Spiritual Disciplines November 2011: Celebration By Rev. Danielle Garcia Free Methodist Church of Santa Barbara

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1 Spiritual Disciplines November 2011: Celebration By Rev. Danielle Garcia Free Methodist Church of Santa Barbara Introduction Celebration is central to all the Spiritual Disciplines. Without a joyful spirit of festivity the Disciplines become dull, death-breathing tools in the hands of modern Pharisees. Every Discipline should be characterized by carefree gaiety and a sense of thanksgiving. Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline This guide has been prepared to help us consider together how we might enter into the discipline of Celebration in more regular ways. Celebration is the practice of rejoicing in the transforming work of God and the redemption of the regular parts of our lives for his glory. Celebration often neglected in the busy, serious lives that we live. Our days are consumed with the next task to be completed, the work that must be done, and the need to be transformed. Celebration teaches us to take ourselves less seriously and to rejoice in the work that God is doing in our lives. Richard Foster writes that Celebration is perhaps the most overlooked discipline. For many of us, celebration has a ring of the hedonistic; it does not fit with our image of what a Spiritual Discipline should be. But God calls his people to celebrate, with festivals or with spontaneous and joyful praise. But celebration can also be as simple as enjoying life, (A Year with God). God calls us to rejoice in his presence and to rejoice over the life that he has given. He gave festivals and feast days to Israel and commanded them to rejoice and be thankful for the gifts he had provided. Israel needed to learn to rejoice. We also need to learn to rejoice and celebrate. Know that this guide is meant to provide freedom in celebration. Experience the celebration and joy of the Lord, and learn what it means to rejoice in the life he has given. If you miss a day, simply pick up the next day and continue. May the Lord meet us all in new and surprising ways as we invest in the spirit of celebration.

2 Sunday: All Saints Sunday WEEK ONE: November 6-12 All Saints Day is one of the feast days in the church calendar when we remember the people who have gone before us in the faith, the lives that they lived, and the way that their lives shaped our own. Take time today to list the people in your life who have gone before you in the faith and have impacted your life, either personally or through their writings. Remember the times and ways in which they challenged you, encouraged you, and helped you grow. Celebrate their lives and their faithfulness. Monday Read John 11:1-44. Pay careful attention to the emotions and responses of Mary and Martha. How are they responding to the death of their brother? Try to imagine yourself in the story. Are you one of the observers grieving with the sisters? Are you Mary or Martha? What is your response to Lazarus death? Read again verses The story ends here, and we don t get to see the response of the crowd or the sisters to Lazarus walking out of the tomb. Imagine yourself in the story once again. What would your response be to the raising of Lazarus? Would you return to the house wailing and continue to wear your mourning clothes for the next month? Would you rejoice and celebrate that your brother has been given life? Tuesday Appreciation of the gifts of those around us (or our own) is a means of celebration. Consider a piece of art or a photograph. This can be a piece in your own home, a print hanging in your office, a painting seen online, or just about any other piece of artwork you choose. Consider the piece for several minutes, letting yourself become aware of the small details. How did the artist frame the picture? Are certain elements present and other details left outside of the realm of this piece? How do the artist s decisions shape your perspective of the piece? Is there a message conveyed? If so, what is it? Take a moment to appreciate the gifts that God has given to the visual artists who use their gifts to reveal God to us in surprising ways. Thank God for the ability to enjoy the gifts that he has given to others.

