Versions of this article were presented by Marie at the Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education Conference XXV at Concordia Mequon, and at the Wyoming District Homeschool Retreat on Casper Mountain, both in July 2025.
Imagine a childhood in which St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated identically in both the public and parochial schools, and no one had ever heard of the commemoration of St. James. Imagine a childhood in which the seasons of nature were more natural to living than the seasons of the church year. Imagine a childhood in which church was attended for Christmas and Easter, but the “real” celebration seemed wrapped up in presents and treats. Well, perhaps you don’t need to imagine very hard, because if you grew up like I did, even as a cradle Lutheran, your childhood may have resembled my own.
Like me, did you attend church weekly, but never celebrate minor festivals or saints’ day? Was more emphasis placed on birthdays than baptismal days? Was your idea of a real celebration going out to eat or having ice cream? Maybe you grew up like I did, maybe not. But, I believe all of us want something better for our children and students than what I just described. We want to develop a deep and distinctive Christian culture.
Roger Scruton writes in his book A Short Introduction to Beauty, quote: “Fleeting joys and brief encounters become eternal values when we set them in ritual and stone” (Beauty 80) end quote. In today’s presentation, I’d like to speak about the idea of celebration, examining why we ought to celebrate, what we might choose to celebrate, when to celebrate in a yearly rhythm, and how celebration takes place, in order that we reclaim and renew many rich traditions, especially within the church year. To paraphrase James Schall, before we can pretend to do anything about the present, we must know what we are, what the world is, and yes, what God is. [The attempt to renew traditions] that know little or nothing of these deeper realities can only make things worse (11).
Why Celebrate?
Let’s begin by considering why we celebrate, exploring a theory of celebration. What is a festival? Various elements might come to mind, but it’s difficult to come up with an all-encompassing definition. To answer this, German Josef Pieper, best known for his 1952 book Leisure, says that we need to understand the ultimate fulfillment of man. The ancient pagan standard of celebration was at best, the contemplation of divine beauty, but as Christians, we know that this is most wholly fulfilled in the contemplation of Christ (15-17). Quote: “When a festival goes as it should, men receive something that it is not in human power to give...renewal, transformation, rebirth” end quote.
Many of you have heard of or read Pieper’s Leisure, but he also penned another work entitled, In Tune With the World: A Theory of Festivity. In both books, he connects the dots between the concepts of culture, leisure, and celebration which are foundational for our discussion. To simplify greatly: Leisure, not just work, is required for humans to create culture. And celebration, rooted in worship, is man’s highest form of leisure. He asks “Can a fully human existence be contained within an exclusively workaday existence?” with an implied answer of no (39). Humans are more than simply mechanisms to be used for financial gain.
Quote: “Culture depends for its very existence on leisure, and leisure, in its turn, is not possible unless it has a durable and consequently living link with the cultus, with divine worship (15)…The soul of leisure, it can be said, lies in celebration. ...But if celebration is the core of leisure, then leisure can only be made possible and justifiable on the same basis as the celebration of a festival. That basis is divine worship ... The most festive festival it is possible to celebrate is divine worship. And there is no festival that does not draw its vitality from worship” (65). The celebration of divine worship, then, is the deepest of the springs by which leisure is fed and continues to be vital—though it must be remembered that leisure embraces everything which, without being merely useful, is an essential part of a full human existence” (69-70) end quote.
Thus we find that the Church’s celebration is born out of God’s Old Testament festivals, and reaches its richest earthly significance in the festival of Holy Communion in the Divine Service, commemorating especially the leisure and rest we receive from our sins, due to the death and resurrection of the God-man, Christ Jesus, put to verse so beautifully by Martin Luther, which you are welcome to sing with me:
Christ Jesus lay in death's strong bands For our offenses given;
But now at God's right hand He stands And brings us life from heaven.
Therefore let us joyful be And sing to God right thankfully
Loud songs of alleluia! Alleluia! (LSB 458)
Divine worship is to time as what the ancient pagan temples were to place. It is set aside for contemplation of divine beauty, made known to us through Christ. Mostly, our lives are not ordered by sacredness, but by work. So, when divine worship jolts us out of the normalcy and complacency of our everyday lives, we feel its weight. Sacred music, art, and ambiance can enhance the experience. Our inherited liturgy is good and wholesome and follows an order that fosters the sacred. Entertainment and novelty are not the same thing as a festivity. Comparing worship to art, Roger Scruton differentiates between art and entertainment. Quote: “In confronting a true work of art, it is not my own reactions that interest me, but the meaning and content of the work I am being presented..., uniquely embodied in this particular sensory form. When seeing entertainment, however, I am not interested in the cause but in the effect. Whatever has the right effect on me is right for me, and there is no question of judgement—aesthetic or otherwise” (85) end quote. These ideas are very applicable to the Liturgy and forms of worship.
