Episode #312 Faith Needs Laughter – Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Hey friends. I'm excited to talk with you about a spiritual discipline that is often overlooked in the church. It's one that I have rarely, if ever, heard taught on, and it's so important to our spiritual discipline. In fact, Richard Foster, in his book, the Celebration of Disciplines, says this discipline is central to all of the rest of them.

And what we're talking about today is celebration. Foster says that, “Without a joyful spirit of festivity the Disciplines become dull, death-breathing tools in the hands of modern Pharisees.” Now, if that feels harsh, it is. I'm not gonna disagree with you, but also that was me. I have often described myself as a child Pharisee. The reason for that was even though I grew up in the church, I didn't know about relationship with God. And so even when I learned about things like the spiritual disciplines, they felt dull and death breathing. To me, they were heavy things that I had to work on all by my own strength, all by my own abilities, and I didn't know how to engage in them relationally with God.

And one of the ways that we engage in life and relationship with God is in celebrating with him.

Foster points out that, “Ancient Israel was commanded to gather together three times a year to celebrate the goodness of God. Those were festival holidays in the highest sense. They were the experiences that gave strength and cohesion to the people of Israel. Far and away the most important benefit of celebration is that it saves us from taking ourselves too seriously. This is a desperately needed grace for all those who are earnest about the Spiritual Disciplines. It is an occupational hazard of devout folk to become stuffy bores. This should not be. Of all people, we should be the most free, alive, interesting. Celebration adds a note of gaiety, festivity, hilarity to our lives. After all, Jesus rejoiced so fully in life that he was accused of being a winebibber and a glutton.”

Now. I don't know that I've ever heard anyone else use the phrase wine bibber. I don't even know if I'm saying it right, but I love this perspective of God as one who celebrates. And so as his people, who bear his image, who are being made more and more into the image and the likeness of Christ, we get to be those who celebrate.

I think about Psalm 18:24, “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice today and be glad.”

And I think of Zephaniah 3:17, “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

God takes great delight in us. He rejoices over us with singing. He invites us to rejoice. And if you never studied the feasts in scripture, there are so many of them that Israel got to participate in as celebrations and remembrances of who God is and how he had taken care of them.

And so my encouragement to you today is to consider celebration as a spiritual act. As a way of living out your faith by celebrating who God is and joining with God and celebrating what he's done and the things that he celebrates.

And so here is a question that I invite you to take to God today, and I wanna encourage you to be open-hearted before the Lord with what he might prompt for you. Celebration can look all sorts of ways. It can look like a feast, it can look like a dance, it can look like a song or a shout or a testimony. Take action based on what God prompts in your heart or your mind with this question:

God, what are you celebrating today and how can I join you?

I'm excited for what he'll share with you.

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

Connect with Jen on Instagram