Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Celebration”
Our Bible verse for today: “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Celebration is good for you.”
I love what Richard Foster wrote about the value of celebration. In his book “Celebration of Discipline” he wrote, “Far and away the most important benefit of celebration is that it saves us from taking ourselves too seriously … It is an occupational hazard of devout folk to become stuffy bores. This should not be. Of all people, we should be the most free, alive, interesting. Celebration adds a note of gaiety, festivity, hilarity to our lives. After all, Jesus rejoiced so fully in life that he was accused of being a wine-bibber and a glutton. Many of us lead such sour lives that we cannot possibly be accused of such things.”
If we allow it to, life can become heavy, a burden. Even the practice of our faith can become a strain if it isn’t clothed in joy. Just as the physical body can become strained from overwork, so too the spirit can become strained from a sense of religious obligation and duty. Celebration helps us to lighten up, relax, and enjoy the good things in life. Participating in festive events and intentionally cultivating a spirit of joy and celebration is also an excellent antidote for depression.
Here’s another quote from Foster’s book: “Another benefit of celebration is its ability to give us perspective. We can laugh at ourselves. We come to see that the causes we champion are not nearly so monumental as we would like to believe.” “Finally, an interesting characteristic of celebration is that it tends toward more celebration. Joy begets joy. Laughter begets laughter. It is one of the few things in life we multiply by giving.”
This Sunday at Oak Hill Baptist Church we will celebrate Christmas with a joy-filled worship service followed by a fun Christmas banquet. We invite you to come worship, sing, laugh and eat with us.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 