Walking Together - Celebration
Author: "A" Williams, Pastor Rachel Hébert
March 13, 2017
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.
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