Celebration???

Today's post will be somewhat unique and straight forward in some ways. Three separate events/situations have awakened the following questions and thoughts. The events were 1) The message preparation time over the past few weeks; 2) The preaching of the "Easter" message; and 3) My prayer time this morning. Yesterday's message at New River contained several references to the "celebration of the Resurrection." Prayer and preparation time kept bringing me to this question; "Do we truly celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus as a victory or has it just become another of the storied traditional doctrines/principles of the church?" Has the Resurrection of Jesus lost the "umph" and "awe" factor among the family of God? Has it only become a time for dramas, special songs, special message, etc.? Let me make it VERY CLEAR that I am in no way saying that we should not use any of these efforts to share the message of the Gospel. We used each of these ministry tools in our service on Sunday and as a matter of fact they were a tremendous blessing to the service. (Note: the use of the term "special message" may be debatable.) Every possible means that we can use to share the Gospel with our fellow human beings should be used to the fullest measure. Fallen and sinful humanity is the reason that Jesus came to Earth in the first place. And I personally believe that message has not lost any power and that it will still change and transform the lives of anyone who hears, believes and responds to it though faith and obedience!!

This post is not concerned with methods or methodology to say the least. This post is about the need for celebration. In this case I am not using the words celebration as an interchange for emotions. Each of us have differing emotions but each of us contain a certain amount of "know how" when it comes to celebration. Our times of celebration may be low key and on the quiet side but it is certainly apparent and somewhat visible. I truly believe that the Spirit is leading me to remind the "church" that we need to reengage our hearts in the spirit of celebration as we gather with our brothers and sisters in Christ to offer our worship to God. I also believe that each of us individually need to reestablish a heart of celebration in our devotional time with our Heavenly Father. The death and Resurrection of Jesus provided for us the road of victory over every tactic and strategy of hell. We have learned to celebrate the temporary victories of this earthly life yet we (I) am forgetting to celebrate the eternal victories of a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is time to take the harps down from the willow tree and realize that Jesus has won the battle for us and He is calling us to walk in the victory that He has provided. I urge you to dust off your "celebration shoes." I urge you to take out of the closet your "church clothes" and arrive at church with a song in your heart, a word of praise on your lips, and a urgency in your spirit to declare the greatness of God. I understand that these are the days of trial and difficulty but I also understand that Jesus paid the price on Calvary for the sins of mankind and today we are afforded the opportunity to celebrate Him.