08-14-2006, 11:59 PM
God appointed feast times for Israel. They happened at regular times during the year, and everyone was expected to participate. It was a time to stop regular activities and routines and "go up to the mountain of the Lord" to celebrate, fellowship, glorify and thank God for his goodness.
God in His wisdom, knew that His people needed times apart from the daily grind of life for refreshing, refocusing, and renewal.
The modern church doesn't, as a general rule, celebrate all these particular feasts, but have developed others such as Christmas and Easter. And a lot of churches also have their own set yearly celebrations of important events and remembrances.
So, does your church have celebrational feasts regularly? How important do you think it is to the worship life of your church? Does it really provide refreshing and renewal, or is it just something that is "done".?
I was thinking about this because, this year for the first time, our cathedral is going to plan to celebrate on Christ the King feast day with a dinner of thanksgiving to the Lord. (And you can be sure that I will be planning some kingly pageantry for this occasion too!) This is significant, because the name of the Cathedral is Church of the King. It was the day of establishment of the congregation and also it's name day. Why we haven't been making a big deal about this all along is mysterious to me.
Along with this we have a spring and a fall convocation which is a three day time of going up to the mountain......not just a service, but three full days of gatherings, teachings and celebrations, and a time to let out all the stops and worship as extravagantly as possible....and in a way that can't be sustained on an every-Sunday basis. For that, we have to come down from the mountain--into the valley where the stuff of normal every-day life goes on.
God in His wisdom, knew that His people needed times apart from the daily grind of life for refreshing, refocusing, and renewal.
The modern church doesn't, as a general rule, celebrate all these particular feasts, but have developed others such as Christmas and Easter. And a lot of churches also have their own set yearly celebrations of important events and remembrances.
So, does your church have celebrational feasts regularly? How important do you think it is to the worship life of your church? Does it really provide refreshing and renewal, or is it just something that is "done".?
I was thinking about this because, this year for the first time, our cathedral is going to plan to celebrate on Christ the King feast day with a dinner of thanksgiving to the Lord. (And you can be sure that I will be planning some kingly pageantry for this occasion too!) This is significant, because the name of the Cathedral is Church of the King. It was the day of establishment of the congregation and also it's name day. Why we haven't been making a big deal about this all along is mysterious to me.
Along with this we have a spring and a fall convocation which is a three day time of going up to the mountain......not just a service, but three full days of gatherings, teachings and celebrations, and a time to let out all the stops and worship as extravagantly as possible....and in a way that can't be sustained on an every-Sunday basis. For that, we have to come down from the mountain--into the valley where the stuff of normal every-day life goes on.