that's when they were gathering
around the time of thecrucifixion to celebrate
(05:21):
Passover, because they wanted tocelebrate as a people.
That was what they werecommanded to celebrate.
The second one, which was calledthe Festival of the Harvest, is
also called Shavuot.
Everyone say Shavuot.
Now Shavuot could mean it alsois rendered as the Festival of
the Harvest or the Festival ofWeeks.
It's actually today.
Anybody know what today is inthe church calendar?
Pentecost Exactly, churchcalendar Pentecost.
(05:48):
Exactly it's 50 days afterPassover, and so Shavuot means
like 70 or seven because it's 49weeks after Passover.
And so it's 49 weeks or 50 dayssorry, not weeks, days or 50
days after Passover theycelebrate Shavuot and it goes
back to this moment.
They're celebrating the momentwhen Moses goes up on Mount
Sinai and receives the law, andso they're celebrating every
year hey, gather together,remember God giving you the law,
(06:08):
so his commands, his goodness.
They thought the Torah was agift from God, his provision of
guidance along the way, hisfaithfulness, and the Torah
itself.
And I've never seen an image ofthe stones being so small.
You ever seen that?
This is like the mass paperbackedition of the law, I guess.
But third festival was this onethe festival of the tabernacles
(06:29):
.
Every year have a festival,have a big party to celebrate
the tabernacles, and what thatmeant was that they were to look
back on their history when theywere wanderers in the desert
for 40 years.
And though it was a desert, itwas hot and they were were dry
and it was sometimes miserableGod provided for them food and
quail and manna and water.
He was with them in the desert.
(06:50):
So three times a year, god'slike hey, gather together and
remember these stories in yourhistory and celebrate and have
friends and family over andcelebrate.
It was awesome.
Also, there was this one of myother favorite ones.
You probably have heard of thetithe.
Well, the tithe was this 10%gathered in Jewish history.
They would gather a tenth ofall the things that they earned,
(07:11):
so their crops, their livestock, their goats, their animals,
whatever it was and they wouldbring a tenth of it to the
temple and they would give it tothe priests and the Levites,
because the priests and theLevites didn't have other jobs.
That's what they did.
They ran the temple.
So the people would bring atenth of what they earned, a
tithe, and they'd bring it tothe temple.
This is our model for giving toa church.
It's not the exact same thing.
It's what it's modeled off ofand they would bring it to the
(07:33):
temple to give it to the priest.
But the tithe was also used forsomething else.
Check this out out.
I love this.
In Deuteronomy it says, hey,make an offering of 10%.
This is the tithe, also A tithe, all of your produce.
Now what do they do with it?
Bring it into the presence ofGod and there eat the tithe from
your grain so they're supposedto eat their own tithe, okay and
(07:57):
drink the wine and oil and thefirstborn from your herds and
your flocks.
Cook one of those bad boys upand fillet it and eat it.
In this way, you will learn tolive in deep reverence before
God.
Now, some folks lived so faraway they couldn't like bring
their whole herd of goats, liketo travel the you know the
dozens of miles, and so theywould sell all, they would sell
their crops or their animalsthat their tithe was, and they
(08:19):
would get that money and theywould take the money and bring
the money to Jerusalem.
Now, with that money, then Godcommands them hey, with that
money, buy anything you wantCattle, sheep, wine, beer, a
Chipotle burrito, anything youwant yeah, it's in there, it's
in the scriptures Anything thatlooks good to you.
(08:41):
How cool is that?
You and your family can thenfeast in the presence of God and
have a good time.
Do you know that the tithe waslike a sacred party, a sacred
meal, a celebration of theprovision of God.
So they would gather, theywould bring their tithe and they
would have this massive partywith all these people coming
from all around to remember andrejoice in God's provision.
(09:04):
I love it.
It was a celebration.
So the word for celebrate inHebrew is this word haggag.
Everyone say haggag.
Haggag, as you can see, meansto celebrate, to feast, or to
hold a feast, or to have afestival or to dance.
It can also though I love thisit can mean to stagger around or
(09:24):
to reel to and fro.
Now, look, I get it.
We're all very serious people,We've got serious jobs and
serious lives.
We're all adults in here and wecan't be messing around.
We're in church, we're veryserious people.
But, my friends, sometimes youand I need to just reel to and
fro and stagger around just alittle bit.
Are you with me?
Now?
Jewish law called for thepeople to throw a party.
(09:49):
Don't blame me, it's in theJewish law.
Now, here's why Becausecelebration helps us remember.
So when they would celebratethese festivals, the festival of
Passover and Shavuot and thetabernacles.
They would retell these storiesof God's provision and his
salvation, his rescuing of them,his presence with them, and
(10:09):
they would remember their call,the call that God had on their
lives.
That happened maybe generationsearlier.
And they would remember theircall, the call that God had on
their lives.
That happened maybe generationsearlier.
And they would remember thatGod's providing for them in the
desert or in the dry times, thathe provided enough sustenance
for them, and they'd rememberGod's presence, that he wasn't
far away, he was with them.
And they would retell thesestories.
They'd have a feast and foodand wine and drink and they'd
(10:30):
have family and friends, foodand wine and drink and they'd
have family and friends and theywould remember the Passover.
It would help them remember asthough it were happening today,
so like they recall.
Somehow in this ritual ofcelebration, they recall the
past into the present, so likewhen we share around the meal,
we're not just remembering withour brains oh yeah, jesus died,
he loves us.
Okay, let's go about our work.
No, it's this ritual, thatsomehow the sacred thing that
(10:52):
recalls the past into thepresent moment, as though it
were happening today, and theywould celebrate.
They have a party.
It was a huge deal for them inorder to remember, as though
we're happening today.
I had a friend who did marriagecounseling for older couples who
had been through many years ofmarriage and they would come to
him when they were like thingshad become dry and they were
(11:13):
strained and they were stressedout and they were on the verge
of divorce and he would leadthem through practices where he
would help them remember whythey first fell in love.
So he would say, well, tell mehow you first fell in love and
tell me why you first like eachother, because sometimes you
forget why you liked the personacross from the table, from you,
you know.
And they would tell thesestories and, like over the
(11:34):
course of time, he would somehow, as this therapist, bring the
past into the present and they'dremember.
Their hearts would soften,they're like, oh my gosh, not
every time, but they rememberwhy they fell in love.
I don't know why I'm gettingemotional, but they remember
like, oh, this is why I like youand why I love you.
And it would heal a lot oftimes the wounds they'd
(11:58):
experienced, not every time, butlike remembering somehow made
them present and what happenedback there brought them into
today, and so celebration doesit.
It helps us remember in thepast where God was present, that
God was faithful before that.
God delivered me before that.
God was with me before andhe'll be that way again.
Celebration also does this.
It creates awe and wonder, andagain, I know that we're so
serious and we're adults, butman, sometimes it does the soul
(12:22):
good to just make room for aweand wonder, and I've quoted this
many times this last year.
