Rev. Miserable - not his real name - was called to a very large, very active west-end Toronto congregation in 1982 – a church of 900 on the roll & many hundreds in attendance at the two services every Sunday. It was the largest in Toronto at the time, when other congregations had long since begun the decline that would mark the last quarter of the 20th century for mainline denominations. After a few months and some noticeable changes in the tone of services & programs, Rev Miserable announced to the Session that nothing would happen at that church that wasn’t “Christ-centered”. Obviously, but at that Session meeting, he didn’t explain HIS definition of ‘Christ-centered’. I’ve always said, it only takes one skunk to stink up a room and he managed to single-handedly kill that church, reducing it to about 35 in attendance by the time he left, sitting in a sanctuary built to seat over 500. His method for killing that church was simple → he forbade fellowship, coffee time after worship, pot luck dinners, spaghetti suppers, pancake breakfasts, games nights, basketball with the youth in their full size gymnasium. He kicked the Boy Scouts out of the building where the biggest troupe in Toronto had been renting for over 25 years because they weren’t ‘Christ centered’. The Boy Scout Oath says, “A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean & reverent.” I can't imagine that Christ would be upset with any young person who strove to embody those qualities. Celebration of any kind or even a simple cake presented for gratitude & acknowledgement of volunteers and ministries were outlawed unless it was a party around Bible study.
Please know that I’m strongly in favour of Bible Study, but there is much more than scripture study needed to build a stable mutually loving Christian community. And we all know that there is far far more than theological academia required to build God’s Kingdom. Anybody can memorize impressive amounts of scripture; it has to live here [in the heart]. This minister was so self-righteously dogmatic, so focussed on building barriers to keep out the sinners, that he forgot one very important permission-giving aspect of Jesus’ life → He was fun!
Here He is at a wedding feast in Cana. He did not live in Cana; Jesus lived in Nazareth with His mother at this time. In order to attend the wedding celebration - which would go on for 3 to 5 days! - Jesus, His mother, and the first of the disciples that He just called to His ministry, would have to walk about 6 & ½ kilometres. However, as many people as possible would want to be at a wedding, and not merely because it was a fabulous extended party. Anyone attending a wedding in Jesus’ day was exempt from work for the duration of the feast! It was the only time Temple rule allowed folks a break from their labours which supported the needs of the Temple first. After the priests and Pharisees were fed and clothed, have sufficient livestock for sacrifices, etc, then folks were allowed to attend to the needs of their own family. So a wedding was like a vacation, and the only one they would ever get until someone else got married.
What are you like on holiday? Unfettered by obligation, not restricted to someone else’s schedule, footloose and fancy-free, dancing like no one is watching, as they say?! Do we actually imagine Jesus sat there for 5 days, quietly, sullenly studying Torah and wondering why no one would join Him? No one puts Christ in a corner - He danced. He drank the wine. He engaged in the wedding festivities because this is part of the human experience, it’s part of being mortal, to honour the significant events in our lives with the people who are significant for us.
Marriage among the common folks was most often a love-match, rather than the arranged transaction between those families who held high, strategic positions. So why wouldn’t Jesus be thrilled to celebrate with them, to share in the joy, to witness to the love between two people and their parents, among their families and friends. Love is a gift from God; when it’s pure and unconditional, respectful and kind, it is a taste of the Heaven from which Christ came. Who knows about love better than Jesus? Who appreciates and encourages love among us more than Jesus? So you bet He partied! Partied Holy, knowing that wherever there is love, the Divine is present and real and delighted by our joy. So this is the moment in the service, if you haven’t already, when you take the hand of those you love - partners, parents, friends, family in Christ.
We’ve spent the past few Sundays focused on the 5 Core Values of our congregations, as identified by the Elders of both Zion & Knox during a ‘day away’ retreat. We have talked about love, community, and respect. Today we add to that noble list: the Value of Celebration!
Sounds like we’re a party church and that’s not a terrible thing. That’s rather a nice change after decades of being labeled, ‘dour Presbyterians’. Jesus was labeled too – a drunk, a rowdy party animal, a dangerously unrighteous libertine - because He attended all the best parties in town. That’s usually where He could connect with the ‘sinners’ - the folks who were judged unworthy, cast aside by the holier ones. Jesus went to the homes of prostitutes & gamblers, known thieves & tax collectors [same thing, actually, in His day]. He hung out with the despised and the forlorn, the hungry and the filthy folks who couldn’t get a seat in the Temple anymore because their lowly state suggested God didn’t favour them. Oh yah He did – He sent Jesus to be their friend.
So Jesus could become a part of their lives - births, marriages, illness, deaths, new jobs, collapsed homes, new sheep, family feasts. Ours is a permission-giving God who wants to participate in all the markers of this life’s ups and downs. And therefore, we are freed and encouraged to do the same, to be a part of one another’s lives by celebrating all the great things that happen, and sharing in the losses that are also part of living. Celebration as a Value isn’t just about the cakes and the parties. It’s about living with gratitude for the people we love and have lost; it’s about noting transitions, acknowledging change with meaningful closures while looking ahead with excitement for whatever else God is up to!
A true story. I was asked to officiate at the funeral of a dear friend’s mother. My friend, Kathy, was driving me to meet with her six siblings at the home of the eldest daughter. They were somewhat of a rowdy bunch but were trying to be on their best behaviour for the minister’s visit. They had this image of a minister as being terribly serious and solemn, so Kathy suggested that I do something to break the ice & help them to relax and be themselves. As I approached them all around a huge kitchen table, they were deathly silent, heads very low in reverence, each murmuring, ‘Hello Reverend, thank you for coming’, etc. I nodded to each, then said, “What’s a girl gotta do to get a drink around here?” They all laughed, put a drop of Amaretto in my coffee and they began to tell wonderful stories about their Mom, Betty, including the story of her favourite cocktail only for VERY special occasions, & the running joke about her never getting the name right. She muddled up the name SO badly that I can’t repeat it in polite company! For over 2 hours, they spoke of all the ways their mother loved them & made their lives beautiful and fun. About two days later, a huge bottle of Amaretto appeared in my office as a thank you.
Several days later, after the final Benediction at the graveside interment, I encouraged them to stay as long as they had need to linger and I slipped to the back of the large family-only crowd - 7 siblings, all with spouses and children, plus grandchildren. The eldest sister came over to thank me for the service and mused, “We should have brought something to toast Mom”. I bent down into my briefcase and brought out the Amaretto for her. Another sister saw the bottle, came running over and said, “If only we had cups.” I bent down into my briefcase and brought up a stack of small cups. To the horror of the very proper funeral director, the two sisters ran around the cemetery giving out cups and pouring small drams of Amaretto, after which we had an emotionally charged toast to Betty.
They were certainly not in any mood to party. They were devastated to lose their best friend but in that moment, with love and gratitude feeling stronger than sorrow, they could celebrate their Mom - her joy, the child-like sense of fun that she never lost, her unconditional love for all of them.
Celebration is one of our Core Values. We make a holy habit of marking the glory and greatness of human life, as gifted and blessed by the One who celebrates with us! Thanks be to God for a Redeemer and Friend Who wants to be a part of it all, Amen.