Let’s Celebrate!

I’ve been in the Book of John for the better part of the last two months. As I have read a small passage and studied and meditated on it each morning, I have been surprised by John’s account of Jesus’ ministry.

Jesus stopped everything and went to Jerusalem for EVERY Jewish feast.

It could not have been easy or convenient to drop your work and travel by foot several days to stay in Jerusalem for a week and then turn around and come home, but that’s exactly what Jesus did. It sounds strange to us, but Jesus was only following the tradition of sacred feasts from the Old Testament.

God instituted feasts to commemorate a past event in Israel’s history (and thus celebrate what God had done) or to commemorate God’s faithfulness at harvest (and thus celebrate how good God is). Both kinds of feasts called for jubilant celebration. The Law even required that all Jewish males go to at least one feast per year. Also, every Jew within a certain number of miles was required to attend each feast every year. Several times a year, the pattern was:

Stop what you’re doing; join others in Jerusalem, and then have a joyful celebration together to honor the Lord!

Well, Covenant, we’re getting ready to do just that! This special year of Crossing Together is going to give us several “excuses” to celebrate how good our God is, and we are about to come upon our first of several opportunities. Next weekend, we will cross the “quarter mark” toward our destination of $1.44M! So, we’re planning a celebration on August 14/15 to commemorate the achievement and to give lots of praise to our God who has been faithful to us. Please don’t miss that weekend, as we’re going celebrate big time during our worship services. I invite you to stand and cheer when I announce our accomplishment and we take a moment to celebrate.

Let me also congratulate you in advance. We’re going to reach the quarter mark of Crossing Together in just two months since we began! That’s $350,000! I believe we should do a little “whooping and hollering!”

Spread the word…August 14 and 15…we are going to CELEBRATE.

Branson