3 Wednesday Read Matthew 27:57-28:10. The resurrection is the pivotal moment in Christian history. The disciples and the women all witness Jesus death, and they mourn. Then, the women go to the tomb to care for Jesus body, and they encounter the angel. Reread verses 5-10 and notice the women s response to the angel s words. What is their emotional state? What is their response? Consider your own response to the resurrection of Jesus. How does it impact your life on a daily basis? Are you filled with joy because he is risen? Is your fear overcome by your joy? Is your life marked by a celebration of life because Jesus has conquered death? If so, praise God for his work in your life and in our world. If not, ask the Lord to transform your heart into one that rejoices in the resurrection and lets that joy pour out into your life. Thursday One of the ways that we celebrate is to enter into our God-given creativity. Our children practice their creative gifts every day. They tell stories as they play with their firemen hats or dolls. They draw pictures with their crayons and have their dinosaurs chase each other around the table. As adults, we grow out of practice in using our creative gifts. Allow yourself to be more like a child today. Make up a story as you play with your child and enter fully into their world without fear that you are not being serious enough. Pull out a sheet of paper and a pencil and allow yourself to sketch whatever comes to mind (with no fear that it will to be good enough or in correct proportions). Write a short story about a group of people celebrating life. Or choose another means of using your creative gifts. As you do, remember that your creativity is a gift of God, who is the ultimate creator. If God can create animals like the giraffe and anteater, we can learn to enjoy his gift of creativity in our own lives. Friday Today we want to consider where there may be death in our own lives. We have read from the stories of Lazarus and Jesus, and we recognize that God transforms our lives and raises the dead, but sometimes it feels like our lives are consumed with literal or figural death. Sometimes our ability to celebrate is drained by the serious and mundane aspects of our lives. Consider today the following questions. Then, confess your sin, pray for resurrection, and ask God to infuse your life with his joy and celebration by redeeming the death in your life. Where is there death in your life? What is draining your ability to celebrate? Is there sin in your life that is consuming, distracting, or killing your soul? Are you allowing something else to consume your time so that celebration is not a part of your life? (Consider things like television, technology, and work.)

4 Carry all of your answers to the Lord in prayer. Saturday Music allows us to enter into celebration on a regular basis. Many of us sing along with our car radios and dance through our living rooms to our favorite songs. We clap our hands in worship and move our feet to the rhythm of the music. Music is sometimes the only thing in our lives that allows us to celebrate in small ways on a regular basis. We care less about what the people around us think of us when we are all enjoying a favorite song. Today, put on some of your favorite music and be free to enjoy the rhythms and lyrics. Dance, sing, raise your arms or clap your hands. Allow this to be a time to simply enjoy life and the music that blesses our days. Sunday WEEK TWO: November Richard Foster tells us that In the spiritual life only one thing will produce genuine joy, and that is obedience. He continues, To elicit genuine celebration, obedience must work itself into the ordinary fabric of our daily lives. Without that our celebration carries a hollow sound. For example, some people live in such a way that it is impossible to have any kind of happiness in their home, but then they go to church and sing songs and pray in the Spirit, hoping that God will somehow give them an infusion of joy to make it through the day. They are looking for some kind of heavenly transfusion that will bypass the misery of their daily lives and give them joy. But God s desire is to transform the misery, not bypass it. When the power that is in Jesus reaches into our work and play and redeems them, there will be joy where once there was mourning. To overlook this is to miss the meaning of the incarnation (Celebration of Discipline). As we begin this second week of our study, we start by examining our lives. Are we consistently listening to God s voice in our lives, and are we surrendering in obedience to what he commands? Is there anything God has been speaking to you that you have been ignoring, either out of busyness or out of fear or disobedience? Remember a time when you obediently followed something that the Lord was commanding you to do. Did you experience his joy in obedience? Allow this time to give you strength to obey what the Lord is commanding you today. Monday Sometimes we don t want to obey God s direction or follow him on the path he is taking. Other

