The Twelve Days of Discipline: Day 12--Celebration

Yay! Let's celebrate! We've reached the end of this twelve day series on discipline. Sometimes discipline is enjoyable like hitting yourself over the head with a hammer is enjoyable: it feels so good when you stop.

Don't feel bad if you're ready to be done with discipline. Whoever wrote the book of Hebrews understood.

Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Remember, we're in lent: a season of willingly entering into loss, and of suffering just a little in remembrance of the suffering God took on for us.

Yet even now, there is much to celebrate. And remembering that we always have stuff to rejoice about is one of the more challenging disciplines. Actually, making a point of dancing in the midst of mourning is not only hard but can easily be taken the wrong way by those can't understand why you're bustin' a move.

Do you remember the last funeral you attended? Was there a time following the memorial and graveside services when friends and family got together to share memories, food, and even laughter? This used to seem odd to me, but no more. It's completely appropriate and maybe even necessary, this coda of joy that completes a song of mourning. It is as if we're singing despite our loss, "We're still here and we still have each other. Where is your victory O death?"

The Methodist funeral service begins like this, "In the midst of life we are in death." The reverse is also true: "In the midst of death, we are in life." And holding both of these truths at the same time is the essence of the discipline of celebration.

Susan Piper is one of the best singer/songwriters you've never heard of. She wrote a song called Bagels With Angels, the chorus of which is a wonderful summary of the discipline of celebration:

"We can fly in the face of fear
We can ride that second wave
We can laugh in the face of God
God wants us to laugh
God knows we can be brave."

Jim Jannotti is a writer and musician. He leads contemporary worship at First United Methodist Church in Pottstown, PA and has 13 years experience in both worship and youth ministry. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Pottstown.