Walking Together - Celebration

At first, our second communal discipline may seem out of place in Lent, but it acts as a natural extension of our first (Confession) and thus is essential to being a spiritual community. Both confession and celebration are based in God’s grace. Just as confession makes us aware of our need of grace from God and thus others, celebration reminds us how deep and broad that grace can be in bringing us together. Walter Bruggemann calls living in Christ “practicing resurrection,” and there is no greater celebration in scripture or in life than when something seemingly gone is found. Celebration though is not just joy for the moment, it’s also remembering things that have been, both good and not so good, that have brought us to where we are. Yet, Regardless of whether we celebrate what has been, what is, or what is to be, we cannot celebrate alone as Jesus’s parables time and again show celebration as inviting all to come and celebrate: For the old lady in luke 15 “calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’”

This week’s Lenten Wednesday Worship will look at Celebration, and we ask that you come considering what in your life you have to celebrate, in order to both claim and release Joy into the world. There will be a time in this worship to participate in this discipline and we hope you will join us for this powerful service of community.

We hope that you will continue to practice the discipline of Celebration this week. Here are some ways to practice Celebration:

• Take time at the end of every day to do the Ignatian practice of Examen, where you ask yourself “What am I most thankful for?” or “When during my day did I experience God’s love?”  Then ask, “What am I least thankful for, and why?” and “When did I feel furthest from God’s love today, and why?”
• Write a letter every day to someone you’re grateful for and who has impacted your life. They might be alive or may have passed away, or they might be an historic figure or literary character who changed your life!
• Write an encouraging note to someone each day and drop it in the mail for them.
• Listen to or sing a favorite hymn every day, or take it verse by verse for the day to make it last throughout the week.