Jennifer Pepito writes that “Christian culture swing[s] wildly between opposite poles of legalism and licentiousness” (18), but Confessional Lutherans are uniquely qualified to grasp the importance of celebration within our theology. We walk the narrow Lutheran middle. We can understand the wholesomeness of celebration. We are not like the Jehovah’s Witnesses who eschew many kinds of celebrations at one extreme, nor are we like the Hedonists who get drunk and have orgies as often as possible.
Miss Anna Hahn, teacher at Mount Hope Lutheran School in Casper, WY, recently wrote for our school newsletter, quote: “[T]he wellspring of leisure at school is not in the classroom. It’s in church! There we have true festival: a feast of rest and joy in the worship of God. Man is fulfilled beyond utility: he is raised to communion with Christ Himself” end quote.
What to Celebrate?
Now that we have a foundation for why Christians celebrate, let’s next consider what to celebrate. To organize our celebrations, the scaffolding of the Church Year offers us Lutherans a foundation. Whether sacred or secular, a calendar provides a sense of culture and history. The Treasury of Daily Prayer explains the reasons Christians retain their historic calendar, quote:
First, a regular calendar is helpful to keep remembrances before us, just as God commanded the Jewish people to recall how He delivered them in the past... Second, following their Jewish predecessors, Christians consider the regularity of the holidays as teaching moments, … to tell and retell the Good News. Finally, Christians recognize that … Christ’s victory over death...unites present-day believers with those of the past as well as the future. End quote.
The one-year historic lectionary provides abundant tradition and cyclical celebration. Even if your church uses something different, the one-year lection can be used in your home. In discussing what to celebrate, we’ll look at the church year, which consists of major and minor festivals, as well as commemorations of the saints; also Baptismal Days and Birthdays, Jewish Festivals, and finally, cultural holidays.
Church Year
When we wish one another a “Happy New Year” in the church, we’re not talking about January 1, but the first day of Advent, when the Church calendar begins. In fact, one of the three major Church festivals, Christmas, falls at the end of our secular calendar, but near the very beginning of our Church calendar! We start with Advent because the Christian’s hope is placed in the person of Christ, Whose life we ponder anew during Advent, the season of “coming.” The seasons of the Church year largely follow the events in the life of Christ during the first half of the year. We’ll cover Advent more later, so let’s discuss the three major festivals of the church now, beginning with Christmas.
Christmas
Over the past few decades, there has been some debate about Christian holidays being derived from pagan festivals, and some Christians have felt they should no longer celebrate such festivities if this is true. I’m not sure if there’s a unified position on this in the LCMS, but Joseph Abrahamson, writing for the blog Steadfast Lutherans, has taken on the debate in an attempt to put it to rest. Yes, Constantine created a calendar of catacomb festivals in the early church and replaced the celebration of pagan festivals with Christmas, but the major festivals of the church have roots firmly planted in the Old Testament. Abrahamson writes, quote:
The dates for Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and all those church holy days are all based originally on Passover. … based on what God declared to Moses in about 1,440 B.C. on Mt. Sinai. … [T]he relationship between the Passover, Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas is an historically demonstrable fact through the writings of the Church Fathers. End quote.
If this strikes your curiosity, I commend to you the Steadfast Lutherans blog series entitled, “Redeeming the Holy Days from Pagan Lies.”
In our secular culture, we rush to squeeeeeze in the gift wrapping, decorating, and parties before the season of Christmas actually comes. Advent is generally considered a penitential season of the Church year, meaning we reflect on our sins and God’s mercy. America has co-oped Advent from a time of penitence to a time of celebration. Aside from the Holy Communion Festival for Christmas Day, we have an entire season for Christmas, not just a day!
Easter
For many, the beauty and fanfare of Easter make it one of the most wonderful services of the year. We enjoy the music, the resurrection message, and often even a fellowship meal. Many churches are also bringing back the traditional Easter Vigil service on Saturday evening, originating in the early church when the catechumens professed their faith and were baptized, receiving the Lord’s Supper for the first time on Easter. It’s a beautiful service based on Old Testament types and the symbolism of Romans 6.
