CELEBRATION MEALS

God believes in feasts. When He wanted the people of Israel to remember something very important, He commanded that they keep a feast once a year to remember it! Exodus chapters 12 and 13 tell the amazing story of the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt. It took the slaying of the first-born son of every Egyptian for Pharaoh to let God's people go! The first-born in the land of Israel were saved because they put the blood over their door posts. This is also a type of our wonderful redemption from the bondage of sin and the kingdom of darkness. We have been delivered by the power of the shed blood of Jesus Christ who gave Himself for our sins.

God never wanted His people to forget this mighty deliverance so He commanded:

Exodus 12:14,17; 13:2-10. "This day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever."

Today, the Jewish people still keep the Passover Feast every year. It is a feast of remembrance. All five senses are involved and if you have been privileged to enjoy a Passover meal, you will never forget the memory of the bitterness of Egypt as you eat the 'bitter herbs' The tears will run down your face! In fact, Jesus was drinking the third cup of redemption at the Passover Meal Himself when He gave the commandment that we now adhere to as we take communion, "This do in remembrance of me."

Color Nights

If God thinks that a feast is an important way to keep memories, don't you think this is a good way to celebrate special occasions? I think we should make any excuse for a celebration meal.

When the children were younger, we often had color nights. For example, I would say to the children, "Tonight is Red Night. Come to the table dressed in red." This would keep them busy finding red clothes to wear, while I prepared a red meal of potatoes colored with red cochineal, beetroot, tomatoes and anything else I could create to be red! Dessert would be red plums and red jelly. It wasn't such a healthy meal, but it was fun to have on the odd occasion.. We did this with many different colors.

Annual Family Concert

When the children were all home, we used to have an annual family concert. We would have a big feast (like a Christmas dinner) after which everyone in the family - parents, grandparents and all the children would give an item. They could either write a poem and read it, sing a song, perform a skit, or give a speech on a subject of interest.

Birthdays

We not only celebrated birthdays, but other special dates. When living in Australia, we annually celebrated the date of our arriving in that country, the date of our coming into our home, the date of our starting our church and so on. Birthday feasts are always special times in our family and definitely a precious memory.

It has gradually become tradition in our family for each member of the family (and whoever else is asked to the birthday feast) to give a speech to the birthday person. This is an opportunity to say all the nice things that they can about the birthday person, to encourage them, and inspire them to be all that God wants them to be.

By the time everyone has given an encouraging speech, the birthday person is fortified and inspired to face another year. Even small children can learn to give an encouraging speech and say all the nice things they can think of about their brother or sister.