This Week's Feast

This week we will feast with our church family. Once a month we have a fellowship meal after church. We typically choose a theme, and a menu is planned and everyone contributes. We take turns planning the meal. It is a rather large undertaking. However, your turn to plan only comes around once or twice a year. Well, this month is my month. It was December when I last did the planning. Somehow I seem to pick our family's busiest months to do this. I have decided to do a summer picnic theme. We will have fried chicken, corn on the cob (because in Lancaster County you cannot have a picnic without sweet corn), a variety of salads, sliced melon, and pies and cobblers for dessert. So for those of you who have been to our fellowship meals and have inquired as to how we do it, this is it.

Why do we Feast? Part II

Okay, I was a lot busier last week than I had anticipated. Sorry it has taken a week for me to get back to my blog. Last week I said one reason we feast is to set the Sabbath aside as a special day. The second reason is, we use it as a time to prepare ourselves for worship the following day. For years we have always done something to prepare ourselves for worship. It has always been a pet-peeve of my husband's to think we could enter God's house to worship Him without preparing our hearts in some way. We have prepared in different ways through the years. When we heard of Sabbath feasting we thought it was a perfect way to do this. We start our Sabbath with a celebration which gets our hearts and minds prepared to set the day aside for God. My feasts are not always perfect, in fact rarely ever, but it is always a time with the family to put everything else aside, and to focus on God and all He has done for us.

Why do we Feast? Part 1

So, my husband was asked recently by someone, "this whole feasting thing, do you guys do it?" This of course led to a whole discussion as to why we do it. It seems as though we are having these conversations on a regular basis. Therefore, I thought I would think through our reasons for feasting with you guys. We have always felt a need to set the Sabbath apart from the rest of the week. We have done little things for years like making it a restful day, concentrating on quality family time, and of course going to church. When were first heard of Sabbath feasting we thought it was a perfect way to make the day even more special. Some may ask, why set it apart? First, God commands us to in the 4th commandment. As a culture we have drifted to such a casual view of God, we forget to honor Him and set His day apart. You have heard me say I believe your view of the Sabbath has a lot to do with your view if worship. If you do not have a high view of worship, which also shows your view of God, then of course it will not be a priority to set the day aside and honor Him. So, in feasting we have developed a tradition which sets this day apart from the other days of the week as something special. A day worth celebrating. I'll be back tomorrow with reason #2.

Too Much Travel!!

We will once again be out of town this weekend. Our feasting opportunities have been scarce because of all our travel this summer. It has made me think about other ways to to set the Sabbath apart. We really miss our feasting, and cannot wait to get back on a more consistent routine, but we do not desire to forgo all festivities just because we are not home. Therefore, we are considering our on-the-road options. I do not want to come across legalistic, but we have literally been gone more weekends than not since the end of May, and I can see my children's view of the Sabbath suffering. It has just been one of those summers full of out of town weddings and other things which cannot be avoided. Do not get me wrong we have enjoyed all of the activities, it has just been a bit difficult. Any suggestions?

P.S. Next week I will try to post a different reason to celebrate the Sabbath everyday of the week. Do not hold me to everyday, but I will try.

Clam Bake

The children have been taking turns staying with grandparents. They are home for a week and then the younger three will go to the other grandparents for a week. So, we decided to do a very casual low key feast last night. We wanted time to just enjoy our children. We did a clam bake. My husband had never done it with the corn and potatoes and all the other stuff. It was a lot of fun. The kids labeled it the best feast ever. I wish I could say it was because the food is so good, but I think it had more to with all of the clam shells left to play with. I never knew you could pick up so many things with clams shells. I have had several conversations recently about feasting and why we do it. I need to put my thoughts together and post on it. Why do you feast with your family?

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July!! This is one of my favorite holidays. I grew up in an area which is rich in Revolutionary history. Our celebrations were big! Very Americana. My birthday is July 1, so my celebration was always at the lake with the entire extended family on the 4th. We would spend the entire day there eating, swimming,and boating, and then caravan to see fireworks. Some years instead of the lake it was to the Independence festival downtown. There were raft races on the river, craft fairs, and a parade where the kids decorated their bikes and wagons in red, white, and blue and rode in the streets for everyone to see. The day ends with fireworks at the river. This is the only time of year I can say I get truly homesick. Cherish your time with family today. Have fun feasting! Nancy Wilson wrote a great post today. You should read it.


P.S. My project is almost done. I will be back to regular blogging soon.

Camping

We are going camping this weekend, so we will not be feasting. I thought about trying to come up with some sort of rustic feast using my new picnic cookbook, but I am not the one in charge of food. We have not camped since we were children and our families had campers. So, this should prove to be fun with a tent. We did decide to leave the one yer old with the grandparents. I do have to provide lunch and campfire snacks for our family. Any ideas?