Time to Celebrate

And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. (Ezra 3:10-11 ESV).

For many of us, life is full of celebrations. Every year we celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. We also celebrate important milestones, such as graduating, coming of age, getting a promotion or a pay raise, or breaking ground for a new building project. With the advent of Covid-19 those events have drastically changed. Some have been cancelled altogether. The picture today is from Westbury Medical Care and Rehab in Jackson, Georgia. Ms. Kathryn was still able to celebrate her 93rd birthday with her family even during the quarantine. When I saw the story it reminded me of a very important principle. The reason for our celebration is much more important than the activity of celebration. The setting of our reading today is the return of God’s people to their own land after seventy years of exile. They had worked hard to prepare for rebuilding the temple of the Lord. And when they completed the foundation for the new temple, it was time to celebrate! Ezra writes that “with praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord.” The loss suffered in the cancellation of so many milestone events for people of all ages and backgrounds is real. I would never seek to denigrate that reality; however, shouldn’t there still be both a means and a reason to celebrate beyond the details of the event? Perhaps we should be pondering the question of what we are celebrating today. How is that really changed because of the inability to gather as we might have in the absence of covid. And, perhaps we need to look a little deeper at the things we celebrate. I know I’ve discovered there are some things in my life that have become unnecessary while other things have jumped to the forefront of importance. The Apostle Paul reminds the people in Philippi to, “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4). Knowing that he wrote that from a prison cell in Rome, waiting for his execution, strikes deep into my heart. I have so much to celebrate. Everything is difficult; anxiety runs high in our hearts. However, God has laid a foundation for His Presence in my heart that can never be destroyed. Now that calls for a party… even if it means standing six feet away from the nearest person with masks on!