Celebration

This quote really struck me this morning in Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster from Harvey Cox "modern man has been pressed so hard towards useful work and rational calculation he has all but forgotten the joy of ecstatic celebration....."
Foster then goes on to say how as Christians we justify ourselves into thinking we have joy because we got to a church service once or twice a week, do some bouncing and dancing and singing to worship songs and think we have ticked the joy box.
I remember reading about a prominent Jew who said he couldn't become a Christian because they always looks so dour whereas Jews will use any excuse to have a party. Just look at the history of some of their festivals. We can even turn Easter and Christmas into a bit of an embarrassing event that we don't quite know what to do with and then invite people along to.
Foster does not discount that we can have hard lives, that there are struggle and things we do have to deal with and that we must be careful not to get into false celebration and ignore the trials of life. But I look so often at the things we do have, the stuff that does on in our lives and I think that we are so blessed, so spoilt in this western world and yet I look around and see such miserable faces. My own included at times.
I really do want to take on board that "the joy of the Lord is my strength", that Jesus did die for me no matter what Robbie Williams says at the end of Bodies, and that because He died for me not only do I have an amazing eternal life to look forward to but I also have a life on this earth with the King of Kings to walk through it with me.
Oh Lord help me to get my head round this!