Sometimes our conventions and special church events are extremely boring, especially to children and youth. Our programmes appear to reflect a stiff and dull God, who seems to be more interested in decorum rather than joy. But this is not at all what biblical celebrations were like.

The Israelites had three major annual festivals to look forward to each year (Deuteronomy 16:1-17). They were known as the ″pilgrimage festivals″, as they invited the Israelites to gather at the central sanctuary (at Jerusalem, after the temple was built).

The Passover festival (vv. 1-8) was held in Abib, the first month of Israel's religious calendar (March/April today). It recalls how the angel of death passed over and spared the people of Israel when the Lord redeemed them from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12).

The Festival of Weeks (vv. 9-12)-also known as Pentecost, the Greek word for ″50th″ (see Acts 2:1)-celebrated the wheat harvest. As its name suggests, it took place ″fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath″ (Leviticus 23:15-16). This period of seven weeks began during the Passover.

The Festival of Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 16:13-15) was a seven-day harvest festival held at the end of the agricultural year (around September). During this festival, the Israelites would build temporary shelters to live in, to remember how God provided for them in the wilderness after the exodus (Leviticus 23:42-43).

The Israelite festivals gave special emphasis to celebrating and affirming certain truths. These could be God's acts, like redemption from slavery (the Passover), or everyday realities, like God's provision of food (Weeks and Tabernacles). Setting apart days to remember these realities helps to keep these truths before the people, who would be prone to forget them and ignore their implications. Easter, Christmas, and church anniversaries are some of the festivals we commemorate today that carry similar functions-celebrating God's acts and affirming biblical truths.

And as these festivals focused on God's grace in saving and providing for the people, the characteristic response was to celebrate grace with joy (Deuteronomy 16:11, 14-15). Festival meals were enjoyed with servants and the needy seated at table along with family members (vv. 11, 14). Though there were disparities in wealth, class differences were not tolerated in Israel.

These pilgrimage festivals also enhanced the sense of community solidarity that is a key aspect of biblical religion. Christians today must also think of the Christian community in such an intimate way that they cannot think of life apart from it. Festivals help affirm and enhance this solidarity. So, we must develop events that help restore the sense of community among Christians. This might seem like a tall order. But with God's help, we can find theologically meaningful and experientially enjoyable ways in which people of all groups in the body can celebrate together.