festivals of the Lord

Leviticus 23:1-37; Psalm 81 Sing with Joy to GOd our Help; Matthew 13:54-58

Over the past few weeks we have been following Moses and the ISraelites go from slavery to freedom, from living in Egypt to wandering in the desert, from being a hodgepodge of people to becoming the nation of ISrael chosen to be God's people.

It is quite a journey.

So the question remains, how does the story get passed down from generation to generation. What guards the truth of the experience and enables future generations to grow in appreciation of what has been experienced.

Surely, it was written down. But the written page sometimes in not enough. Not every one likes read. Some like a more dynamic exposure to history.

Thus we have the Festivals of the Lord, we encounter in the Book of Leviticus. God asks the Nation of Israel to keep these festivals so that the festival celebration could keep them in tuned with the mighty works of GOd, his salvation, his gift of mercy, his ever abiding presence.

We keep festivals so that they may keep watch over us and our true identity.

Thus, the experience of God and the salvation given to the ISraelites was not to be restricted to the written page but rather was meant to become a part of the living culture, the air they breath.

These festivals were extensions of the salvation experiences and it captivated the senses; they were a full body experience and they kept the year moving forward, a year unfolding in grace.

From the Sabbath to the Feast of Passover, Unleaven Bread, the wave offerings, Pentecost, Feast of Booths, the day of Atonement, all of these invited the generations of ISraelites to taste again the victory of God and renew their commitment and to rediscover their identity, to be who God had called them to be, "holy and set apart."


This is the beauty of the festivals of the Lord.

We do this still. The liturgical calendar is meant to infiltrate the secular calendar and fill it with life and grace and hope.
Our festivals of faith are not just Sunday events but rather they are meant to be the pinnacles and grounds of our life, especially as the mystery of the life of grace unfolds through the story and salvation won in Christ.

Daily we enter into that great festival of the Son, "do this in memory of me."

DOn't jsut keep the festivals but open your heart and let them keep you.
We are what we celebrate!