Celebrate!

January 10th, 2009 Tim Posted in SevenLakes Info |

Humans have a funny way of marking time based on major events.  The calendar we follow marks our years from the birth of Jesus.  We live in the ”Post 9/11 Era.”    Did you know that the Greeks counted their years from 776 BC?  That was the year the Olympic Games started.   

Individually, we have personal time markers like the day of our weddings, the day the kids were born, or the day a loved one died. 

My big time markers are  June 17, 1989, my anniversary; my wife Nancy and I lost our DINK status (double-income/no kids) on October 9, 1995; and I often measure the events in my life by June 21, 2003, the day my dad died. 

Another day I mark my life by is January 7, 2007, the day CrossPoint SevenLakes opened.  This past Wednesday was the official two-year anniversary of our church, and we’ll have have a huge party on January 18 at SevenLakes High School to celebrate.  Whether you’re a CrossPoint member or just somebody who happened upon this blog and this is your first encounter with CrossPoint, you’re invited to come and join us.  I guarantee there will be great food, and you don’t have to pay a thing!!  Our celebration starts at 10:30 at SevenLakes High School.

There are many things about CrossPoint that I like, one of the biggest things is that we love to celebrate.  I had been going to church most of my life, and I’d been told that church is a celebration, but I’d never had the impression that I was doing that.  I figured it was a nice theory, but in practice, church was a bland mix of some music, some talking, and then we all went home.  

I had been to more than forty Easter Sunday services in my life, but I never felt like it was a celebration until I went to CrossPoint on Easter.  There’s just a very strong love of God at this church that permeates everything that happens.  It’s very unreligious and very relational.  I mean, we don’t do what we do out of obligation but out of a true love of God and all He has done for us.  And it’s not just on Sunday morning.  One of the first things I learned here is that worship continues for the rest of the week.  It’s not just for Sunday mornings.  We also have HomeTeams, various studies, a great youth program, sports ministry.  It’s all done as a celebration of our awesome God.

The fact is, God has wired us to celebrate.  The Old Testament is a great place to go to see how this plays itself out.  God arranged the lives of His people around various feasts and other sacred days.  From the once a week Sabbath to the once every seven years Year of Jubilee, the lives of God’s people were filled with designated times to remember God’s blessings, rest, help the poor, and cleanse themselves from their sins.  There were twelve Old Testament feasts in all in addition to other observances like the festival of lights and new moon feasts.  The Feast of Tabernacles lasted an entire week!  That’s a lot of celebrating!  Underlying all of these observances though was a spirit of joy and thanksgiving. 

God hates sin.  So much so that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice.  That’s the bottom line of our faith.  But He also wants us to celebrate, to feel secure in His unfailing love.  After all, Jesus rose from the dead, and He’s coming back to restore everything He made! 

Even in the midst of economic stress, kids making bad decisions, Houston traffic, and the annoyances of daily life, we can and should celebrate.  It’s how we’re made!