Reasons to Celebrate

“Remember this month as a time when our sorrow was turned to joy, and celebration took the place of crying. Celebrate by having parties and by giving to the poor and by sharing gifts of food with each other.” Esther 9:22

There was a 5 year old girl with eyes as round as saucers and her 7 year old sister with her blonde hair with French braids. There was a young teenage girl, quiet and shy and her mom. They could be twins if they weren’t mom and daughter. There was a set of twins, one married a little over a year to her man who carries the heart of a donor within his mid-20s chest. The other twin, a single mom, has seen her life take a full 180 degree turn for the better in recent months. There was a grandmother who has struggled with drug use, but her face reflects both her past, and something new within. And there was veteran who walks with a cane; the result of a broken back in service to his country. A man who would give away all he had to help those in need around him.



Who are all these people? What sort of motley group from children in white dresses to moms in t-shirts and shorts? These were the eight people I baptized on New Year’s Eve two nights ago. It was a baptism where joy was uncontained. It was a New Year’s Eve that was completely new for a handful who were there. “This is my first New Year’s Eve sober,” said one man who joined us.

We reflected on the previous year. A teenager was grateful for friends how kept her “on a straight path.” A mom, tears and smiles, thanked God for healing her young son of leukemia. She is the same mom married to the young man with a heart transplant. Though they have been through mighty struggles, their faith inspires us all.

It is her twin sister who told us God had turned her life around this year. She can’t help but spill over with God’s love. She travels 50 miles round trip to our little church, and sometimes has as many as three other adults and three or four children with her. I’m not sure whether she giggled or cried when I baptized her; perhaps both.

I’ve conducted weepy baptisms, worshipful baptisms and reverent baptisms. This one was a night filled with joy. Don’t misunderstand. It wasn’t as if we spontaneously sang out worship songs one after the other. No, it was more like an awards banquet. There was applause and laughter and, if I remember right, a hoot or two. We’re not a totally informal bunch, but we were all so happy to be there. And we were so happy to have friends with us like I’ve just described.

After the service nearly everyone spent the next two hours or so playing board games and sharing food. Grandpas held children on their knees. Not their own grandchildren. We are in Washington and some of the grandchildren are in Minnesota or Mexico. No, we fairly well adopted each child we found. One played Sorry while other children, elbows on the table and faces in their hands, wanted to build houses with the dominoes.

We expected to count down the New Year in the happy-but-sober state that all Christians do. But the night simply wasn’t right for that. No, there was no champagne popped open. But there was a big box of fireworks that another family brought. They are legal on New Year’s Eve in our county, so, about 20 minutes before midnight, we began lighting the skies with bottle rockets and roman candles.

Children squealed, teens dove into the box for another fuse to light, and even middle aged adults exhaled very audible oohs and ahs. One eighth grade girl, having borrowed my phone to take pictures, found the timer function, and began the official countdown for us. Starting at 20, then 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, this ragtag part of God’s family yelled, squealed, hugged and laughed our way into the New Year.

I could get all preachy and teachy now, pointing out that our joy was from our experience with God and not induced by alcohol. I could make sure the reader knows that baptism doesn’t save us, it is the outward expression of our inward desire to follow Jesus. But, for that night, it was something that needed little commentary. We had read Paul’s from Ephesians 3 that we would know the width, depth, height and length of God’s love which is beyond knowledge. All I can say is, I think we experience something close to that this New Year’s Eve.

With some of the Jews banished to Persia, God used a young woman to save His people from the machinations of a mean-spirited and jealous member of king Xerxes’ council. In a story full of intrigue, the tables are finally turned. In a master-stroke of irony, Haman is hanged upon the same gallows he erected for his personal enemy and Jewish leader Mordecai. Innocent, God used Esther’s status as queen to uncover Haman’s devious plot.

After all Israel’s enemies were finally dealt with Mordecai sends out a decree obliging the Jews to celebrate the dates of their final victory: the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar. To this day Purim is a feast among the Jews celebrated with great joy, remembering the response of their own ancestors who “made a day of feast and frolic” upon their victory (Esther 9:18)

Followers of Jesus have a victory to celebrate, and so we did on New Year’s Eve. Young and old alike said, by their baptism, that Jesus had conquered the power of sin and death in their own lives. People shared how God had given them strength over battles they faced the previous year. God is not afraid to party, not at all. In fact, it occurs to me that Jesus performed his first miracle at a party, the wedding in Cana. This was a celebration that probably went on for at least two or three days.

Some party to help them forget the pain. Follower of Jesus party to help us remember how good God has been to us in our pain.