Time for Feasting

I've been reading The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg thanks to the recommendation of my dear friend Bea Ward.  I have really been enjoying it, but one of the chapters made a particular impact on me this week as we prepare for campers to come on Monday. Chapter Four is called "A 'Dee Dah Day': The Practice of Celebration. In this chapter he includes a passage from G.K. Chesterton that I thought was superb.  Here's what it says:

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged.  They always say, "Do it again"; and the grownup person does it again until he is nearly dead.  For grownup people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.  But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony.  It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening "Do it again" to the moon.  It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them.  It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we are.

I love those thoughts, but the idea that really caught my fancy from this chapter was this.  In the Old Testament, God commanded both days of feasting and days of fasting.  The days of feasting were every bit as important as the days of fasting.  That is because God is a God who is characterized by joyfulness and loves celebration.  The days of feasting were prescribed because God wants us to take some dedicated time to gather with people we love, eat, drink, sing and dance.

For the kids who come to camp, this is their week of "feasting."  It's our job to lead them in celebrating.  And it's our great responsibility to lead them to see that the focus of our celebration is the Big, Awesome God that we serve.

John Ortberg further says, "When we celebrate, we exercise our ability to see and feel goodness in the simplest gifts of God.  We are able to take delight in something we wouldn't have even noticed yesterday."

So these next few weeks we will be doing this holy work, this work of joyful celebration.  We will be rejoicing in "the simplest gifts of God" as they are revealed in this spectacular location, and helping kids to learn to do the same.

There will be "choice foods" at our feast, as well as singing, dancing, and playing.

And laughter...there will be lots of laughter.

Let the feast begin!!!