5 times there is unconfessed sin in our lives that is robbing us of our ability to celebrate and rejoice in the Lord. As we discipline our lives in celebration, we also need to remove the things that keep us from celebrating. Am I loving the Lord with all of my heart? Is there anything that holds a place in my heart higher than the Lord? Is there anything in my heart that prevents me from loving the Lord? Am I loving the Lord with all of my soul? Are there places of idolatry in my life where I am more focused on a person, task, or object than the Lord? Am I loving the Lord with all of my mind? What consumes my thoughts? What distracts me in my worship and prayers? To what thoughts does my mind return time and again throughout the day? Am I loving the Lord with all of my strength? Is anything else in my life consuming my energy in a way that makes it impossible for me to invest my energy is the Lord? Do I return home physically exhausted every day with nothing left to give to God or anyone else? What is causing that exhaustion? Am I loving my neighbor as myself? Do I know my neighbors? Do I rejoice when my neighbors rejoice, or do I complain or become bitter about their good fortune or their gifts? Am I envious of the good things my neighbor has been given? Do I mourn with those who mourn, or am I unwilling to carry the redeeming power of God into my neighbors lives? If so, why? Confess anything the Lord has revealed to you in this time. Ask God to remove your sin and transform your life, so nothing prevents you from celebrating him. Tuesday Worship is one of the primary ways in which we celebrate. When we recognize the goodness of God, the transformation of the Holy Spirit, and the presence of God walking with us, we are brought to praise and celebrate in his presence. Read Psalm 150 and note the many things for which the Psalmist offers praise and the many ways in which that praise is offered. Offer yourself in worship today. Praise the Lord for the many things in Psalm 150. Praise the Lord for the innumerable other things he has done in your life. Turn on music and praise through song or bow your knees and praise through prayer and submission. However God moves you to worship today, lift him up for the God he is. Wednesday Read 2 Samuel 6:16-22.

6 The Ark of the Covenant was the symbol of God s presence in Israel. What was David s response to being in the presence of the Lord? Sacrifices were not a quick or cheap offer to the Lord, yet multiple times we read that David offered sacrifices because the Ark was being brought into the City of David. Are we that extravagant in our celebration? David danced before the Lord with all his might. When Michal confronts him, David responds, I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. Do you worship the Lord with such carefree abandon? Do you worship with all your might in the presence of the Lord? Are you more like David or more like Michal in your worship? Thursday Yesterday we read about David dancing before the Lord. Today we want to consider what those things are that hold us back in our worship and celebration. When you enter into worship, what thoughts are running through your mind? How do they influence the way in which you worship? When you receive good news, what is your response? Why do you respond in that way? Is your response different if you are alone than if you are surrounded by people? Is your response different in different settings? What causes you to change your response? Ask God to give you the confidence and trust in him to enter fully into celebration. Friday Read Psalm 2. Psalm 2 is one of the many psalms describing God as our king. As we come to the weekend, we are preparing our hearts for Christ the King Sunday. This is the day in the church year when we celebrate that the Lord is our King. Consider the ways that God is described as our king in the psalm. What does the Lord do? How is his power displayed? What promises are made to God s people? What warnings does he give? There is great joy in having a gracious, loving, and wise king rule over our lives. We can trust his judgment instead of worrying about our own wisdom in all of our decisions. Take time to thank God for his presence as the king of our lives.

7 Saturday In the Old Testament, the many festivals and feast days that the Lord commanded Israel to keep on a yearly basis offered the people of God a much needed chance to remember that their Lord is great. The Passover feast was a remembrance of the way in which God led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt for example. The festivals and feasts remind the people that God is good, strong, and powerful, and they teach the people that the Lord is on their side guiding and transforming them. There are many times in our own lives and the lives of those around us when God s greatness has been displayed. Perhaps this is a time when you were set free from a particular sin which bound you. Perhaps God s greatness was displayed in a miraculous healing. Perhaps the reminder of God s salvation reminds you of his greatness and his character. Consider those times in your life when the greatness of God has been revealed. Take time to ponder the way that God was present and to remember his acts in your life. As you do, thank God for his work, rejoice that he is present, and allow the knowledge of God s greatness to shape the way you understand your present circumstances. Sunday WEEK THREE: November Today is Christ the King Sunday. This is the day in the church calendar when we celebrate Christ as King over our lives and all the world. Traditionally this day has been a day of somber celebration. Think more about the coronation of a new king in England than a raucous house party in Isla Vista. The people celebrate in a coronation, but the feeling is very different. This is the feel of Christ the King Sunday. This morning in church, you will or have experienced worship in a different style as we lift up Christ as King in all of his greatness. Think about the service today. Consider how there are different ways to celebrate in different situations. Make a list of all of the ways you can think of that Christ is king. If you need help getting started, turn to Colossians 1: Monday Read John 2:1-12. Jesus is present at a celebration in Cana. The wedding banquet was a time of partying and enjoying the marriage of the new couple. It lasted days, not weeks. We tend to think of the Christian life as somber, but Jesus is present at this wedding, and he participates in the celebration.

