Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo and taco Tuesday. A lot of wit was expended on how those two days converged. People said they have been training their whole life to prepare for that conjunction! It made me laugh heartily to read and hear those references. Of course we know Cinco de Mayo is the day of celebration for Mexico’s victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Some have mistaken that day to be Mexican Independence Day, but that day is September 16th, commemorating the initiation of the war Mexico fought for independence from Spain.
That’s probably more than you wanted to know about those holidays. What sparked in me though was the whole thought of celebration. Every country has their celebrations unique to their identity and history. Its a time for the people to be reminded of what all has been given, achieved, learned and incorporated into who they are.
Celebrations mark significant moments of note. When do we celebrate, and what do we celebrate? In Proverbs 17:22 we read…”A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” So celebration is good for us, we need those times of celebration to lift us up.
Sometimes, we need to celebrate what has happened to and for us. The Psalmist says in Psalm 126:3…”The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” What would it be like if we didn’t celebrate what all God does for us? We could be arrogant about what we accomplish, thinking and believing it was all due to our own ingenuity and effort.
There are seasons of our lives where we alternate between celebration and mourning. This is simply the cycle of life. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:15…”Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” I hear this as our call to acknowledge the seasons of life, and to ebb and flow with those seasons.
What really strikes me about celebrations is how sometimes we just don’t participate. For lots of reasons, people choose not to be a part of the revelry. Like at Christmas time, there are those who have experienced loss and can’t quite feel good about celebrating. The whole tradition of Blue Christmas gatherings has sprung up for that reason. I would say though, celebrating is good for the soul. We need times where we allow ourselves to be joyous; to laugh, and sing, and party. It does something to us when we let our whole being be engulfed in a time of celebration. For that moment in time, we can separate the struggles, the cares, the problems, the setbacks, the hardness of life, and we can be beings who are engulfed in joy.
God has given us ample reasons to rejoice and celebrate. In Philippians 4:4 we are told…”Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” And in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 we read…”Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
It is plain to me, we are created for celebration. We are beings created to light up the world around us with the joy we have from within. When we celebrate, others also find joy. When we rejoice, others find reasons to rejoice.
The world can get in a great big funk in a real hurry. But that’s not the world God intends for us to dwell on. We are to find real joy in all of life. And that joy is there, if we look hard and long enough. It’s easy to find reasons to be sullen, depressed, fearful, and sad. But God calls us to find the reasons to celebrate all that is around us, and in us. Every day we awaken, we have reason to rejoice. That’s surely why in Psalm 118:24 we are told…”This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!”
Your companion on the Way,
Pastor Tom