But Abraham Joshua Heschel saidthat awe and wonder is the
beginning of faith.
So if you're here today, you'relike I'm struggling with my
faith, I just don't always.
Maybe you need to go outsideand just like, look around and
drink in the miracle of lifeitself.
It's a miracle that any of usare in here.
(12:44):
I just want to remind you.
It's a miracle likescientifically, this is a
miracle that you're even alive.
I forget the odds, but it'slike one in billions that you're
even alive and you're hereright now.
And what are the odds that allof us would be here in this room
together?
And yet here we are.
Life is this incredible,precious gift.
It's a miracle.
(13:06):
And, celebrating, we pause, wetake a minute to sort of stop
our normal everyday lives.
Like, oh yeah, this is anincredible gift.
Like, look around and drink itin and don't miss it.
Now look, in the modern worldwe're very much utilitarian
people.
Like we have our task list,we're very goal-oriented.
Well, I will do these things aslong as my outcome is such and
(13:27):
such, or it produces X amount ofdollars or this goal of mine.
If not, I'm not going to botherwith it.
Right, we don't like fluff, wedon't like to go off the path
too far, because we're very muchinto utility, you know.
But did you know that food hastaste?
Yeah, food tastes good.
Most of it, a lot of it.
You ever had a pineapple man?
(13:49):
It's so good.
Sprinkle a little bit littlesalt on there, it just cuts the
salad so good.
You ever had one of those.
You ever drink like pure guavajuice, man, incredible.
Why does food taste likeanything?
If food was just for utility,just for calories, it could
taste like dirt.
Who cares?
But it doesn't.
(14:10):
Food tastes good and andlaughing, laughing feels good.
You ever laugh really hard andyou're like, oh my gosh, that
was like a therapy session.
I feel like I'm 12 again.
This is incredible.
And dancing, dancing is fun.
Don't lie to yourself.
It's fun, I'm telling you.
(14:30):
I have a rule for life Ifsomebody ever asks you to dance,
you got to dance.
Here's the secret.
None of us are good at it okay,maybe the half person that take
lessons fine, but everyone elsekind of stinks at it.
That's part of the fun.
Dancing can be fun.
Yeah, life is sort of madealmost to be enjoyed and there's
(14:51):
awe and wonder to the wholething.
Now, I don't mean certainly Idon't mean some kind of like
off-the-rails hedonism orindulgence run amok or awry.
Of course these things likepleasure can get off the rails
pretty quickly.
But God has made life to enjoyand pleasure seems to be this
theological experience thathuman beings can have.
(15:12):
Otherwise, pineapples wouldtaste like apples, would taste
like grass and taste like dirt.
That's what life is.
Life is incredibly beautiful,wonderful gift, and these things
are meant for you and I toenjoy, to take pleasure in these
things.
And here's what I love aboutwonder and awe.
Any of us can cultivate a lifein wonder and awe.
(15:33):
You can be young, in fact.
Young folks do this verynaturally.
They just like live lives ofawe and wonder Like oh,
everything's like a surprise.
It's incredible.
You can be old, by the way.
That's probably why Jesus said,hey, unless you have the faith
like a child, you won't enterinto the kingdom of God.
Maybe we you and I should justwatch young kids and just see
how they engage the world andmaybe try to follow and mimic
(15:55):
them.
But you can be old and you canalso experience awe and wonder.
You can be rich and experienceawe and wonder.
You can be dead broke and stillexperience awe and wonder.
It's like the great equalizer.
Any of us can do it.
I love it, all of us.
Now, birthdays are a greatchance to experience awe and
wonder.
A good friend of ours turned 47.
(16:15):
Last night went to a birthdaycelebration for her.
Now here's the deal.
I know many folks who don'tlike birthdays, and I get it.
For many folks it's justanother reminder that one day
they're going to die.
Let me let you in on a littlesecret.
All of us are going to die.
Look at me If you hear nothingelse.
(16:35):
We're all going to die.
God forbid anytime soon.
We're all going to die, evenyou young ones.
You're going to die sometime,hopefully a long time from now.
But here's the other thingEvery moment until then, we're
not going to die, we're alive.
So birthdays could be like thisbeautiful celebration, like, oh
my gosh, I've made it, I'm 45.
I made it 45 years.
(16:56):
And here we are, and look atthese friends and family I have
around me.
We're going to exchange somegifts and have a meal and we're
going to celebrate all thewonderful gifts I've been given
over this course of 45 years.
What a beautiful thing tocelebrate the birthday and we'll
sing some songs.
And we'll sing some songs andwe'll exchange some things and
(17:16):
we'll remember what a gift it isto be alive, because
celebration creates awe andwonder and somehow, in all of it
, it deepens our own faith.
Yeah, perhaps some of us todayneed to just experience some awe
and wonder this morning,because it's all a gift, all of
it.
So we might as well staggeraround a little bit and reel to
and fro.
Are you with me?
(17:39):
Celebration also does this.
Oh, by the way, I love thisquote by Khalil Gibran.
He says the soul cannotcelebrate unless it learns to
see the wonder in existence.
By the way, I think it can gothe other way too, that
sometimes you can't experienceawe and wonder until you fully
enter into celebration and likelet go and experience in a deep
way this joy and rejoicing, thatsort of transcends
(18:01):
understanding sometimes.
But the soul cannot celebrateunless it learns to see the
wonder in existence and that Godis the source of all blessing
and all goodness.
Celebration also does this.
It can heal the human condition, because many of us we're so
serious, we tend towards thingslike despair and existential
(18:23):
angst or dread.
Now I get it like look, theelephant in the room is that
life is hard, it's very hard,it's very hard, and life can be
full of pain and suffering andloss, and you might be betrayed
in the course of your lifetime.
You might lose a loved one,your spouse might leave you, you
(18:44):
might get a diagnosis.
It's just too much to bear andI get it.
It's hard, man, life is tough,and if life hasn't punched you
in the face yet, it will one ofthese days, or maybe it's done
it to a friend of yours orsomeone close to you.
But life is hard and so it'seasy for us to just sort of tend
and lean towards cynicism andbecoming jaded or disconnected
(19:04):
or people who fall into despairand loneliness and these kinds
of things.
And this way, celebration,though, I think is the antidote
to this because it zooms out andreminds us that we're part of a
bigger story.
And our story began a long timeago in the Hebrew scriptures
with this story about humanityand Adam and Eve walking off the
(19:25):
path and doing life their ownway and all the destruction that
sort of was in the wake of allof that.
But Jesus promises to fulfilland renew all things and he says
this kingdom of God, which willcome in fullness one day down
the road you can read about itin Revelation when God restores
and renews all things and healsthe world and puts things back
to right.
That day is dawned in Jesus,but it's not here fully yet.