8 How do you think of times of celebration? Do you feel guilty for celebrating instead of engaging in serious pursuits? Or do you enjoy celebrating the gifts which God has placed in your life? As you think about Jesus time at the wedding in Cana, consider how his presence shapes your understanding of what it means to celebrate in the rites of passage and major events of our lives. What rites of passage are occurring in your life and the lives of those around you? What major life events are taking place? How might you celebrate those? Tuesday Ben Patterson, campus pastor at Westmont College, is fond of saying, Joy is what you have when you are grateful for the grace that s been given to you. We live in a society that is highly critical of everything and everyone. From our news media to our conversations with friends, we are more likely to criticize those around us and complain about our lives. Instead of this critical spirit, the Lord calls us to be grateful for his many blessings in our life. As we prepare for Thanksgiving this week, take time today to list the blessings in your life. Write down the things for which you have to be grateful. As we focus on the blessings in our life instead of the challenges, we become more grateful people. As we become more grateful, we experience an increase of joy in our lives. Wednesday Nahum 1:15 reminds Israel and the church to Celebrate your festivals, O Judah, fulfill your vows, for never again shall the wicked invade you; they are utterly cut off. The festivals were times of celebrate in Israel, and God tells his people to celebrate his work to set them free and redeem them. Richard Foster tells us: Feasts and festivals of faith are important components in the life of believers. God s people gather together to hear stories of faith, remember the acts of God, offer thanksgiving, and renew vows (Isa 40:9). One of the most important festivals of the Jewish calendar year is Passover, the celebration of the deliverance of the People of God from slavery in ancient Egypt. At the seder, or special meal, celebrants eat particular kinds of food, each with its own significance, and read aloud passages from Exodus. Observing the Christian calendar, with its various feasts and saints days, festivals and seasons, is a building block of faith. (A Year with God) There are particular feast days in the social culture of American life. As we prepare for Thanksgiving tomorrow, consider how you might truly celebrate the blessings of God with your friends and family. What might you add this year as we focus on the discipline of celebration? What might you remove from Thanksgiving celebrations of the past?

9 Thursday Today is Thanksgiving. Celebrate your blessings with friends and family! Friday Read Esther 9: In a time when the kings advisors sought to completely wipe out the people of Israel, God stepped in through his servant Esther to save his people. In response to their salvation, God instituted the festival of Purim, so the people would always remember the way that God had saved them. What celebrations in your life remind you of the ways that God has saved you? Do you take time to celebrate those times on a regular basis? How can God s instructions to remember Purim shape the way we choose to remember the acts of God in our lives? Saturday Celebration is an opportunity to honor the life that God gives to us. On this Saturday, spend time doing something to celebrate your life and the lives of those around you. Have a meal with a good friend, go for a walk with your spouse, or play a game with your children. Enjoy being in the presence of those you love and rejoice in the life that God has given to you. Sunday WEEK FOUR: November 27-December 3 Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Read Luke 2:8-20 as we consider the responses of the people in the story. What is the response of the angels to the birth of Christ? What is the response of the shepherds to hearing about the birth of Christ? What is Mary s response to the shepherds visit? What is the shepherds response to seeing baby Jesus? Which of the characters in the story are you most like? How can the responses of the other people inform the way that you celebrate Christ s presence? How can they shape the way you prepare for Christ s birth in this Advent season?

