​THE CHURCH STILL KNOWS... CELEBRATION

The new year came and went. There were parties, countdowns, promises about fresh starts. We celebrated (if you do that sort of thing). Then we went through the weekend. Some of you are probably still making the rounds with extended family, squeezing in one more Christmas gathering because there are just so many people to visit this time of year.
And then, back to work. Back to regular life. Back to whatever your days usually hold.

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And just like that, it was over. By January 2nd, the world had moved on. The excitement faded. We're left wondering if we're supposed to still feel celebratory about any of it, or if celebration was only ever meant to be a single night, a forced moment, and then done.

The world treats celebration like a spark: brief, bright, then gone.

But the Church still knows how to celebrate.

Not the kind of celebration that depends on the right circumstances or the right mood. Not the performance we put on when we're supposed to feel hopeful. The Church celebrates something deeper, something that doesn't fade when the confetti settles.

Jesus' first miracle wasn't healing someone. It wasn't feeding the hungry. It was keeping a party going (John 2). A wedding in Cana had run out wine, and Jesus made more: 120 to 180 gallons of it. Extravagant. Generous. Joyful. The Messiah's first sign to the world was this: celebration matters to God.

And then there's David. King David, dancing before the ark of the Lord with all his might (2 Samuel 6). Undignified. Uninhibited. Full-body celebration before God. His wife Michal despised it, thought it was beneath him, inappropriate for a king. But David didn't care. This was worship. This was joy. This was what it looked like to celebrate the God who had brought them home.

Here's what Michal got wrong, and what the world still gets wrong: she thought celebration and reverence were opposites. That if David was truly honoring God, he should be solemn, dignified, proper.

Somewhere along the way, we started believing that God prefers us serious. That faith means putting away childish things like joy and laughter. That if we're really spiritual, we've moved beyond fun. But David knew better.

Joy isn't the opposite of worship. It IS worship. Delight isn't irreverent. It's the most honest response to a God who loves us extravagantly. The Church has never been embarrassed by joy. We've never thought that having fun dishonors God. If anything, we've understood that refusing to celebrate, refusing to delight in what God has given us, is the real irreverence.

The Church has never forgotten this. We are a people who celebrate, not because everything is going well, not because we feel like it, but because of what God has already done. Christ is born. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. That's not conditional. That's not dependent on how our year is going.

So we celebrate all year long. We gather every week around a table we call Eucharist: thanksgiving. We mark the seasons: Advent's hope, Christmas joy, Lent's reflection, Easter's triumph. We feast together. We sing. We show up. We celebrate even when life is hard, because our joy isn't rooted in our circumstances. It's rooted in the faithfulness of God.

The world says celebrate when you've earned it, when things are going right, when you feel like it.
The Church says celebrate because Christ is with us. Celebrate because we are loved. Celebrate because the kingdom is breaking in, and death doesn't get the final word.

That kind of celebration doesn't end on January 2nd. It runs through all our days.

The Church still knows this. And we're still celebrating.

Peace,
Travis Segar
Pastor for Care and Community