To forget to celebrate is to forget to imitate the God who created us and then relaxed and said, “that’s Good.”[Joan Chittister, OSB, “The Monastic Way,” July 2012]
The theme of Joan Chittister’s little devotional pamphlet, “The Monastic Way,” for the month of July has been “celebrating life.” When I first pulled the pamphlet out of the envelope I thought that’s a strange theme to use for daily devotions for a whole month, even if it is the month of 4th of July fireworks and the beginning of the Summer Olympics. But I’ve been delighted by how Chittister’s daily comments have prompted my thoughts throughout the month, helping me find lots of special moments to celebrate.
I’ve already talked about the wonderful organ concert at Sinsinawa that was an incredible musical celebration on the 4th of July. My mouth still slips into a grin whenever I think about “Organ for Eight.”
On July 10, Chittister’s comment was, “The tragedy of life is to allow it to go by without appreciating something in every single day, without celebrating its fundamental goodness to us.” Later, on July 25, she wrote, “Learning to celebrate life in its smallest moments is an acquired skill. Without it we can only limp through life.”
As I read about celebrating life in its smallest moments I thought back to the day before. On Tuesday evening, July 24, Mim and I took my 98-year-old Aunt Edith to the chapel service at Willerup Park Bible Camp on Lake Ripley, about 2 miles from Whispering Winds. This was the week of “Institute” – a week of family camp for Methodist families, primarily of Scandinavian heritage and mostly from Chicago, Milwaukee, and Racine, who had a long history and partial ownership in the Bible Camp. Aunt Edith had often played the piano in her elaborately improvised Gospel style for these chapel services over the past 80 years or so. A couple years ago the chapel had been given a new name – the “Edith Kenseth Chapel.” Edith was excited to go to the service Tuesday evening, although she was a little apprehensive that they might expect her to play the piano, and she wasn’t getting around as well as she used to since she broke her leg a few months ago. (Fortunately, they didn’t ask. They used a guitar to accompany the singing instead. )
Lots of Edith’s friends (and children and grandchildren of her friends) came over to talk with Edith, both before and after the service. During the service the worship leader prayed for Edith and thanked God for Edith’s stunning example of using her musical talents throughout her whole lifetime for God’s glory.
As I thought about that evening, I realized that it was another little celebration, another special moment. The following Saturday, Chittister’s comment was, “To be born is to be asked to celebrate, to grow in awareness of the presence of God in the smallest of moments, to know the goodness of God.” By celebrating Edith’s lifetime example of helping us all worship God through her music, we all became a little more aware of the goodness of God.
As the introduction to the July “Monastic Way” said, “Always, always, they [celebrations] deepen the very meaning of life for us as we go along.”
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