What do you celebrate or observe?

[BG]

What do you celebrate or observe or participate in?

1. Christmas

2. Easter

3.Mother’s or Father’s Day

4. 4th of July, Labor Day, Veterans Day

5. MLK day

6. Birthdays

7. Reformation day

8. Anniversaries

9. Liturgical Calendar

10. Secular movies, tv, music

11. Sports/Olympics

Which of these do you participate in?
How do you determine which are lawful?

 

[Scott Bushey]

The Lord's day-52 holidays per year
Civil holidays.
Secular movies, tv and music (Christian music-corny!)
Some sports...Celtics, Patriots fan.

I determine the lawfulness by God's word.

When I say I celebrate civil holidays, my wife would spit in laughter because I really don't celebrate them-I guess I acknowledge them.

* I no longer celebrate birthdays

 

[BG]

Scott,do you celebrate the Lord’s day or do you observe it? Do you celebrate anything?
Are there any Christian festivals?

 

[Jack K]

You posted in the "Worship" forum. Do you mean to ask which of these our church acknowledges during worship services, or are you asking which we observe or acknowledge privately, at home?

And if you're asking about practices at home, by posting in the "Worship" forum are you suggesting we ought to apply the same rules we use for determining what's appropriate for worship when deciding what's appropriate, for instance, on a child's birthday? Because I don't.

In my house we tend to do the following:

Birthdays - Give gifts and sometimes have a cake or throw a party.

Civil holidays - Enjoy the occasional special event put on in town, but otherwise not terribly excited.

Reformation Day - A good excuse to talk about church history, but otherwise no special activities.

Movies and sports - Enjoy in moderation and if the content is generally godly.

Christmas - Put up a few lights and give gifts in moderation. I see no problem with reflecting on the nativity for a few days each year while our culture (sort of) does this. We try to avoid excess consumerism and religious sentimentality, but otherwise enjoy a season of parties, lights, and gift-giving.

Easter - Don't tend to do much besides go to church. I'm okay with the habit of reflecting on the resurrection when the anniversary of that event comes around each year, though once a year is surely not often enough.

Wedding anniversary - Do something, anything. It's a grave mistake to skip it.

 

[Scott Bushey]

Scott,do you celebrate the Lord’s day or do you observe it? Do you celebrate anything?
Are there any Christian festivals?

Yea, the LD! That was number 1 on my list...look at my post again.

No, I don't celebrate any festivals. The only thing I would celebrate is if the church called a special day of thanksgiving or prayer.

I just read Jack's post-we do go out for dinner on our anniversary....

 

[C. Matthew McMahon]

Besides observance and worship on the Lords Day, not really.

However, I celebrate my wife as much as I can.

 

[Edward]

Anniversary’s

Singular Anniversary
Plural Anniversaries

 

[BG]

Singular Anniversary
Plural Anniversaries

Fixed it thanks.

 

[VictorBravo]

I celebrate the Lord's Day, the Lord's supper, and Baptisms when they occur.
I also observe them. Necessarily, I participate.

I observe all secular holidays in the sense that I notice them. In other words, I observe that the courthouse doors are locked and there is no call for me to practice my called trade on that particular day.

Christmas and Thanksgiving fall in the category of secular holidays. I might work at home, might go fishing, might work on a fun project. Christmas and Thanksgiving are good times to go grocery shopping because few are out.

Easter always is on a Lord's Day. We don't even note it in our gatherings.

I observe my birthday and my wife's birthday in the sense that I take note of them. Noting such things has practical implications, such as whether I might be eligible for a senior discount, or maybe I need another medical check up, etc. We don't "celebrate" them, particularly. I remember Pharaoh in Gen 40 and Herod in Mat 14 had birthdays, and people died--that sort of downplays the notion of celebrating them for me.

I definitely observe our anniversary. Not to do so would be foolish. We don't really celebrate in a formal sense, but we make special time for us to do something pleasurable we don't usually do. BTW, last anniversary I took the day off from work and we went fishing.

I've participated in movies, but only very occasionally. Last one I saw was probably 5 years ago.

I participate in sports, but my knees hurt too much for tennis or running. Now, it is mostly fishing. My wife and I like to participate in that often, and we use a homemade boat to get to the spots. (Hmm, this fishing thing seems a trend).

I don't watch sports, particularly. I'm not opposed to it generally speaking.

How do you determine which are lawful?

1Co 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient.

I took the time to list all this simply to emphasize that, in living our lives, we have great freedom given to us by God to enjoy his creation, his creatures, fellow saints and prisoners. We are called to use judgment in determining what is expedient. Paul mentions his independence in these matters in the rest of 1 Co 6:12.

BTW, I don't go fishing on the Lord's Day, if anybody was wondering....