Click HERE
for the recording of Emily's talk. And for those of you joining us
from work and can't listen, a summary is included below.
Enjoy!
For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the fields should clap their hands.
--Isaiah 55:12
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"The person who stands at the table of Communion is a celebrant."--dictionary definition"A celebrant is one who celebrates the extravagant grace of Christ."--Ann Voskamp's definition
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3-6 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What a pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son. Ephesians 1 (The Message)
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"Celebration when you're calling the shots? Easy. Celebration when your plan is working? Anyone can do that. But when you realize that the story of your life could be told a thousand different ways, that you could tell it over and over as a tragedy, but you choose to call it an epic, that's when you start to learn what celebration is. When what you see in front of you is so far outside of what you dreamed, but you have the belief, the boldness, the courage to call it beautiful instead of calling it wrong, that's celebration."-- Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life
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Emily had us reflect on favorite holiday memories (the big ones, like Thanksgiving and Christmas) and remember how those made us feel. Then, on a smaller scale, she had us explore other moments in a normal week--a Tuesday in September or a rainy Saturday in February--and share "the moments of wonder in one of those ordinary days where celebration and grace caught you by surprise."From there, we applied those warm, fuzzy feelings to our kids and parenting. We got to thinking about how to share celebration, those warm and fuzzy feelings, with our kids and live gratefully as a family. Think of those times every day that you are together, that you have the opportunity to mark blessing and celebration in your life.
Daily Rhythms:
- Mealtimes: prayers before dinner
- Bedtimes: share with them or write down blessings/affirmation for our children
- Send off to school: May the peace of Christ go with you Wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, Protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing At the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing Once again into our doors.
- Roses + Thorns at the dinner table: share "high's" and "low's" of your day with each other. This practice focuses on the good, the present, and allows space for the hard, too. And our kids learn to talk to us about the good AND the bad.
- Monthly dates on "birthday": Make a bid deal our of the little things. One idea is to recognize the day of the month, each month, that your kids were born. Take them out or do something special at home.
- Think about what it can be on a grand scale but perhaps more importantly think about how to celebrate in your ordinary rhythms.
- May you take God’s invitation to celebrate – not just focusing on the big things but fiercely looking to find the joy in the little things and finding ways to celebrate everyday!
- Pick a few things that could be a good fit for you
- Find joy in making it your own
- See if it stands the test of time and can become a new tradition
- Remember that it's never too late to start something new and join in the fun!
- In what ways have you found "celebrating lavishly" challenging? In what ways have you found it easy?
- Which theme did you find the most challenging or enjoy the most (Embrace Rest, Notice Goodness, Celebrate Lavishly) and why?
- What is your greatest hope for this summer as a mom?
- What is your greatest hope for this summer as wife?
- What is your greatest hope for this summer for you (apart from your role as mom and wife)?
