Come on, Celebrate Good Times (and Bad)

This month at Pathways we are focusing on a theme of celebration. May brings us a variety of holidays, beginning with May Day and Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day in the middle and ending with Memorial Day. The celebration theme is also clear throughout the Bible. Many of the Jewish celebrations or holidays are detailed throughout the Old Testament. The Israelites celebrated both good times and bad. Their celebrations, like ours, were a way to mark history. We celebrate Independence Day on July 4th as a way to remember the United States gaining its independence from Great Britain.  Thanksgiving is celebrated to remember the Pilgrims and Native Americans coming together when America was initially settled. For the Jewish followers, they celebrated events in their history like the exodus from Egypt. In Joshua, chapter 4, the writer details a historical event of the Israelites crossing the Jordan on their way to Jericho. God asked Joshua to take twelve stones from the river bed and place them in a circle as a memorial to God’s deliverance that day. The stones were meant as a way for the story to be passed from one generation to the next so their history would remain intact. This week we celebrated both the life and death of a dear sister in Christ. She lived a full, amazing life and left a legacy of love with those who cared about her.  What are the stones of remembrance you are leaving behind? What are the stories that will be told when you are gone?