Then let us feast this Easter Day On Christ, the Bread of heaven; The Word of Grace hath purged away The old and evil leaven. Christ alone our souls will feed, He is our meat and drink indeed; Faith lives upon no other. Alleluia!
Both Christmas and Easter are celebrated even by those who claim to be non-religious. There are some old Christian traditions that somehow evolved into secular society. For instance, Saint Nicholas of the early church is celebrated on December 7, remembered for his generosity to those in need. He has morphed into our culture’s Santa Claus, who brings gifts not for the naughty, but for the nice. And then there’s the Easter Bunny with her Easter eggs. People traditionally fasted from eggs (along with meat) during Lent, breaking their fast on Easter morning with eggs. The breaking of the shell symbolized the rending of the tomb. And, in the Christian religion, rabbits are often depicted in Pre-Reformation art and on early Christian tombstones, symbolizing the resurrected Christ!
I don’t see an inherent problem of using these now-secularized elements in our celebrations outside of the sanctuary. But, if you choose to use them, use the opportunity to teach the Christian symbolism, being careful not to lie to the children in your care.
Pentecost
Although the culture has co-opted and twisted the other two high festivals of the church, it seems nobody wants much to do with Pentecost, even the Christians! Known in some circles as the birthday of the Christian church, I say we bring back the fanfare! We have some unique hymns, like Hail Thee Festival Day, to compliment the themes of the service. Perhaps we should start a Pentecost brunch after the service, like Easter, or practice the art of hospitality and invite others over to our homes for a special meal. Regardless of your celebratory choices, Pentecost should be treated as one of the highest festivals of the Church year!
Minor Church Festivals
Of course, there are many minor church festivals that most of us are familiar with, such as Annunciation, Ascension, and Transfiguration. There are also the feasts associated with people in the life and ministry of Christ, such as Saint Mary and the Evangelists. These are treated with special distinction. The LCMS Worship Library notes, quote: “It is appropriate to observe these "Feasts" with the Sacrament of the Altar, in which the Word-made-flesh draws close to us and gives himself to us in much the same way that he came and lived among the apostles and other disciples in the New Testament” end quote.
Commemorations
Commemorations, however, are distinct from festivals, focusing primarily on Old Testament figures, church fathers, and historical persons. These celebrations are usually observed in chapel services where Lutherans gather on a daily basis, or in home devotions. Both festivals and commemorations are listed in the front of the LSB.
Some among us might be concerned or hesitant to honor the saints. The LCMS Worship Library addresses this, quote:
We honor the memory of these saints … as those who are very much alive forevermore in Christ Jesus. We honor not what they did during their earthly life, but what God worked in and through them to his glory. We remember them by giving attention to the Word of God, which nurtured and sustained them in the faith…. [B]y giving this appropriate attention to the saints who have gone before us, we discourage inappropriate and superstitious ways of remembering them. Instead, we give thanks to God for demonstrating his mercy through them, a practice which our Lutheran Confessions call "truly worthwhile" (Apology to the Augsburg Confession, XXI, 36) end quote.
It’s beyond the scope of this presentation to touch on every minor festival and commemoration. But I commend to you two important resources. The first is William Weedon’s book Celebrating the Saints, which gives context and the story behind the festivals and commemorations of the church year, according to the listing in the Lutheran Service Book. The second resource is the website of “All the Household,” founded by Dr. Kristen Einertson and Mrs. Tessa Muench (Munch). It’s a beautiful resource of photographs, ideas, stories, recipes, and more to celebrate these same festivals and commemorations. Perhaps you’ve even seen their articles in the Lutheran Witness. Subscribe to their weekly newsletter.
We’ve now reflected on major and minor festivals of the Church, as well as several commemorations. But, let’s not forget that every Sunday is a festival, too, in commemoration of both Creation and Easter. As St. Ignatius wrote, quote: “[L]et every friend of Christ keep the Lord’s Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days [of the week], … for the eighth day,” on which our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained in Christ” end quote. Bible Hub explains that “[In some] liturgies, Sunday is referred to as the "Eighth Day," emphasizing its significance as the day of resurrection and worship. The early church fathers often wrote about the Eighth Day as a symbol of eternal life and the age to come, ...encapsulat[ing] themes of new creation, covenant, resurrection, and eschatological hope.” Jesus gives up His life, to give us life. He feeds us with His body and blood: the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.
