I remember either hearing or reading that the Anglican scholar and churchman Bishop N.T. Wright said that Christians should be serving mimosas at church throughout the Easter season. I don’t even really like mimosas, but the idea stuck with me because when you say “mimosa” one of the things that gets conjured up is a feeling of celebration.
Later, I read something in a book called the “Spiritual Disciplines Handbook,” that we should consider how we celebrate non-theological events in our lives and apply some of those celebration tactics to how we celebrate God’s grace together. Cake, ice cream, balloons, a DJ, fancy outfits, cheers and chants, dancing — all of these are things that we use to celebrate things as mundane as a football team, couldn’t we use them to celebrate the grace we have been given.
Of course, I suppose there is some room for considering that perhaps God’s grace is too high and lofty to be celebrated in the same way that a Noles win might be. After all, there’s a difference in the formality of celebrating a wedding and celebrating a birthday….but still, there is maybe some room for you and I to consider partying a little harder when it comes to God’s grace.
This is what our red letter challenge is about this week. In Luke 15:23, Jesus in the middle of the parable of the lost son shows us that the Father exclaims, “Let us eat and celebrate!” The Father, whose character is meant to show us our heavenly Father, is flagrant in his lack of formality in celebrating his son returning home.
Likewise, your Father in heaven is flagrant in celebrating that You have been Baptized and added into His Kingdom. Heaven rejoices when you repent of your sins, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that rejoicing came with a little cake and maybe even a mimosa or two.
If that is what the kingdom of God is like, celebrating Your repentance now – imagine the party that we’re headed for in the Resurrection. We might as well get ready for it now and celebrate, maybe even having some balloons and doing a little dance. After all, if our salvation is worthy of God’s celebration, isn’t it worthy of ours?