Celebration - Jubilee and Justice

Today's teaching on celebration, appropriately, converged with our congregation's introduction the band "Jubiliee", whose mission is to support international justice mission, a group dedicated to addressing the large issues of human trafficking prevalent across the globe (including in these United States). The Jubilee Year in the Old Testament was a time for celebration, and a time when the inevitable flow of wealth into the hands of powerful was arrested as debts were forgiven and land returned to their original owners.

While Sunday's study approached celebration by addressing its barriers among the evangelical culture, it's vital to see the connection between celebration and justice. The reality is that real celebration, the kind of whole hearted rejoicing that God invites us towards, is a response to the privilege of participating in the story God is writing: it is, of course, a story of reconciliation, captives set free, weapons and war destroyed, and hope and healing displacing the despair and death that hangs over this planet.

Of course, such a celebration is only meaningful and real if one is actually stepping into this story - and the stepping requires our action, whether that means hospitality, generosity, service, or whatever else it might be.

What are your thoughts? What are the barriers to celebration in the community of faith?