October 2021, Finding Zarephath

Celebrations

I’ve been thinking a lot about celebration lately. I’m not entirely sure why, but I have felt my heart moved in a few unusual circumstances. The first was a few weeks ago at a High School Football game. The hosting team (not ours) was so incredibly generous in celebrating our victory against them with us, that I found myself tearing up talking about it. Then, over the last few weeks, a new facebook thread keeps showing up in my feed with stories of celebrating amazing human beings. Not “superhuman” beings, but normal, everyday people who did something nice. From the unexpected tip, to helping a family in need, random acts of kindness to an elder, to words of encouragement and strength for a stranger in a critical moment. I read these and my heart grows tender and something in me cries out, “Yes! That is how it’s supposed to be.” But it isn’t always, not even often, certainly not enough.

Last week our family had a celebration. Our youngest two children, both in High School, made the decision to be baptized. Our youth group chose to hold a special student baptism evening on their usual meeting night and invited friends and family to celebrate. It was a beautiful, fantastic evening where we got to watch all of our children (two as students and two as leaders) worship, play games, support, cheer on, and celebrate each other and ultimately get baptized. As parents, who have raised their children in church and active service, it’s a moment of celebration that we did something right, even in the midst of all the not-so-rights. It was great and the mom in me is so overjoyed at their decision, but something else happened that night….

Celebrating Together

In the short time between worship and Baptism, as one leader left the room with all the teens about to be baptized, the Youth Pastor talked about the journey that had led to this evening. He talked about the sermon series’ they’d been doing, the importance of living a life on mission with Jesus, and then the importance of celebrating that together. And, while I’m paraphrasing, he said something like this. “We want to celebrate together. We want to life together. If you attend our youth group and want to be baptized here, then we want to celebrate with you and invite your family to celebrate with you. If you can’t do it on Wednesday night, then we’ll set you up for Sunday morning, and we will show up to service and we will celebrate with you there. If your family attends a different church and you want to be baptized there, then let us know and we will gather and come to your church and celebrate with you there.”

Pause… let that sink in. This youth Pastor and his team have just committed to celebrating their students wherever it is their students need celebrating, even if it’s at another church. Yes! That’s the way it should be. But it isn’t always, not even often, certainly not enough.

I’ve been in church world a long time. The majority of church employees, volunteers, and leadership are people loving, God fearing individuals. We are all on mission to spread the hope, love, and joy that Jesus offers. But we sometimes lose sight of these things, of the bigger plan, the whole picture. We cheer for our church, we celebrate our victories, and sometimes fail to acknowledge or celebrate the other ministries in our communities. Friends, can we examine our hearts together. Can we step up and be the encouragers, celebrators, and kindness ambassadors we are supposed to be, outside of the walls of our church as well as inside? Sometimes…. Often…. Always.

Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” John 13:35