(19:49):
We live in the in-between timein between Adam and Eve, if you
will, and the restoration of allthings and the renewal of all
things when God heals the world.
So we live in this sort of now,but not yet, and celebration
reminds us of the end of thestory.
We kind of zoom out, oh, yeah,yeah, yeah, and we get a taste,
a foretaste, a sliver, a hint,maybe a whisper of the picture
(20:12):
of the kingdom of God that willcome in fullness that one day,
though.
Things are kind of mucked upand messed up right now and I
experience extreme pain andsuffering which is very real.
One day God will restore allthings and renew all things, and
so I can experience healing andwholeness in a small way, here
and now, and it gives me abigger worldview that I can hold
(20:32):
kind of close to my heart andbegin to heal how I see all
things in the world.
That's what celebration does.
The Jews believed thatcelebration could actually heal
the world.
They believed that celebrationwas an act that would restore
and heal the world.
That's why God made them do it.
Restore and heal the world,that's why God made him do it.
That's an act itself ofrestoration.
(20:54):
I love it.
Jesus shows up.
He's like, hey, the kingdom ofGod when God restores all things
.
But the kingdom of God is whenthe reign and rule of God comes
on earth as it is in heaven.
So it's when justice will reign, when the way God wants things
will come into fullness and inflesh.
It's the restoration of allthings, the healing of all
(21:16):
things, a new creation.
And Jesus said when the kingdomof God comes, it will be like a
feast, a great banquet,something like that.
Yeah, look at that bad boy.
Oh, my gosh, that's asparaguson top of salmon with some
onions.
Oh man, I love asparagus.
I'm hungry already.
Yeah, why would Jesus say that?
(21:39):
The kingdom of God?
He could explain it in any way.
He's like oh, it's actuallylike eating this beautiful meal
and dancing and staggeringaround and wriggling to and fro.
It's a celebration.
This is the kingdom of God.
In this way, then, celebrationis a defiant act of hope.
It's saying, hey, I know thatthe world is not how I want it
(22:01):
to be or how it should be, but Iknow that one day it will be,
and in the meantime, I canexperience moments of it, a
taste of it, and so I refuse tolet life sort of get the better
of me and I'll hold on to hope.
For dear life, I'll hold on tohope.
Celebration is this sort of act.
It's like sort of this divineprotest against despair, because
(22:23):
despair can easily overcome allof us, or each of us.
And here's the reality aboutcelebration when you go into one
, your troubles were therebefore you got into the
celebration, and your troubleswill be there when you come out
of the celebration, like whenyou go celebrate or have a party
or have friends over or host adinner or go out for a birthday
dinner, your bill that was duebefore you went into it, it's
(22:46):
still gonna be due after youcome out of it.
You know, or that diagnosisthat you got when you went into
that celebration it'll probablybe there when you come out of it
, and the ripples or the riftsin your marriage that were there
before they'll probably bethere after.
But for a moment you canexperience something unique,
(23:08):
like this gift from God and youreyes can be opened to the way
things could be and like, oh,everything is a gift anyway.
It's this defiant act of hope.
It's not ignoring all thisstuff, it's recognizing the
presence of God in the here andnow, even here, and that somehow
can heal us long term when wehave this ritual, this rhythm of
celebration.
I love this.
(23:29):
This one of the singers from RunCollective.
He says this.
He says joy is a spiritualdiscipline.
We as people are much moreinclined toward negativity and
cynicism.
We don't find it easy ornatural to pursue joy and that's
why God, in his word, actuallycommands us to celebrate.
We come by a gospel worthcelebrating before a king who
celebrates.
We need to get down to theserious business of joy.
(23:52):
We must wrestle for ourblessing, must fight for our joy
, because cynicism can be soeasy.
By the way, here's how I wouldmaybe define cynicism.
It's folks who say, oh, I'veseen it all before, it's not
that impressive, nothing reallymatters and nothing will change.
That's easy.
It's easy to grow jaded andcynical and disengaged from life
(24:16):
and to say things like thisfrom afar, but in reality this
is really.
It's a protection fromdisappointment.
Most folks don't want to engagein life.
It's just easier if I standback here and avoid any
engagement in life to avoid everbeing disappointed again.
That's one way to do it.
It's actually quite easy,though it's quite lazy to be a
Seneca.
(24:36):
You can just stand back thereand not do anything.
It doesn't matter.
I've seen this before.
Nothing really ever will change.
It's really a mask for fear,because we're afraid and we're
vulnerable people.
We're afraid.
If I engage in it, it might notgo well, I know, but
celebration is an invitation.
Try it anyway.
Cynicism also is this refusalto risk.
(24:57):
It's a refusal to love again orto try again.
Celebration is this incredibleantidote that fights against
cynicism.
Yeah, I love it.
The Jews believe thatcelebration would heal the world
and our cynicism.
By the way, after World War II,many of the Jews, after
(25:20):
millions of them had beenslaughtered and killed
mercilessly.
Many of them wondered aloudlike has God abandoned us?
What does the future even holdfor us?
It's all lost.
Like almost half of them hadbeen killed, like this is.
And many of them lost hope andthey succumbed to despair.
Like how can we even be?
(25:41):
We're the chosen ones of God.
How can we even be in a worldlike where this could happen to
us?
But there were some in the midstthat said hey, you know what,
we're going to keep going.
And they refused to lose hopeand this act of defiance, like
we're not going to stop.
And so you know what they did.
They said we're going to havebabies Because we know the world
(26:02):
is broken and messed up.
We're going to keep goinganyway.
We're going to have kidsBecause we're going to push
against despair, to be a cynical.
No, it's all worthless.
We're not going to have kids.
No, we're going to have babies.
And, by the way, in case youdidn't know this, to have babies
you have to have sex, and sexcan be pretty great.
(26:23):
I'll leave it there.
But that's what they did.
And they had babies.
And, by the way, you must knowthis.
But lots of young people.
If you read any kind ofsociology reports out there, a
lot of young kids are not havingkids.
They don't want to have kids.
Do you know this?
And they don't want to because,like no, the world is too
messed up.
I'm not bringing a child intothis world, no, no, no.
We must push against despair andcynicism that so easily erodes
(26:44):
our hope and our joy, andprotest have kids or something
like that, and celebrate,because it's all a gift.
It's all just a mysterious,wonderful gift.
Last thing I'll say is this youknow, god is full of joy and
God celebrates.
So celebration is our enteringinto and imitating God's own joy
(27:05):
.
I love this version from thebook of Nehemiah.
I think it's Peter's favoriteor Peter's dad's favorite.
But the joy of the Lord is ourstrength.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, god.
You know God experiences joy.
I mean, he's the one whocommanded them to celebrate.
How about this one fromZephaniah the Lord, your God, is
in your midst.
He's a mighty one who will saveyou.
He will rejoice over you withgladness.
(27:27):
It's so easy to think, oh,god's pissed off at me, he's
angry again.
