Theology of celebration

I’ll bet you never expected to hear the words, theology and celebration, in the same phrase! For some reason, Christians get stuck on the self denial, the dying, that comes with following Christ and never really seem to get the celebrative heart of our Father God. Often, celebration and enjoyment of any kind are equated with sin. It’s almost as if Christians fear celebration.

In reality, God is a God of celebration! Read the about Old Testament feasts again. In two of the three major feasts, God commands them to rejoice (literally, to make gleesome). These celebrative feasts lasted for up to seven days! The feast of tabernacles was in many ways a week long communal camping trip.

Perhaps our fear of celebration can be seen most clearly in the King James Version of the Bible. Look at the following words from Deuteronomy 16:15:

Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God…

If I read these words as translated, I assume that the feast talked about must be kept in a somber manner. In reality, the Hebrew word translated as solemn means anything but somber. The Hebrew meaning had to do with a sacred feast celebrated in a manner by implication to be giddy, to celebrate, to dance. Huh??? To be giddy? To celebrate? Now that couldn’t be God! Or could it?

The Hebrew concept of the original word is lost in the KJV. Why? I believe it is very possible that to the translators, to be giddy, to celebrate, to dance, seemed contrary to their idea of God, kind of like the older brother in the story of the prodigal son. His only perception of his relationship with his father was one of duty, of hardship, of a father who was a hard taskmaster.

I’ve just spent several days in Upstate New York with family and friends. We thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie, the laughter, the food, and the drinks. At times the night would ring with laughter (fortunately we had no close neighbors!) The fire blazed, throwing sparks into the star-speckled sky. The distant call of the loon eerily echoed across the lake. The s’mores, the late night coffee, the card games, pipe smoke wafting skyward, all celebrated the abundant life made possible by Jesus. Every day the goodness of God was celebrated with joy. Truly the abundant life is good! It is meant to be celebrated.