10 Monday Read Philippians 4:8-9. Break down Paul s list of the things we should set our minds upon. List out the things that are true, noble, right, pure, etc in your life. How can you spend more time focusing on those things? Tuesday It is easy when times are difficult to focus on the challenges in our lives instead of the blessings, and it is easy to forget that God has been victorious over the powers of sin, death, and the devil. Romans 8:31-39 says, What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then can condemn? No one. Christ Jesus who died more than that, who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separated us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In the midst of serious trials and tribulations, Paul can still proclaim that Christ is victorious. Through life in Christ, we also can live victorious lives, even in our struggle. Today, consider where your focus lies. Are you focusing on your struggles and the way that you are being defeated through them? Or are you proclaiming God s promise that in all things we are more than conquerors through Christ our Lord? Today, focus on the way that God is providing victory for you in the midst of your difficulties, through his presence, his love, his people, and his ultimate triumph. Wednesday In times of suffering, we often think that celebration is out of place. When Israel was in exile, God reminded his people that they would return to their land. He promises joy and gladness to Israel (Isaiah 51:11) and promises to wipe every tear from the eyes of those who love him (Revelation 21: 4). Foster says, Celebration may well be the most overlooked of the Spiritual Discipliens, but it is indeed a discipline meant to be practiced. Reaching for everlasting joy through singing, dancing, and praising is essential even and perhaps especially in times of sadness, because it returns our focus to God (A Year with God).

11 If you are sad or mourning, celebration may very well feel like a discipline to you, and it may be difficult. During these times, we still reach for the joy of the Lord because God reminds us of who he is and what he promises, and he helps to carry us through our sadness and difficulty. If you are struggling right now, take time to remember his promises. If now is a time of blessing, think back to a time of struggle and remember the ways in which celebration helped carry you through. Thursday Laughter is one way of celebrating. What makes you laugh? Do you have friends or family with whom you share laughter when you gather? Are there movies, clean jokes, or good comedy that make you laugh out loud? Today invest time in what makes you laugh. Friday In The Magician s Nephew, we receive a picture from C.S. Lewis that laughter and celebration are a wonderful gift in life. Think about this part of the Narnia story today and how it might shape your understanding of laughter: Creatures, I give you yourselves, said the strong, happy voice of Aslan. I give to you for ever this land of Narnia. I give you the woods, the fruits, the rivers. I give you the stars and I give you myself. The Dumb Beasts whom I have not chosen are yours also. Treat them gently and cherish them but do not go back to their ways lest you cease to be Talking Beasts. For out of them you were taken and into them you can return. Do not so. No, Aslan, we won t, we won t, said everyone. But one perky jackdaw added in a loud voice, No fear! and everyone else had finished just before he said it so that his words came out quite clear in a dead silence; and perhaps you have found out how awful that can be say, at a party. The Jackdaw became so embarrassed that it hid its head under its wings as if it was going to sleep. And all the other animals began making various queer noises which are their ways of laughing and which, of course, no one has ever heard in our world. They tried at first to repress it, but Aslan said: Laugh and fear not, creatures. Now that you are no longer dumb and witless, you need not always be grave. For jokes as well as justice come in with speech. So they all let themselves go. And there was such merriment that the Jackdaw himself plucked up courage again and perched on the cab-horses head, between its ears, clapping its wings, and said: Aslan! Aslan! Have I made the first joke? Will everybody always be told how I made the first joke? No, little friend, said the Lion. You have not made the first joke, you have only been the first joke. Then everyone laughed more than ever; but the Jackdaw didn t mind and laughed just as

12 loud till the horse shook its head and the Jackdaw lost its balance and fell off, but remembered its wings (they were still new to it) before it reached the ground. Saturday As we complete our time in the discipline of celebration, take time today for spontaneous fun. Not every detail needs to be planned. Instead, do something that you simply enjoy doing, and worry less about what is not getting done during those moments. Instead, revel in the moment of the fun and life that God has given to you.