I get that, but he wants torejoice over you with gladness.
That's pretty good.
And he'll quiet you with hislove and he will exult over you
with loud singing.
Now, I know you guys, we're allMinnesotans and we don't want
to sing too loudly, if at all.
But, my friends, god will exultover you and I with loud
(27:52):
singing.
How undignified is that of God?
Yeah, because celebration isthis deeply, profoundly
wonderful thing that God hascalled each of us to do.
I love this quote.
I'll end with this and then acouple of ideas on how to do it.
But this great Jewish line thatthey had amongst their people
was that there is no joy withoutwine and without meat.
(28:13):
And there's also alcohol-freegrape juice and tofu available
for those who don't eat meat.
Yeah, I love it.
I wish we had a lunch today.
That would have been a goodidea.
But here's how we're going todo it.
Now we're going to have sometime to celebrate here.
We've got time.
But here's some ideas for howyou can be a person who
(28:34):
celebrates and engage in thediscipline or the rhythm of
celebration.
Here's some ideas you can sing.
I have a very close friend whosings in the shower very loudly
all the time.
He's a college kid.
He will sing so loudly.
His college friend's like whatare you doing in there?
Just doesn't care, sings loudly.
Yeah, yeah, it's worth singing.
You can host a meal, and maybeyou aren't a very good cook, I
(28:56):
get it, that's okay.
Invite a couple friends over,you could even get something
catered in.
But maybe make somethingtogether, maybe have a bottle of
wine or a bottle of Gatoradewhatever your drink of choice is
and just have a dinner and havesome friends over and celebrate
.
By the way, when I came in thismorning, sam goes hey, this is
awesome.
What are we celebrating, bro?
It's Sunday and I'm here andyou're here, we're going to
(29:19):
celebrate.
So folks are like what are wecelebrating?
We're celebrating life.
Man, we're here, let's go.
You can dance, I don't know.
Dance on your own dance at awedding.
Don't be Johnny Too Cool.
No more Johnny Too Cools.
Okay, we've got enough of thoseguys around and ladies Laugh,
hey, laugh, it's okay to laugh.
How about play some games?
You can invite some friendsover and just play some board
games or card games or whatevergames you like to play.
(29:41):
Maybe play some hide and seek.
If you're an adult, that couldbe kind of fun.
I'll come and watch.
It'll be hilarious.
How about practice the Sabbath?
Just take a day and do nothingand just see what happens.
That's a celebration.
That was another ritual theyhad to do as the Jewish people.
How about somebody?
(30:01):
Unexpectedly True storySomebody put a fishing rod in my
office.
I think it's a handmade fishingrod.
It's got my name on it.
It's made of Broncos, orangeand blue colors.
I have no idea who put it inthere.
Someone just dropped off.
I don't know what they're, youknow, and it said Ryan Fisher of
Men.
That was very, very cool.
So thank you if you're in here.
Whoever did that.
But, yeah, do that.
Why not Celebrate life?
How about this one?
Make your events as a familyinto celebrations.
(30:22):
You know?
Yeah, if your kindergartnergraduates, good for them.
I know it's easy, but theycould have not graduated, they
could have just not.
I don't know.
But here we are.
Buy them a gift, light a candle, smash something.
This is a great day to be alive.
How about this one?
Treat yourself.
Or, as they say in Parks andRec, treat yourself.
(30:42):
Yeah, maybe you've alwayswanted this shirt.
You're like there's no goodreason to.
Or you have that thing in yourAmazon cart for all this day.
I don't know.
Yeah, go ahead and treatyourself why not?
Because today we're alive andwe're here, and it's a gift.
So, central Lutheran Church,may you know the joy of God this
(31:05):
morning.
May you have this deeplyingrained sort of sense that
celebration is a good andwonderful and divine act, and
may you drink in the momentsthat are all around us all the
time.
May you have awe and wonder.
May you remember God's presencein your life back then and the
reminder that God will renew allthings and in the midst of this
pain and sorrow that we live in, that's also filled with beauty
and wonder that we can, withoutany kind of like malice, we can
(31:29):
defiantly push against despairand cynicism and be people of
hope.
So, central Lutheran Church,this morning, may we celebrate.
So we are in the end of our sermon series on rhythm
and we believe that we arepeople, that we are what we
repeatedly do, and so be carefulof the things that you do over
and over again, because it willshape who you are and the kind
of person you become 10, 15, 20years from now.
And, yeah, so they sort ofossify and become the kind of
person you are.
So there are these ancientpeople that have all these
(00:20):
rhythms and Christian practicesthat help shape them, turn their
hearts towards God and evenshape their desires, and so
we've been going through those,from fasting to silence and
solitude to submission.
Last week we talked aboutworship and how we worship as
individuals, also as collective,and this morning we're talking
about my favorite onecelebration.
Are you ready Now?
I don't know about you, butevery year around wintertime my
(00:43):
big family gets together and wehave a celebration and we have
food and there's lots of goodfood and drink and there's all
kinds of stuff to drink andpeople bring gifts and we
exchange gifts and we call thiscelebration Christmas.
I don't know if you've everdone this yourselves, but I have
to work on that day.
It's kind of a bummer, but mosteveryone else has it off, and I
(01:04):
love it, though.
It's a great celebration tohave friends and family, you
exchange gifts and you have ameal together, and my
father-in-law is a big Vikingsfan.
He got this as a gift lastChristmas.
Yeah, it's a Vikings helmet.
This is our year.
You guys, the Vikings, aregoing to win it this year.
I believe in it.
Jj McCarthy, all the way.
We're riding them all the wayto the championship, because
sometimes you just got tocelebrate and have friends over
(01:25):
and have a nice meal andexchange gifts and remember what
happened in the past, and nomatter how big or even how small
sometimes the moment is smallyou want to celebrate the moment
that's small as well, like mygoddaughter.
Her name is Emma and shegraduated from kindergarten.
A couple days ago, I got a textfrom my sister-in-law, excuse
(01:45):
me and I said Brian, emma hasgraduated from kindergarten.
Now, I know that everyone'ssupposed to graduate
kindergarten right, I get it,but like this is something to
celebrate, I said, hey, have nofear, I'm going to send her a
gift from Amazon.
Look for it in the mail.
So I sent her this reallybeautiful bracelet.
It had all these beads on itand a cross, and it had like a
little encouraging note.
It was all pink, like the younggirls like, and I wrote this
note in there and I said hey,emma, exclamation point.
(02:06):
Emma, with some vigor, you know, congratulations on graduating
from kindergarten.
You did it.
Woo.
Uncle Ryan that's me is soproud of you, I love you and I'm
praying for you.
Proverbs 3, 5 through 6.
I had to have the obligatoryscripture there because I'm a
pastor From Uncle Ryan.
Now, here's the thing you don'tknow she goes to a Catholic
(02:29):
church.
Her mom grew up in the Catholicchurch and as a Catholic,
they're allowed one Protestantgodparent, and it's me.