Here our true Paschal Lamb we see, Whom God so freely gave us;
He died on the accursed tree--So strong His love to save us.
See, His blood now marks our door; Faith points to it; death passes o'er,
And Satan cannot harm us. Alleluia!
Baptismal Days and Birthdays
As a Lutheran college student, I distinctly remember one of the very first sermons in chapel. I had an “aha moment,” suddenly remembering how important the doctrine of Baptism was in the Bible and the Catechism and in the life of the Christian! But, I hadn’t remembered hearing much about it since Confirmation Class, shocking considering that I attended a Lutheran high school with twice-daily chapel! We all need regular reminders of the power of baptism and the comfort we have through it.
There are many options for remembering baptismal birthdays in a home, congregation, or school. The baptismal dates can be listed on a bulletin board, or the bulletin or newsletter. If you received a baptismal candle, this can be lit in remembrance. The LWML of some congregations recognize student baptismal dates with a small gift. (Show examples.) You can sing a baptismal hymn or stanza for family devotions or in chapel. Perhaps the child can view photos of his baptism, or call up his baptismal sponsors. And, as far as birthdays, go ahead and celebrate! For the Christian, nothing is truly secular. But, consider singing “God’s blessings to you” after “Happy birthday.” You can remind the birthday child that he is fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image. And, if you are concerned about forgetting baptismal dates, it’s always an option to combine the celebrations, and commemorate one’s baptism together with one’s date of birth. Although it’s a beautiful thing to remember baptism on its own, I think it better to combine and celebrate together with a birthday than to forget to celebrate baptism at all. Marking our temporal lives can be a symbol of our spiritual lives, just as baptism is a sign of death and resurrection.
It was a strange and dreadful strife When life and death contended;
The victory remained with life, The reign of death was ended.
Holy Scripture plainly saith That death is swallowed up by death,
Its sting is lost forever. Alleluia!
Next, Jewish Festivals
Although neither part of our Christian church year nor a typical American holiday, Jewish festivals are interesting to study and celebrate. I acknowledge that not all Christians feel compelled to look into these, particularly when we don’t celebrate many of our own Christian festivals. However, I have found that studying the Old Testament, and considering how Jesus Himself would have celebrated these festivals, sheds a great light on the New Testament. While I wouldn’t encourage Jewish festivals to be celebrated yearly, nor at the expense of Christian festivals, Christians more than anyone else, have the best insight into the symbolism of these celebrations.
Cultural Holidays
What about American holidays or celebrations unique to our own ethnic group? The word holiday, a compound word created from the words holy and day combined, point us back to the origins of celebration, found in Word and Sacrament. Like Santa or the Easter Bunny, I don’t see anything inherently wrong with celebrating most secular American holidays—this year, I celebrated American Independence by writing this speech—but, I would caution not to make the secular holiday fanfare equal to our Ecclesiastical celebrations. We shouldn’t raise our children to expect so much from secular celebrations that church seems boring by comparison. I encourage you to continue any ethnic traditions you have already created, and honor the memory of your ancestors with traditions from Europe or elsewhere, particularly those which compliment Christian festivities.
For those of us who would like to make meaningful changes toward celebrating Christian festivals, I suggest we should not simply “ax” the activities normally enjoyed, but rather provide beautiful and meaningful alternatives for our children, creating a bridge for the culture, like Paul in the Areopagus. We want our children and students to attain the wide definition of eros—a desire in response to beauty. When we point out a child’s own immature preferences, we saturate with moving alternatives. An example of this substitution might be Halloween. Originally, this was tied to the church festival of All Saint’s Day. Abrahamson writes, quote: “In the Bible the day begins at sundown or evening. … Halloween is All Hallows’ Eve, that is All Saints’ Evening. Halloween is the beginning of All Saints’ Day starting at sundown on October 31st” end quote. We can teach the beautiful origins of what America has so horrifically twisted, and provide exciting alternatives on the 31st, celebrating the Feast of the Reformation and/or All Saints’ Day with worship and meaningful church activities.
