Hey everyone, it’s Michelle Anthony here with Family Ministry Conversations. Today’s topic is Remember and Celebrate. I have to admit this is one of my very favorite topics to talk about.
It actually changes culture, it changes our attitude, and it changes our heart’s posture.
I love to remember and celebrate. In fact, I have a big picture hanging over my mantel that says those words: remember and celebrate! Because we’re so forgetful, I would forget to remember and celebrate.
Where Does Remember and Celebrate Come From?
So this is something that comes directly from Scripture that we can pass on to children and their families. A thing that we can do that actually changes culture, changes our attitude, and changes our heart’s posture.
When we look at Scripture, we see that God was very intentional about His people remembering. In fact, He established 7 annual feasts—festivals that the people of Israel were supposed to celebrate regularly. During these times, they were specifically instructed to remember different things about their heritage or how God had provided for them or His goodness to them.
It’s so easy to always be looking forward, moving forward to the next ministry or the next plan, the next everything that’s coming up. And it’s always Sunday. So we’re always looking to the next weekend. But God is asking us to look back—to remember His faithfulness and His goodness.
Remembering Changes Our Perspective
When I’m feeling anxious in my life about my future or things in my children’s lives or in my ministry, it’s so easy for me to fall into the temptation of worry. But when I look back, I just pause to remember and then celebrate who God has been not only in my life but also for generations and generations for thousands of years.
That’s why the author of Hebrews tells us to consider the great cloud of witnesses that we have standing before us proclaiming the faithfulness of God and then acting out in faith.
So Remember and Celebrate is something that you can do in your church services. We do it in our Tru curriculum and in our ministry every 6th and 13th week within a quarter. I know churches who pause once a quarter, and they do this as the whole church community gets together and every generation is remembering and telling stories of God’s faithfulness.
What Does Remember and Celebrate Look Like?
And the thought behind it is that it would be that secret set apart time like the festivals were. We want to bring food in and feast and celebrate traditions that are unique to our faith community. We want to play games and tell stories that have to do with our heritage.
So we give time for children, for teenagers, and for parents to come to maybe an open mic or a circle of gathering where they can tell a story. They can talk about how God provided for them or answered prayer, all the while maybe feasting on some fun food and then celebrating together.
My husband and I recently celebrated an anniversary, and when we were walking through all the different ways God had been faithful to each of us during the year, our anniversary celebration became so much more than a dinner. It actually became a time of worship to remember and celebrate God’s faithfulness in our marriage.
And that sort of was the launching point for entering into the next year—or the next 15 years. So I encourage you to cultivate a culture of remembering and celebrating, taking time to pause in the here and now and to stop looking forward for just a moment to look back and then to thank God for how He’s been providing for you and your faith community.
8 At-Home Lessons for Families
8 At-Home Lessons for Families