Yes, so I infiltrated.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,I've snuck in behind enemy lines
and I'm back there.
You know influencing and yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, I've snuck in
behind enemy lines and I'm backthere.
You know influencing andteaching them the real stuff.
In fact, at the baptism, thepriest was there.
(02:49):
I go, I can do these too.
So I go.
Do you want some help, father,with the baptism?
He's like no, I don't.
Fine, I got this picture backfrom my sister-in-law.
This is her.
This is Emma.
This her as Emma.
This is the 830, the same thing.
Oh, yeah, wearing the bracelet,because sometimes you just have
(03:10):
to celebrate, am I right?
Like yesterday morning, my sonand I went out to Ida Lake, like
sometimes we'll do in thesummertime, and we went bass
fishing and early morning bitewas good.
We caught lots of fish.
Here's Gavin and the 10 pounderhe caught.
Yes, yeah, you can celebrate,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it's 10 pounds.
(03:31):
Just trust me on that one, thecamera makes it look smaller 10
pounds.
We caught five fish each.
If you count dogfish as a fishI do I'm like I caught a dogfish
and they're like we're countingthat as my tally.
You know my tally.
So we tied five to five and thedogfish pooped all over my
kayak.
It was a mess.
He still counts.
So, like after we're driving,I'm like dude, we got to
(03:53):
celebrate this great morningBecause we're out there early.
It was a beautiful morning onIda Lake, we're going to Caribou
.
So I got a coffee with twopumps of vanilla in it,
sugar-free, and Gavin got acinnamon, something or other I
don't even know what it was.
Because sometimes you just haveto celebrate, no matter how big
or how small the moment or theevent or the day is, and just
(04:15):
celebrate and bask in thegoodness of life, are you with
me so far?
Now, if you think I'm weird,this is actually Jewish law.
You heard it read a moment ago.
Here's the law.
It says three times a year,three times a year, every year,
you're to celebrate.
This is Jewish law.
There's three festivals theFestival of Unleavened Bread,
the one of the harvest and theFestival of Ingathering.
(04:37):
These have like different names, so I'm going to go through
them quickly.
The first one, the Festival ofunleavened bread, is also called
the Passover.
This was a great moment in theJewish history, in Israelite
history.
They were slaves in Egypt for400 years and God delivers them,
using Moses and Miriam and hisbrother Aaron, and they get set
free and they're liberated.
And so every year they wouldhave a celebration to celebrate
(05:00):
this moment.
And when they did, they had ameal, they had food and they had
wine and they had friends andfamily come together and over
the years, as it grew and theymoved forward as a nation, they
would regather in Jerusalem.
There'd be thousands, if notmillions, of Jews coming to
celebrate Passover.
Now we know, in Jesus' day,that's when they were gathering
around the time of thecrucifixion to celebrate
(05:21):
Passover, because they wanted tocelebrate as a people.
That was what they werecommanded to celebrate.
The second one, which was calledthe Festival of the Harvest, is
also called Shavuot.
Everyone say Shavuot.
Now Shavuot could mean it alsois rendered as the Festival of
the Harvest or the Festival ofWeeks.
It's actually today.
Anybody know what today is inthe church calendar?
Pentecost Exactly, churchcalendar Pentecost.
(05:48):
Exactly it's 50 days afterPassover, and so Shavuot means
like 70 or seven because it's 49weeks after Passover.
And so it's 49 weeks or 50 dayssorry, not weeks, days or 50
days after Passover theycelebrate Shavuot and it goes
back to this moment.
They're celebrating the momentwhen Moses goes up on Mount
Sinai and receives the law, andso they're celebrating every
year hey, gather together,remember God giving you the law,
(06:08):
so his commands, his goodness.
They thought the Torah was agift from God, his provision of
guidance along the way, hisfaithfulness, and the Torah
itself.
And I've never seen an image ofthe stones being so small.
You ever seen that?
This is like the mass paperbackedition of the law, I guess.
But third festival was this onethe festival of the tabernacles
(06:29):
.
Every year have a festival,have a big party to celebrate
the tabernacles, and what thatmeant was that they were to look
back on their history when theywere wanderers in the desert
for 40 years.
And though it was a desert, itwas hot and they were were dry
and it was sometimes miserableGod provided for them food and
quail and manna and water.
He was with them in the desert.
(06:50):
So three times a year, god'slike hey, gather together and
remember these stories in yourhistory and celebrate and have
friends and family over andcelebrate.
It was awesome.
Also, there was this one of myother favorite ones.
You probably have heard of thetithe.
Well, the tithe was this 10%gathered in Jewish history.
They would gather a tenth ofall the things that they earned,
(07:11):
so their crops, their livestock, their goats, their animals,
whatever it was and they wouldbring a tenth of it to the
temple and they would give it tothe priests and the Levites,
because the priests and theLevites didn't have other jobs.
That's what they did.
They ran the temple.
So the people would bring atenth of what they earned, a
tithe, and they'd bring it tothe temple.
This is our model for giving toa church.
It's not the exact same thing.
It's what it's modeled off ofand they would bring it to the
(07:33):
temple to give it to the priest.
But the tithe was also used forsomething else.
Check this out out.
I love this.
In Deuteronomy it says, hey,make an offering of 10%.
This is the tithe, also A tithe, all of your produce.
Now what do they do with it?
Bring it into the presence ofGod and there eat the tithe from
your grain so they're supposedto eat their own tithe, okay and
(07:57):
drink the wine and oil and thefirstborn from your herds and
your flocks.
Cook one of those bad boys upand fillet it and eat it.
In this way, you will learn tolive in deep reverence before
God.
Now, some folks lived so faraway they couldn't like bring
their whole herd of goats, liketo travel the you know the
dozens of miles, and so theywould sell all, they would sell
their crops or their animalsthat their tithe was, and they
(08:19):
would get that money and theywould take the money and bring
the money to Jerusalem.
Now, with that money, then Godcommands them hey, with that
money, buy anything you wantCattle, sheep, wine, beer, a
Chipotle burrito, anything youwant yeah, it's in there, it's
in the scriptures Anything thatlooks good to you.
(08:41):
How cool is that?
You and your family can thenfeast in the presence of God and
have a good time.
Do you know that the tithe waslike a sacred party, a sacred
meal, a celebration of theprovision of God.
So they would gather, theywould bring their tithe and they
would have this massive partywith all these people coming
from all around to remember andrejoice in God's provision.
(09:04):
I love it.
It was a celebration.
So the word for celebrate inHebrew is this word haggag.
Everyone say haggag.
Haggag, as you can see, meansto celebrate, to feast, or to
hold a feast, or to have afestival or to dance.
It can also though I love thisit can mean to stagger around or
(09:24):
to reel to and fro.
Now, look, I get it.
We're all very serious people,We've got serious jobs and
serious lives.
