Partying Like the Pagans

If you buy into this whole idea of God not only allowing but actually commanding his people to stop, in the middle of the desert, and take time to celebrate, the next question should be, "Okay, but how?" It's a good question, and one that I think followers of Christ are pretty confused about. I grew up in an environment where Christians were encouraged to be different from the world in the hopes the world would take notice and begin asking questions about what made us different. And, while I don't think this is a bad attitude or tactic to take, it does seem to create in many believers' minds (mine being one of those) the idea that we can't or shouldn't do anything the world would see as fun: we, prayed in the New Year, instead of having parties; we had wedding receptions in the fellowship hall instead of at clubs; we had Fall (or Harvest) Festivals instead of going trick-or-treating.

Now, please understand, the heart and intent behind all these things are good, and there's even a lot about the methodology that I think is right and missing from grace-driven ministries. (There are many times when I worry I'm becoming too much like the world, and this is something to be warred against just as much as the legalism and pseudo-piety of the previous examples.) The problem came, not in what we did, but in the fear that seemed to lay constantly under the surface that we were going to end up being "just like the world." That no one would be able to tell a difference between us and them, and everything we did was evaluated by this method.

Here's the thing: I don't see as much of a concern about that in the celebrations and feasts God instituted for his people as they wandered in the wilderness. Now, to be sure, there was a major difference in the object of celebration for the Hebrews and the pagan cultures that lived around them, and this did permeate into certain areas of the parties, but if we were to walk into the Israelite camp during a festival, I'm not sure we'd be able to tell that much of a difference between their celebrations and those of say, the Canaanites. There was lots of food, lots of loud music, lots of dancing, yes, lots of drinking, and a spirit of raucous and chaos that would make most believers uncomfortable. In fact, the practices of the celebrations were so close to what the pagans did, that Israel actually crossed over into sin on several occasions of pagan worship, slipping away from the original object of their celebration. God didn't like it, and he punished them greatly for that, but he never took away the festivals. He never changed the methods. He never said, "The risk is too great for them to slip into idolatry, so therefore, no more celebrations." Instead, he seemed to want them to party and celebrate with more than enthusiasm and yet still hold on to his command to have NO other gods before him.

What a different viewpoint than I tend to have! Instead of trying to stay as far away as I can from "the line" of sin, God set up a system in which the Israelites seemed to constantly flirt with it. Why? Was he testing them? Maybe. Was he setting them up to fail? Doubtful. Instead, I think he encouraged this kind of celebration because he knew better than anyone else just how worthy he is of as much exuberance as a human being can muster, and then some. Besides, the pagans didn't create joy and fun and the spirit of celebration, God did! So often, as believers, I think we're just kind of content to let the world have what should be ours, what was ours to begin with. If the message of the Gospel is really true, if we have been given all that we claim we have, if we really are looking forward to what we say we are, Times Square on New Year's Eve should become like a high school pep rally compared to the party we would throw.

Just like the desert didn't change, neither did God nor has he. The commands to holiness and discipline and watching out for weaker brothers and sisters are still there. But could it be that he's encouraging us to risk those in an effort to praise him, to enjoy celebrating him? Certainly it's not about having bigger and better parties, but it might just be about trying to redeem partying in an effort to worship and celebrate our God in the way he deserves, and letting the accusations of being "like the world" get drowned out by the music.