What Not to Celebrate
In discussing what to celebrate, it begs the question of what not to celebrate. Pieper notes that quote: “The place in life which should naturally be occupied by real festivity cannot remain empty. And when real festivals are no longer celebrated, for whatever reason, the susceptibility of artificial festivals grows (69). Sham festivals foist themselves on men in place of true festivity,” (60) end quote. He notes that in history, new festivals disassociated with religion always failed (63). Our hearts long for our Maker, whether we understand it or not. Therefore, I encourage you to especially celebrate our church seasons and festivals, and minimize memorial and governmental holidays, which Pieper notes are not true festivals. It’s certainly not wrong to participate in civic parades, lay flags on gravestones, or have a barbecue on Labor Day, but our fanfare as we teach the next generation can be especially focused on the church year.
Although perhaps it might surprise this room full of Lutherans, may I suggest that we also reconsider our celebration of “Lutheran Schools Week?” For one thing, the term can be divisive among our churches, for some of us teach our Lutheran children outside of a Lutheran school. In addition, in my experience, “Lutheran Schools Week” has little to do with actual Lutheranism. I’d be tickled to learn this is celebrated differently at your school, but I have seen Lutheran Schools Week focus on sports, pep rallies, band concerts, and school dances with pop music, exclusive only for schoolchildren and families, and not open to the entire congregation. Any truly Christian activities incorporated into Lutherans Schools Week, like singing for church or visiting nursing homes, could instead be used in conjunction with traditional church-year celebrations.
When to Celebrate?
We’ve discussed the why and what of celebration. Now, let’s transition to the when of celebration. We’ve touched on one aspect of this with the cycle of the Church year. But, I’d also like to consider the daily, weekly, seasonal, and yearly rhythms of celebration.
Penitence
The first thing I’d like to note about when to celebrate is that the answer is “not always!” Quote: “The festive quality of a holiday depends on it being exceptional. A festival can arise only out of the foundation of a life whose ordinary shape is given by the working day. ...[O]nly meaningful work can provide the soil in which festivity flourishes” notes Pieper (4). Lutherans observe the penitential seasons of Advent and Lent, traditionally including fasting to at least some extent for most adults. Fasting used to be common on a weekly basis in the morning prior to the reception of the Lord’s Supper, and seasonally with abstinence from foods wholly on certain days of the week or particular foods for several weeks. In the Old Testament, the Jewish festivals and rituals had cycles of fasting, too. Although not required in order to reap the spiritual benefits of the Lord’s Supper, Luther writes that “fasting and bodily preparation are indeed fine outward training…” For a more in-depth look at Lutheran fasting, consider reading When You Fast by Rev. Dr. Harold Ristau.
Every Day
Not every day is a festival of the Church year; but every day is a time to remember that God’s mercies are new every morning. Even if you are so blessed to have daily chapel at your school, I would encourage daily home devotions, to set a generational standard. This isn’t just something we go to do, it’s something we do here, now. It’s part of who we are as God’s people, and we need His Word in our homes every day. Consider setting up a family altar in your home, a place or visual locus for your devotion life. Read the Bible, pray, and sing each day in your home, whether you are a family of 1 or 10. Even little children can learn hymns! Kloria Publishing has some beautiful hymn picture books. Hang high-quality Christian art around your home to daily remind you of God’s grace in Christ. Consider setting apart your devotional time with a candle or aroma.
Weekly (Sunday)
Our Earthly celebrations culminate in the Divine Service, and it is delightful when those same weekly themes can be integrated into the home and classroom. Pastors might consider adding suggestions for daily Bible readings and hymns into the bulletin for families based on the Church year. Our family has created a “Family Altar Board,” a whiteboard that we update on Sunday evenings with highlights from the Sunday service, as well prayer requests and memory work assignments for the week. This could be incorporated into a classroom, too. The Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, which I used for a majority of my life, has hymns arranged by each Sunday of the Church year, which can serve as a handy reference, no matter which hymnal you use at home. Lutherans for Life has an e-newsletter discussing life issues according to church year themes. In their personal Bibles, some people like to highlight the weekly lection to draw attention to those same readings used yearly in church. Weekly memory work can be assigned and visual art can be integrated by printing and posting a public domain paintings based on the Sunday’s readings.
Seasonally
For children, the changing colors of the church year are exciting! Actually, if we admit it, most of us are really happy to see some white for St. Michael’s after Trinity’s green for months and months! With the changing seasons come a variety of celebrations. Consider adding seasonal colors or decor to your home or classroom. Most of us are familiar with the Advent tradition of wreaths and candles. Find ways to keep Advent penitential, and use the Twelve Days of Christmas for gifts and celebration. With Easter, perhaps you have some special decorations in your home that the children can look forward to waking up to, or special foods, like Resurrection Cookies, in which the meringue cookie rises during the night, leaving the cookie “empty” inside. Maybe you host a bonfire for Pentecost, or gather together in a room for a feast. You might also consider choosing concert music for your co-op or school based on the church year.