We're all adults in here and wecan't be messing around.
We're in church, we're veryserious people.
But, my friends, sometimes youand I need to just reel to and
fro and stagger around just alittle bit.
Are you with me?
Now?
Jewish law called for thepeople to throw a party.
(09:49):
Don't blame me, it's in theJewish law.
Now, here's why Becausecelebration helps us remember.
So when they would celebratethese festivals, the festival of
Passover and Shavuot and thetabernacles.
They would retell these storiesof God's provision and his
salvation, his rescuing of them,his presence with them, and
(10:09):
they would remember their call,the call that God had on their
lives.
That happened maybe generationsearlier.
And they would remember theircall, the call that God had on
their lives.
That happened maybe generationsearlier.
And they would remember thatGod's providing for them in the
desert or in the dry times, thathe provided enough sustenance
for them, and they'd rememberGod's presence, that he wasn't
far away, he was with them.
And they would retell thesestories.
They'd have a feast and foodand wine and drink and they'd
(10:30):
have family and friends, foodand wine and drink and they'd
have family and friends and theywould remember the Passover.
It would help them remember asthough it were happening today,
so like they recall.
Somehow in this ritual ofcelebration, they recall the
past into the present, so likewhen we share around the meal,
we're not just remembering withour brains oh yeah, jesus died,
he loves us.
Okay, let's go about our work.
No, it's this ritual, thatsomehow the sacred thing that
(10:52):
recalls the past into thepresent moment, as though it
were happening today, and theywould celebrate.
They have a party.
It was a huge deal for them inorder to remember, as though
we're happening today.
I had a friend who did marriagecounseling for older couples who
had been through many years ofmarriage and they would come to
him when they were like thingshad become dry and they were
(11:13):
strained and they were stressedout and they were on the verge
of divorce and he would leadthem through practices where he
would help them remember whythey first fell in love.
So he would say, well, tell mehow you first fell in love and
tell me why you first like eachother, because sometimes you
forget why you liked the personacross from the table, from you,
you know.
And they would tell thesestories and, like over the
(11:34):
course of time, he would somehow, as this therapist, bring the
past into the present and they'dremember.
Their hearts would soften,they're like, oh my gosh, not
every time, but they rememberwhy they fell in love.
I don't know why I'm gettingemotional, but they remember
like, oh, this is why I like youand why I love you.
And it would heal a lot oftimes the wounds they'd
(11:58):
experienced, not every time, butlike remembering somehow made
them present and what happenedback there brought them into
today, and so celebration doesit.
It helps us remember in thepast where God was present, that
God was faithful before that.
God delivered me before that.
God was with me before andhe'll be that way again.
Celebration also does this.
It creates awe and wonder, andagain, I know that we're so
serious and we're adults, butman, sometimes it does the soul
(12:22):
good to just make room for aweand wonder, and I've quoted this
many times this last year.
But Abraham Joshua Heschel saidthat awe and wonder is the
beginning of faith.
So if you're here today, you'relike I'm struggling with my
faith, I just don't always.
Maybe you need to go outsideand just like, look around and
drink in the miracle of lifeitself.
It's a miracle that any of usare in here.
(12:44):
I just want to remind you.
It's a miracle likescientifically, this is a
miracle that you're even alive.
I forget the odds, but it'slike one in billions that you're
even alive and you're hereright now.
And what are the odds that allof us would be here in this room
together?
And yet here we are.
Life is this incredible,precious gift.
It's a miracle.
(13:06):
And, celebrating, we pause, wetake a minute to sort of stop
our normal everyday lives.
Like, oh yeah, this is anincredible gift.
Like, look around and drink itin and don't miss it.
Now look, in the modern worldwe're very much utilitarian
people.
Like we have our task list,we're very goal-oriented.
Well, I will do these things aslong as my outcome is such and
(13:27):
such, or it produces X amount ofdollars or this goal of mine.
If not, I'm not going to botherwith it.
Right, we don't like fluff, wedon't like to go off the path
too far, because we're very muchinto utility, you know.
But did you know that food hastaste?
Yeah, food tastes good.
Most of it, a lot of it.
You ever had a pineapple man?
(13:49):
It's so good.
Sprinkle a little bit littlesalt on there, it just cuts the
salad so good.
You ever had one of those.
You ever drink like pure guavajuice, man, incredible.
Why does food taste likeanything?
If food was just for utility,just for calories, it could
taste like dirt.
Who cares?
But it doesn't.
(14:10):
Food tastes good and andlaughing, laughing feels good.
You ever laugh really hard andyou're like, oh my gosh, that
was like a therapy session.
I feel like I'm 12 again.
This is incredible.
And dancing, dancing is fun.
Don't lie to yourself.
It's fun, I'm telling you.
(14:30):
I have a rule for life Ifsomebody ever asks you to dance,
you got to dance.
Here's the secret.
None of us are good at it okay,maybe the half person that take
lessons fine, but everyone elsekind of stinks at it.
That's part of the fun.
Dancing can be fun.
Yeah, life is sort of madealmost to be enjoyed and there's
(14:51):
awe and wonder to the wholething.
Now, I don't mean certainly Idon't mean some kind of like
off-the-rails hedonism orindulgence run amok or awry.
Of course these things likepleasure can get off the rails
pretty quickly.
But God has made life to enjoyand pleasure seems to be this
theological experience thathuman beings can have.
(15:12):
Otherwise, pineapples wouldtaste like apples, would taste
like grass and taste like dirt.
That's what life is.
Life is incredibly beautiful,wonderful gift, and these things
are meant for you and I toenjoy, to take pleasure in these
things.
And here's what I love aboutwonder and awe.
Any of us can cultivate a lifein wonder and awe.
(15:33):
You can be young, in fact.
Young folks do this verynaturally.
They just like live lives ofawe and wonder Like oh,
everything's like a surprise.
It's incredible.
You can be old, by the way.
That's probably why Jesus said,hey, unless you have the faith
like a child, you won't enterinto the kingdom of God.
Maybe we you and I should justwatch young kids and just see
how they engage the world andmaybe try to follow and mimic
(15:55):
them.
But you can be old and you canalso experience awe and wonder.
You can be rich and experienceawe and wonder.
You can be dead broke and stillexperience awe and wonder.
It's like the great equalizer.
Any of us can do it.
I love it, all of us.
Now, birthdays are a greatchance to experience awe and
wonder.
A good friend of ours turned 47.
(16:15):
Last night went to a birthdaycelebration for her.
Now here's the deal.
I know many folks who don'tlike birthdays, and I get it.
For many folks it's justanother reminder that one day
they're going to die.
Let me let you in on a littlesecret.
All of us are going to die.
Look at me If you hear nothingelse.
(16:35):
We're all going to die.
God forbid anytime soon.
We're all going to die, evenyou young ones.
You're going to die sometime,hopefully a long time from now.
