God is a God of joy and celebration. So much so that he mandated 7 feasts for his people, the Israelites, to celebrate each year. He did this to encourage His people to rest and delight and to celebrate His faithfulness, but also to have regular reminders throughout the year to teach in the home the lessons of faith.

These feasts give anchors throughout the year to teach our families about the Lord’s goodness. They allow us to teach our children theology through participation. They don’t just hear about God’s faithfulness they are tasting, asking, and remembering.

For the Israelites the Feast of Tabernacles was and is a time of remembering God’s goodness through their wandering in the wilderness. They set up temporary shelters to live in for multiple days and they feast and delight in God as they tell stories of his faithfulness.

When I was in school I learned about the Feasts to Israel and decided one day when I had a family we would find ways to create these rhythms of celebration in our family too. Today, with 5 kids our Feast of Tabernacles has become a beloved tradition we all look forward to every fall.

Since the Israelites set up temporary shelters as part of their celebration we decided to celebrate by living in a tent and going camping for several days each October. We bring all the best snacks and food so we can feast throughout the whole trip. Then we choose one night to be our Feast night. During the day of the Feast night we set aside some time to all get alone in nature and spend some time with God reflecting on how we’ve seen his faithfulness in the past year.

We started this when our kids were very small so initially this time was 5-10 minutes and they were “alone” but actually very near us. As our kids have gotten older that time has been able to increase as has their desire for more time and space to be with God alone.

Everyone engages in this time in different ways. Some just pray and listen, others look through their journal from the past year and write down things they notice, others write and or draw the things God points out to them.

Then we come back together and try to make the camp table look a little special with a nice table cloth or some picked flowers and candles from home. We make a yummy meal, with dessert always included. Then we all share ways we saw God’s faithfulness in this last year. After everyone has shared we read the story of Joshua creating a memorial of stones as they crossed the Jordan and entered the promised land in order to remember how God had been with them through the wilderness.

Then we make out own memorial of stones of the BIG ways we’ve seen God be with us and show his goodness throughout our life as a family. We don’t add all the new things that were just shared, just the big pillar moments.

This time of feasting and remembering is an opportunity for our kids to never forget that God has shown up for them, in their family’s past and in their lives each year. It is a practice that embeds a trust in God’s goodness into their hearts and shows them that when we choose to remember, we reset our gaze where it should be.

The Feast of Tabernacles has been celebrated for centuries by the Israelites. As we look to the traditions and rhythms of the foundation of our own faith there is so much richness we can learn from. We don’t have to celebrate just like they do in Israel and you don;t have to celebrate just like our family does, but I encourage you to learn from the rhythms that God instructed his people to live by and find a way to implement regular remembrance in your home.

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