HAPPY CANADA DAY, EVERYONE!!


Ah, Canada Day. The day of hot dogs, sunburns, fireworks (when there's no controversy about them), insane crowds everywhere and feelings of national pride. A whole day.

We Canadians have been accused of being far less patriotic than our southern neighbours (USA, for those of your who really need to bone up on your geography....), but the truth is that we are just as patriotic, simply in a very different way. It is true, however, that usually only about once a year we suit up, paint our faces red and white, decide to spend the day with 2 million other people in the city, and show outwardly the fact that we really are intensely excited to be called "Canadians." We really do love our country and are proud to wear the flag, though funnily enough it seems only on this one day do we really let loose and celebrate that fact.

Can you imagine if we only celebrated our freedom and independence from the grip of sin on one day of the year? Do we fall into this sometimes - only celebrating the cross at Easter and the birth of Christ at Christmas? (Should I go one step further and question whether we only celebrate and worship one day a week, or is that too close to home?) I have before now chosen hymns to sing our worship for a Sunday morning service, and been asked why I would pick "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" in November. Granted, I'm not sure I would sing "Silent Night" throughout the year, but isn't the redeeming work of the cross in our lives something to be celebrated and remembered all the time? Even Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of me," and he said it when He and his disciples were eating. I definitely plan to eat more than just at Easter and Christmas.

Now, if you're about to say that I'm blowing this out of the water as far as proportion and reality, you're absolutely right, I am. But it just got me questioning how much I revel in the work of the cross on a daily basis. It is amazing. It is eternal. It is something that could only have been done in the way it was done and by Whom it was done. There is so much to revel in as far as God and who He is and all the things He has done. But the basic truth of the matter is that the ability that we all have to actually revel in those things at all comes from the foundation of the work of the cross.

So, Happy independence Day. Every day.