Holidays

It seems that for many Americans, a holiday is about what you do. What are the traditions that make that day stand out from the rest of the year? How you celebrate that day is essentially what that day is. For example, one might say, "every year we have black eyed peas on New Year's Day and we watch football, and that is what makes that day special." Given, a holiday is definitely celebrated by what you do. But it seems that quite often, no thought is given to the reason behind the celebration. Sure, we have Thanksgiving where we remember the Pilgrims primly dressed in their black and white and the Native Americans with the big feather headdresses. But, true depth in the purpose for celebration is often lacking.

For many Christians, we are seeking to change this. We are trying harder to educate our children about the history of our Holy Days and focus more on the meaning for the celebration while we prepare the Turkey, etc. I think that is why so many of us have a problem with celebrating Halloween. We have trouble celebrating when there is no cause for it. Not that we think that there is anything wrong with children dressing up and getting candy. It sounds like fun. But, what is the reason? Simply stated, there is no cause for celebration. We could get all into the pagan roots of Samhain and how evil the evening is. Meanwhile, it isn't likely that any of our neighbors are celebrating Samhain, they're just celebrating harmless costumes and candy wondering what we abstainers are so uptight about. What it boils down to for me is that my heart just isn't in it. And if my heart isn't in it, then why do it?

In our Protestant home, we like to make a big deal of Reformation Day. I consider this as basically the Independence Day of the Protestant church. It is a day where we can rejoice and celebrate God's sovereignty in preserving the church and his truth as written in the Bible. Last weekend, our church held a festival where I got to plan the games. All of the games were centered around the Reformation and were great fun. Here are some pictures of covenant children celebrating their heritage:

a young carpenter in a hammering contest

The stained glass shoppe was a hit

My firstborn is trying to pin the theses on the door.

Here's wishing you all a Happy Reformation Day!