A while ago I took part in the Spiritual Formation class my husband teaches at Shiloh University. In it, I learned about the Spiritual Disciplines. We studied several messages by John Robert Stevens and also a book titled Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster (I highly recommend this class).
It was an amazing experience to participate in this course. My favorite chapter was the last one on The Discipline of Celebration. Here is a quote from Foster that I love “Celebration brings joy into life, and joy makes us strong. Scriptures tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength (Neh. 8:10). We cannot continue long in anything without it.”
That is a true statement in my life. That is why I am so thankful for the Biblical Feasts we celebrate as a fellowship of churches. I have learned since I was young how important our Jewish roots are as Christians. I have also learned from my spiritual parents the importance to love and respect our Jewish brothers and that, through Christ we are partakers of the promises and of the Biblical Feasts.
Right now we are getting ready to celebrate the Feast of Purim on Friday, March 2nd. I like to read the book of Esther at this time of the year and this verse caught my attention: “The Jews established and made a custom for themselves and for their descendants and for all those who allied themselves with them, so that they would not fail to celebrate these two days according to their appointed time annually. So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and these days of Purim were not to fail from among the Jews, or their memory, fade from their descendants.” Esther 9:27, 28 NASB
I believe this victory is a wonderful reason to celebrate and, as a Christian, the Feast of Purim is so relevant to me. I want to be counted as one who allied themselves with Queen Esther and I want to teach this story to my children and have a wonderful time celebrating it every year!
For more on this amazing story of why we celebrate Purim check out this blog from our sister church at Shiloh, Iowa – http://www.shilohiowa.org/2010/04/celebrating-our-salvation-at-purim/