But here's the other thingEvery moment until then, we're
not going to die, we're alive.
So birthdays could be like thisbeautiful celebration, like, oh
my gosh, I've made it, I'm 45.
I made it 45 years.
(16:56):
And here we are, and look atthese friends and family I have
around me.
We're going to exchange somegifts and have a meal and we're
going to celebrate all thewonderful gifts I've been given
over this course of 45 years.
What a beautiful thing tocelebrate the birthday and we'll
sing some songs.
And we'll sing some songs andwe'll exchange some things and
(17:16):
we'll remember what a gift it isto be alive, because
celebration creates awe andwonder and somehow, in all of it
, it deepens our own faith.
Yeah, perhaps some of us todayneed to just experience some awe
and wonder this morning,because it's all a gift, all of
it.
So we might as well staggeraround a little bit and reel to
and fro.
Are you with me?
(17:39):
Celebration also does this.
Oh, by the way, I love thisquote by Khalil Gibran.
He says the soul cannotcelebrate unless it learns to
see the wonder in existence.
By the way, I think it can gothe other way too, that
sometimes you can't experienceawe and wonder until you fully
enter into celebration and likelet go and experience in a deep
way this joy and rejoicing, thatsort of transcends
(18:01):
understanding sometimes.
But the soul cannot celebrateunless it learns to see the
wonder in existence and that Godis the source of all blessing
and all goodness.
Celebration also does this.
It can heal the human condition, because many of us we're so
serious, we tend towards thingslike despair and existential
(18:23):
angst or dread.
Now I get it like look, theelephant in the room is that
life is hard, it's very hard,it's very hard, and life can be
full of pain and suffering andloss, and you might be betrayed
in the course of your lifetime.
You might lose a loved one,your spouse might leave you, you
(18:44):
might get a diagnosis.
It's just too much to bear andI get it.
It's hard, man, life is tough,and if life hasn't punched you
in the face yet, it will one ofthese days, or maybe it's done
it to a friend of yours orsomeone close to you.
But life is hard and so it'seasy for us to just sort of tend
and lean towards cynicism andbecoming jaded or disconnected
(19:04):
or people who fall into despairand loneliness and these kinds
of things.
And this way, celebration,though, I think is the antidote
to this because it zooms out andreminds us that we're part of a
bigger story.
And our story began a long timeago in the Hebrew scriptures
with this story about humanityand Adam and Eve walking off the
(19:25):
path and doing life their ownway and all the destruction that
sort of was in the wake of allof that.
But Jesus promises to fulfilland renew all things and he says
this kingdom of God, which willcome in fullness one day down
the road you can read about itin Revelation when God restores
and renews all things and healsthe world and puts things back
to right.
That day is dawned in Jesus,but it's not here fully yet.
(19:49):
We live in the in-between timein between Adam and Eve, if you
will, and the restoration of allthings and the renewal of all
things when God heals the world.
So we live in this sort of now,but not yet, and celebration
reminds us of the end of thestory.
We kind of zoom out, oh, yeah,yeah, yeah, and we get a taste,
a foretaste, a sliver, a hint,maybe a whisper of the picture
(20:12):
of the kingdom of God that willcome in fullness that one day,
though.
Things are kind of mucked upand messed up right now and I
experience extreme pain andsuffering which is very real.
One day God will restore allthings and renew all things, and
so I can experience healing andwholeness in a small way, here
and now, and it gives me abigger worldview that I can hold
(20:32):
kind of close to my heart andbegin to heal how I see all
things in the world.
That's what celebration does.
The Jews believed thatcelebration could actually heal
the world.
They believed that celebrationwas an act that would restore
and heal the world.
That's why God made them do it.
Restore and heal the world,that's why God made him do it.
That's an act itself ofrestoration.
(20:54):
I love it.
Jesus shows up.
He's like, hey, the kingdom ofGod when God restores all things
.
But the kingdom of God is whenthe reign and rule of God comes
on earth as it is in heaven.
So it's when justice will reign, when the way God wants things
will come into fullness and inflesh.
It's the restoration of allthings, the healing of all
(21:16):
things, a new creation.
And Jesus said when the kingdomof God comes, it will be like a
feast, a great banquet,something like that.
Yeah, look at that bad boy.
Oh, my gosh, that's asparaguson top of salmon with some
onions.
Oh man, I love asparagus.
I'm hungry already.
Yeah, why would Jesus say that?
(21:39):
The kingdom of God?
He could explain it in any way.
He's like oh, it's actuallylike eating this beautiful meal
and dancing and staggeringaround and wriggling to and fro.
It's a celebration.
This is the kingdom of God.
In this way, then, celebrationis a defiant act of hope.
It's saying, hey, I know thatthe world is not how I want it
(22:01):
to be or how it should be, but Iknow that one day it will be,
and in the meantime, I canexperience moments of it, a
taste of it, and so I refuse tolet life sort of get the better
of me and I'll hold on to hope.
For dear life, I'll hold on tohope.
Celebration is this sort of act.
It's like sort of this divineprotest against despair, because
(22:23):
despair can easily overcome allof us, or each of us.
And here's the reality aboutcelebration when you go into one
, your troubles were therebefore you got into the
celebration, and your troubleswill be there when you come out
of the celebration, like whenyou go celebrate or have a party
or have friends over or host adinner or go out for a birthday
dinner, your bill that was duebefore you went into it, it's
(22:46):
still gonna be due after youcome out of it.
You know, or that diagnosisthat you got when you went into
that celebration it'll probablybe there when you come out of it
, and the ripples or the riftsin your marriage that were there
before they'll probably bethere after.
But for a moment you canexperience something unique,
(23:08):
like this gift from God and youreyes can be opened to the way
things could be and like, oh,everything is a gift anyway.
It's this defiant act of hope.
It's not ignoring all thisstuff, it's recognizing the
presence of God in the here andnow, even here, and that somehow
can heal us long term when wehave this ritual, this rhythm of
celebration.
I love this.
(23:29):
This one of the singers from RunCollective.
He says this.
He says joy is a spiritualdiscipline.
We as people are much moreinclined toward negativity and
cynicism.
We don't find it easy ornatural to pursue joy and that's
why God, in his word, actuallycommands us to celebrate.
We come by a gospel worthcelebrating before a king who
celebrates.
We need to get down to theserious business of joy.
(23:52):
We must wrestle for ourblessing, must fight for our joy
, because cynicism can be soeasy.
By the way, here's how I wouldmaybe define cynicism.
It's folks who say, oh, I'veseen it all before, it's not
that impressive, nothing reallymatters and nothing will change.
That's easy.
It's easy to grow jaded andcynical and disengaged from life
(24:16):
and to say things like thisfrom afar, but in reality this
is really.
It's a protection fromdisappointment.
Most folks don't want to engagein life.
It's just easier if I standback here and avoid any
engagement in life to avoid everbeing disappointed again.
That's one way to do it.
