Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Three times in the year you shall hold a festival for me. You shall observe the festival of unleavened bread.
You shall observe the festival of harvest, of the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall observe the festival of ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, July 4, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Partay! Life is hard work. Survival as a community takes elbow grease, commitment, and is often challenging. God desires more than simply our survival; God desires our flourishing. In order to flourish, we need to party! We need to come together and celebrate. Eat, drink, dance, play, rest, and above all, remember. Honor the God who delivers, the God who causes the ground to produce, the God who sustains until the next growing season.
I love the rhythm of my life, which includes regular festivals. Easter and Christmas are, of course, full of anticipation and joy. But there’s also the three weeks I spend every year at my family cabin in Michigan—a place my grandfather bought in 1951, when my dad was 8. (I’m there right now, which is why this is on my heart and mind.) It’s not a big, festive celebration, like Christmas and Easter, but it is time set aside to be in nature and commune with God in deep gratitude for this place and for a life which, although often challenging, still holds space for this time of serenity and relaxation. So, yeah, maybe these are my three annual festivals observed in gratitude to God: Easter, Christmas, and Michigan. Gratitude indeed.
What are the regular festivals that bring joy and flourishing to my life?