Yearly
As you consider a whole year at a time in the Church year, you might prioritize baptismal birthdays for your children and students, and implement the once-a-year saints’ celebrations mentioned in the book Celebrating the Saints or highlighted by All the Household. If implementing all of them in your home or classroom seems daunting, consider simply setting aside a half hour once a week to read about one of the festivals of the week, and do a simple craft or activity, like reading a short section of a primary source written by the person you are honoring. I created a once-a-week curriculum for my own home that is available on Mary Moerbe’s website, Lutheran Marketplace.
Year of Jubilee
Not often considered in the modern Christian celebration cycle are the Sabbath and Jubilee years. God commanded His people to rest for a day every week, and a year every seventh year. And, in the 50th year, after seven cycles of seven years’ rest, extra special celebrations were held, which reflected God’s love. While I encourage you to celebrate daily in home devotions, weekly, seasonally, and yearly according to the Church calendar, I’d love to consider how we might bring back some Sabbath and Jubilee celebrations. Maybe your family or school takes a special mission trip or makes a special offering. Perhaps churches and districts could host rallies or special services. I welcome your ideas during discussion time.
How to Celebrate?
We’ve come to the final section of this presentation, which highlights the hows of practically implementing celebration. Although celebration is likely to look different in each of our homes and classrooms, we should begin with purpose. Give thought to what you celebrate, and why. Your celebrations should not simply be neutral, but rather should exemplify the philosophy of your parenting or the mission of your school. Miss Anna Hahn writes, quote: “The life of the church naturally flows into the life of the home and school. There are plenty of direct but natural ways [an adult] can channel this: relating chapel sermons to religion lessons, aligning memory work with the current Sunday’s readings, singing familiar hymns, or celebrating special days of the Church Year. The point here isn’t to make school [or home] as much like church as possible, but to show students that God’s service in worship bears fruit of rest, happiness, and contemplation of His Word throughout the ordinary day,” end quote.
In reality, we do have secular occasions that we celebrate in the home and at school, even though the spirit of festivity ultimately stems from contemplation of the Divine. What would you consider the essential parts of a celebration that is outside of church? The list I came up with entails beauty and the arts, a broad definition of rest, and perhaps, best of all for the gastronomic enthusiasts among us, the culinary arts.
Beauty and the Arts
Pieper asserts rightly that the arts, quote: “keep alive the memory of the religious origins of festivals...they are a contribution, the adornment and medium of the festival, but not its substance,” (53) end quote. Use high-quality, beautiful visual art and music to enhance your celebrations. Scruton writes, quote: “[Beauty] is a call to renounce our narcissism and look with reverence on the world,” (145) end quote. You could also take advantage of God’s art by spending time in nature, especially on special occasions, contemplating His wonders. There’s a long literary tradition of celebration tied to outdoor competitions found in books like the Illiad and Swiss Family Robinson and in history, like the Olympics. The beauty of nature is idyllic and Edenic, and can be a treat worth including in celebration. Yes, be wary of romanticism’s idealization of nature, which brought about our current system of progressive education. However, nature still is beautiful, even after the fall.
Rest
Next is rest. Pieper writes, quote: “To celebrate a festival means to do something which is in no way tied to other goals...True festivity cannot… reside anywhere but in the realm of activity that is meaningful in itself,” (9) end quote. A day of festivity is a day of rest, which has no utility in and of itself. True festivity, then, is restful, but also inherently includes a loss of profit, a sacrifice. Pieper writes, quote: “A festival, then, is the celebration of existential richness, defined by lavishness,” (19) end quote. Generosity and sacrifice of material goods and time, through means of hospitality and service are essential to celebration, and can also be perceived as leisure from our workaday world.
But, we also need physical rest. How can busy parents and teachers squeeeeze in a rest? For Heaven’s sake, aren’t we the ones planning the parties?! Jamie Erickson writes, quote: “Work makes us feel significant, needed, irreplaceable, [but] … [b]e mindful not to confuse care with work. They are not the same things” (76, 179) end quote. As long as there are little ones around, there will be innumerable cares. But, the authors of Ladylike remind us of the origin of rest, quote, “The Divine Service is truly the most restful hour of a woman’s week. It’s the one time someone else hosts, and she is the honored guest who is invited to eat, drink, and be at peace” (166) end quote.
