How Much is Enough?

Our church has a monthly fellowship meal. We celebrate the Sabbath as a body of believers with a huge feast. There is typically a designated menu divided between the congregation. We try to celebrate the season or a historical church figure. In the fall we did an apple festival. In March we celebrate St. Patrick with an Irish feast. For Pentecost we will do an international feast. Tomorrow for February we will do an Italian feast. Needless to say this feast take a lot to pull off. Months ago we decided not to feast at home because is was too much for me to prepare for both meals and have the children together enough to worship. As the children get older, and are more of a help, we may change this. Why am I giving you all of this information? I believe that it is very important that we not be legalistic about Sabbath feasting. Enough is enough. Celebrating with your fellow believers is a very special time. Do not make so much work for yourself that you dread the day. Have you ever been so exhausted that you could not relish the thought of staying after church and fellowshipping with your church family? I have. That is when we decided that one feast a weekend was enough. That said we are still feasting this weekend. I had already planned the meal when I realized it was a fellowship meal weekend. It just happens to be a very quick meal to put on the table, so no big deal.

Feasting with Teenagers

I have posted before about helping children to develop a love for feasting. I have, however, been reluctant to address teenagers, because I do not have them. I have, although, been observing my friends that do. My husband has also taught high school for 15 years and we spend a lot of time with teenagers. I will attempt to give some suggestions. Forgive me if they are completely unrealistic. First, You may have to lower your standard. I agree with Doug Wilson when he says that if they hate the standard then lower the standard. This certainly does not mean Biblical standards. When it is a constant fight to accomplish a chore, we do not change the chore, but we may change the way in which it is accomplished. If your teenagers hate feasting, change your liturgy. Maybe you could take turns inviting the families of their friends over to feast with you. Have game night afterwards and pit family against family or kids against adults. Have fondue just to be different. If you live in a culture that does not do this than make your house the place to go. Have a family dinner and then host movie night. I do know of some families tha allow their kids to go out after dinner. We live in such an individualistic society, that children have been programed to think they cannot have fun as a family. They think they have to be separate from their parents. The key will be changing this thought. You will have to take baby steps to achieve this. I will post more on this at another time. My thoughts are really flowing now and I do not have time to go on. If you have experience with teenagers and have some advice, please share.

My Plans for the Week

It has been two weeks since we were able to have a Sabbath feast. I am looking foward to doing one this coming weekend. We have an incredibly week.(It seems they are all busy lately.) I will have to do something that does not require a lot of prep. My first thought is the chicken divan I posted last week, but I do not have the ingredients. I do however, have some beautiful salmon in my freezer. I think I will do an asian marinade. It will only take a few minutes to broil on Saturday. I will do rice to go with it and a salad with a great dressing. Costco has great bread. We love their baguette. I will get some to go with the meal. I have to have bread. It is the only night during the week that we have bread. I think my kids look foward to that more than dessert. I am not sure what wine we will have. I have to check to see what we have. Once I decide all of the details I will will post recipes. Right now I am thinking I will make my marinade and salad dressing Thursday and put the Salmon in the marinade on Friday. I will also make my salad on Friday. Leaving out the dressing and anything that will get soggy. Friday or Saturday I will get my bread. The rice only takes minutes to make. The Salmon will broil in about 20 minutes. I still have to decide on dessert. This looks like a great meal that will not take a lot of time on Saturday to prepare. I will let you know.