When you think of Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations, what comes to mind? Alcohol.
To honor the only holiday dedicated to a missionary, the world drinks green beer to excess.
There are better ways to honor the saint.
But people love a parade—and they love an excuse to imbibe. There are as many reasons for parades as there are cities: there are Mardi Gras parades, July Fourth parades, parades to celebrate winning football teams, and parades to commemorate historical events and historical people. There is the Mermaid Festival at Coney Island, the Texas Art Car Parade in Houston, the Go Blonde Festival in Latvia, and the Lobster Dog Parade (in which dogs are dressed up as lobsters).
Last year we enjoyed the July Fourth Parade in Durango, Colorado. It was a cute, small-town event with people walking on stilts, old guys driving antique cars, and Shriners wearing fezzes curling around the street in tiny cars. It was a nice way to reflect on almost 250 years of freedom in the United States.
But a commemoration parade is nothing like a parade to celebrate a current event.
Imagine what it was like for the Hebrew people in the book of Nehemiah. Most of them were raised in Persia. All their lives they had heard stories about the Promised Land. Now they had finally arrived. Things were in a state of disrepair, but they rebuilt the city wall and gates in under 60 days. This was cause for great celebration!
“Then I brought the leaders of Judah up on top of the wall, and I appointed two large processions to give thanks. One went to the right on the wall, toward the Dung Gate” Nehemiah 12:31. There were musicians playing trumpets and other instruments, and numerous singers. “The second thanksgiving procession went to the left, and I followed it with half the people along the top of the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens, the Broad Wall, above the Gate of Ephraim, and by the Old Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate. They stopped at the Gate of the Guard. The two thanksgiving processionals stood in the House of God. So did I and half the officials accompanying me … Then the singers sang, with Jezrahiah as the leader. On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy. The women and children also celebrated, and Jerusalem’s rejoicing was heard far away” Nehemiah 12:38-43.
They celebrated. How? By WORSHIPPING. They sang, they prayed, they made sacrifices. They dedicated themselves and their city to the Lord. That is the way to truly celebrate. When God does a great thing in your life, notice it, mark it: take pictures, write about it, remember it—but most importantly, give thanks to God. Spend time worshipping Him and thanking Him. Honor Him for what He has done for you!
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