It's actually quite easy,though it's quite lazy to be a
Seneca.
(24:36):
You can just stand back thereand not do anything.
It doesn't matter.
I've seen this before.
Nothing really ever will change.
It's really a mask for fear,because we're afraid and we're
vulnerable people.
We're afraid.
If I engage in it, it might notgo well, I know, but
celebration is an invitation.
Try it anyway.
Cynicism also is this refusalto risk.
(24:57):
It's a refusal to love again orto try again.
Celebration is this incredibleantidote that fights against
cynicism.
Yeah, I love it.
The Jews believe thatcelebration would heal the world
and our cynicism.
By the way, after World War II,many of the Jews, after
(25:20):
millions of them had beenslaughtered and killed
mercilessly.
Many of them wondered aloudlike has God abandoned us?
What does the future even holdfor us?
It's all lost.
Like almost half of them hadbeen killed, like this is.
And many of them lost hope andthey succumbed to despair.
Like how can we even be?
(25:41):
We're the chosen ones of God.
How can we even be in a worldlike where this could happen to
us?
But there were some in the midstthat said hey, you know what,
we're going to keep going.
And they refused to lose hopeand this act of defiance, like
we're not going to stop.
And so you know what they did.
They said we're going to havebabies Because we know the world
(26:02):
is broken and messed up.
We're going to keep goinganyway.
We're going to have kidsBecause we're going to push
against despair, to be a cynical.
No, it's all worthless.
We're not going to have kids.
No, we're going to have babies.
And, by the way, in case youdidn't know this, to have babies
you have to have sex, and sexcan be pretty great.
(26:23):
I'll leave it there.
But that's what they did.
And they had babies.
And, by the way, you must knowthis.
But lots of young people.
If you read any kind ofsociology reports out there, a
lot of young kids are not havingkids.
They don't want to have kids.
Do you know this?
And they don't want to because,like no, the world is too
messed up.
I'm not bringing a child intothis world, no, no, no.
We must push against despair andcynicism that so easily erodes
(26:44):
our hope and our joy, andprotest have kids or something
like that, and celebrate,because it's all a gift.
It's all just a mysterious,wonderful gift.
Last thing I'll say is this youknow, god is full of joy and
God celebrates.
So celebration is our enteringinto and imitating God's own joy
(27:05):
.
I love this version from thebook of Nehemiah.
I think it's Peter's favoriteor Peter's dad's favorite.
But the joy of the Lord is ourstrength.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, god.
You know God experiences joy.
I mean, he's the one whocommanded them to celebrate.
How about this one fromZephaniah the Lord, your God, is
in your midst.
He's a mighty one who will saveyou.
He will rejoice over you withgladness.
(27:27):
It's so easy to think, oh,god's pissed off at me, he's
angry again.
I get that, but he wants torejoice over you with gladness.
That's pretty good.
And he'll quiet you with hislove and he will exult over you
with loud singing.
Now, I know you guys, we're allMinnesotans and we don't want
to sing too loudly, if at all.
But, my friends, god will exultover you and I with loud
(27:52):
singing.
How undignified is that of God?
Yeah, because celebration isthis deeply, profoundly
wonderful thing that God hascalled each of us to do.
I love this quote.
I'll end with this and then acouple of ideas on how to do it.
But this great Jewish line thatthey had amongst their people
was that there is no joy withoutwine and without meat.
(28:13):
And there's also alcohol-freegrape juice and tofu available
for those who don't eat meat.
Yeah, I love it.
I wish we had a lunch today.
That would have been a goodidea.
But here's how we're going todo it.
Now we're going to have sometime to celebrate here.
We've got time.
But here's some ideas for howyou can be a person who
(28:34):
celebrates and engage in thediscipline or the rhythm of
celebration.
Here's some ideas you can sing.
I have a very close friend whosings in the shower very loudly
all the time.
He's a college kid.
He will sing so loudly.
His college friend's like whatare you doing in there?
Just doesn't care, sings loudly.
Yeah, yeah, it's worth singing.
You can host a meal, and maybeyou aren't a very good cook, I
(28:56):
get it, that's okay.
Invite a couple friends over,you could even get something
catered in.
But maybe make somethingtogether, maybe have a bottle of
wine or a bottle of Gatoradewhatever your drink of choice is
and just have a dinner and havesome friends over and celebrate
.
By the way, when I came in thismorning, sam goes hey, this is
awesome.
What are we celebrating, bro?
It's Sunday and I'm here andyou're here, we're going to
(29:19):
celebrate.
So folks are like what are wecelebrating?
We're celebrating life.
Man, we're here, let's go.
You can dance, I don't know.
Dance on your own dance at awedding.
Don't be Johnny Too Cool.
No more Johnny Too Cools.
Okay, we've got enough of thoseguys around and ladies Laugh,
hey, laugh, it's okay to laugh.
How about play some games?
You can invite some friendsover and just play some board
games or card games or whatevergames you like to play.
(29:41):
Maybe play some hide and seek.
If you're an adult, that couldbe kind of fun.
I'll come and watch.
It'll be hilarious.
How about practice the Sabbath?
Just take a day and do nothingand just see what happens.
That's a celebration.
That was another ritual theyhad to do as the Jewish people.
How about somebody?
(30:01):
Unexpectedly True storySomebody put a fishing rod in my
office.
I think it's a handmade fishingrod.
It's got my name on it.
It's made of Broncos, orangeand blue colors.
I have no idea who put it inthere.
Someone just dropped off.
I don't know what they're, youknow, and it said Ryan Fisher of
Men.
That was very, very cool.
So thank you if you're in here.
Whoever did that.
But, yeah, do that.
Why not Celebrate life?
How about this one?
Make your events as a familyinto celebrations.
(30:22):
You know?
Yeah, if your kindergartnergraduates, good for them.
I know it's easy, but theycould have not graduated, they
could have just not.
I don't know.
But here we are.
Buy them a gift, light a candle, smash something.
This is a great day to be alive.
How about this one?
Treat yourself.
Or, as they say in Parks andRec, treat yourself.
(30:42):
Yeah, maybe you've alwayswanted this shirt.
You're like there's no goodreason to.
Or you have that thing in yourAmazon cart for all this day.
I don't know.
Yeah, go ahead and treatyourself why not?
Because today we're alive andwe're here, and it's a gift.
So, central Lutheran Church,may you know the joy of God this
(31:05):
morning.
May you have this deeplyingrained sort of sense that
celebration is a good andwonderful and divine act, and
may you drink in the momentsthat are all around us all the
time.
May you have awe and wonder.
May you remember God's presencein your life back then and the
reminder that God will renew allthings and in the midst of this
pain and sorrow that we live in, that's also filled with beauty
and wonder that we can, withoutany kind of like malice, we can
(31:29):
defiantly push against despairand cynicism and be people of
hope.
So, central Lutheran Church,this morning, may we celebrate.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.