One final suggestion of a restful sacrifice: see if you can work into your weekly routine a day of fasting from screen technologies, like your computer and phone. It takes some planning and patience, but the benefits of being in the moment with the people we love is vitally important. Once you develop the discipline in yourself, I think you’ll look forward to that day very much.
The Culinary Arts
And now, onto the culinary arts. My question for you is, “What are the essential properties of a treat? How often can one have a ‘treat’ without it no longer being a ‘treat’?” (Discuss, if time.) Full disclosure: I was a big follower of RFK Jr, decades before it was cool. (Maybe it’s not cool now, either!?) But, following his non-profit’s recommendations, my daughter’s autism diagnosis was completely reversed, by God’s grace. I have concerns that we are not helping and befriending our little neighbors in every physical need when “treats” devoid of nutrition, consisting of dyes and insulin-spiking high-fructose corn syrup, are offered to them nearly every day, when diabetes and obesity are rapidly rising. I’m also concerned about adults using food as incentives or rewards for good behavior. Do the children expend more energy to earn a treat for good behavior than they do looking forward to legitimate Church festivals? Seneca says, quote: “The reward of a thing well done is to have done it” end quote. After all, our classical homeschools and schools desire to teach virtue, including that of self-control. So, why do we often celebrate special occasions with junk?
I fully admit there is some gray area when it comes to food. There is a spectrum of good and bad, and some things some people can tolerate, others cannot. Our bodies are created as a gift from God, and part of that is to experience pleasure through food. But, I fully believe that the 5th Commandment is also meant as a curb on our appetites. Celebrations ought to reflect the lovingly curated, Holy Feast of Heaven, satisfying and nourishing. Can we aim, at least sometimes, to trade junk food for homemade goodies created with time and effort by loving hands? Can food be a gift of love to be appreciated, not devoured thoughtlessly with a drive always for more?
There are plenty of high-quality treats without processed junk and preservatives; they just can’t be bought in stores. How about sweets that have healthy fats, such as a homemade cookie with cream cheese frosting? Nuts and a charcuterie board? Savory breads thickly spread with herbed, grass-fed butter? Bacon-wrapped dates? Are you drooling yet? Isn’t it this kind of food that really makes occasions special, rather than a unnaturally-colored candy which ends in cavities or the garishly-decorated neon green donuts? Yes, nourishing food costs more, but that can be part of the lavishness of celebration.
To repeat from earlier, Lutherans walk the narrow middle road. We are unique in understanding the right use of food in our celebrations. We are not ascetics who neglect their bodies and withhold food unhealthily, nor are we like the glutton—who commits a woefully undermentioned, though forgivable sin—eating substances which are not nourishing, to the detriment of his body without discernment.
Especially for sacred celebrations, wouldn’t it be beautiful to bring back the nourishing, home-cooked food? As my husband’s dear friend long ago noted, “The unexamined donut is not worth eating.” (See? That’s the great thing about speaking at CCLE! You actually get these jokes!)
We’ve now seen that food, rest, and beauty are all essential elements of festivity.
Conclusion:
I’ve aimed to present a wide variety of ideas today, hopefully at least some of which are new and interesting to you. Perhaps your mind is turning, thinking about how to implement the whys, whats, whens, and hows of celebration. But, even if you go home and never upcycle your festivity calendar, the joy of the Christian life is that we rely on Christ’s works for us, not our own. We can even rest in not doing anything, because Christ has laid the greatest of feasts before us. In his Trinity 2 sermon a few weeks ago, Pastor Andrew Richard preached, quote: “[W]hen we come to the feast we find the table laid with the hearty bread of the forgiveness of sins, with the rich wine of eternal life, with the meat of Christ’s righteousness, and our empty stomachs rush to it, and our weary bodies recline at table and rest, and our terrified consciences find their only peace, the peace of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. ... He says, “I forgive you all your sins.” ... May the Lord grant you ever-increasing delight in hearing His Word, and stir up your desire for the feast of His Gospel” ” end quote.
So let us keep the festival Whereto the Lord invites us;
Christ is Himself the Joy of all, The Sun that warms and lights us.
By His grace He doth impart Eternal sunshine to the heart;
The night of sin is ended. Allelujah!
