Series is a book review and study of Richard Foster’s Book, Celebration of Discipline. All quotes from the book are Foster unless otherwise denoted.
Celebration. The final discipline in our series, is of course, the discipline of celebration. It is only when we move through the disciplines with joy that we truly set ourselves as disciplines of Christ following after the heart of our King, rather than simply checking things off a list.
Celebration is at the heart of the way of Christ. (Luke 2:10, John 15:11, Luke 4:18, 19) Such a radical, divinely enabled freedom from possessions and a restructuring of social arrangements cannot help but bring a celebration. (Leviticus 25:21) Freedom from anxiety and care forms the basis for celebration. The carefree spirit of joy in festivity is absent in the contemporary society. Apathy, even melancholy, dominates the times. Harvey Cox says that “modern man has been pressed so hard towards useful work and rational calculation, he has all but forgotten the joy of an ecstatic celebration”. Think about it. Stress, worry, doubt. These are the emotions that tend to consume our society. We are all too busy looking for bigger, better, and more that we often lose sight of the little victories to celebrate in now.
Celebration Gives Strength to Life
(Nehemiah 8:10) We may be able to begin tennis instruction or piano lessons by dint of will, but we will not keep at them for long without joy. In fact, the only reason we can begin is because we know that Joy is the end result. That is what sustains all novices – they know there is a sense of pleasure, enjoyment, joy in mastery. Celebration is central to all the spiritual disciplines. Without a joyful spirit of festivity the disciplines become doll death breathing tools in the hands of modern Pharisees. Every discipline should be characterized by carefree gaiety and a sense of thanksgiving. (Galatians 5:22). Joy produces energy. Joy makes us strong.
The Path to Joy
In the spiritual life only one thing will produce genuine joy, and that is obedience. To trust and obey. (Luke 11:27, 28)
Joy comes through obedience to Christ and joy results from obedience to Christ. To elicit genuine celebration obedience, must work itself into the ordinary fabric of our daily lives. Without that, our joy is hollow and artificial. God’s desire is to transform misery, not bypass it. Joy is not found in singing a particular kind of music, or in getting with the right kind of group, or even exercising the charismatic gifts of the Spirit – good as these may all be. Joy is found in obedience. Celebration comes when the common ventures of life are redeemed. Scripture commands us to live in a spirit of thanksgiving in the midst of all situations. It does not command us to celebrate the presence of evil. We do not need to add some popular teachings today that instruct us to praise God for the various difficulties to come into our lives – this denies the vileness of evil and baptizes the most horrible tragedies as the will of God. Rather, we are to confirm that God takes all things and works through them for the good of those who love Him.
The Spirit of Carefree Celebration
(Philippians 4:4, 4:6, 7; Matthew 6:25) Paul instructs us on how we can always rejoice. Christians are called to be free of care. The spirit of celebration will not be in us until we have learned to be “careful for nothing”. And we will never have a carefree indifference to things until we trust God. When we trust God, we are free to rely entirely upon Him to provide what we need. But if we fill our lives with simple good things and constantly think God for them, we will be joyful. “By prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God” (Philippians 4:8). That is full of joy. And when we determine to dwell on the good an excellent things in life, we will be so full of those things that they will tend to swallow our problems. The decision to set the mind on the higher things of life is an act of the will. This is why celebration is a discipline – it is the result of a consciously chosen way of thinking and living.
The Benefits of Celebration
Finally, the most important benefit of celebration is that it saves us from taking ourselves too seriously. It is healing and refreshing to cultivate a wide appreciation for life. Celebration helps us relax and enjoy the good things of the Earth. Celebration can also be an effective antidote for a periodic sense of sadness that constrict and oppress the heart. Another benefit of celebration is the ability to give us perspective. Thus freed of an inflated view of our own importance, we are therefore also freed of a judgmental spirit. Common joys can be shared without sanctimonious value judgments. An interesting characteristic of celebration, is that it tends towards more celebration. Joy begets joy. Laughter begets laughter.
The practice of celebration
Modern men and women have become so mechanized that we have snapped out nearly all experiences of spontaneous joy. Most of our experiences of celebration or artificial, plastic. (Psalm 150, Exodus 15:2, 2nd Samuel 6:14, 16) We often want to grab our phones, take to social media, and showcase our perfect event or moment to the world to “celebrate”. Everything is crafted. Yet, we are to celebrate like children! Carefree, with reckless abandon, and without regard for documenting the perfect image.
One way to practice celebration is singing, dancing, shouting – noise lots of noise. Singing dancing and noisemaking are not required forms of celebrations, they are examples only. There is a time for silence, just as there is a time for noise. Laughing is another way we practice celebration, so poke fun at yourself. Enjoy wholesome jokes and clever puns. Relish good comedy. Learn to laugh – it is a discipline to be mastered! Let go of the everlasting birding of always needing to sound profound. A third way to encourage celebration is to accent the creative gifts of fantasy and imagination. See visions and dreams. Play, laugh, sing. The imagination can release a flood of creative ideas and carry lots of fun. Create sculptures and paintings, plays and music. Another thing we can do is to make a family events into times of celebration and thanksgiving.
We can also celebrate lesser but equally important events like finishing a major project, securing a job, making a good grade, receiving a raise. Don’t be afraid to celebrate those seemingly small moments. Set up regular time to play games or watch movies or read books. The fifth thing we can do is to take advantage of the festivals of our culture and really celebrate. What a great celebration we can make of Christmas. It does not have to have all the cross commercialism connected to it if we decide that we don’t want it that way. And what about Easter? Forget the spring style show and celebrate the power of the resurrection! Revive May Day celebrations. Why Halloween to be pagan holiday? Instead of chafing under the social customs of our day we might do well to find ways to laugh at them. The great thing is that we are not limited to established festivals – we can create our own.
Celebration gives us the strength to live in all the other disciplines. When faithfully pursued, the other disciplines bring us deliverance from those things that have made our lives miserable for years which, in turn, evokes increased celebration. Thus, an unbroken circle of life and power is formed.
“We have come to the end of the study, but only to the beginning of our journey. We have seen how meditation heightens our spiritual sensitivity which, in turn, leads us into prayer. Very soon we discover that prayer involves fasting as an accompanying means. Informed by these three disciplines, we can effectively move into study which gives us discernment about ourselves and the world in which we live. Through simplicity we live with others in integrity. Solitude allows us to be genuinely present to people when we are with them. Through submission we live with others without manipulation, and through service we are a blessing to them. Confession frees us from ourselves and releases us to worship. Worship opens the door to guidance. All the disciplines freely exercised bring forth the doxology of celebration.”
To recap all of the spiritual disciplines from Foster’s book, check out the full series: Celebrating the Spiritual Disciplines
