Our former church in Virginia held baptisms in the Rivanna River where often the sunshine is warm, but the water is frigid. After our Sunday service, we’d load into our cars and caravan to a city park where neighbors tossed Frisbees and kids mobbed the playground. We were quite a spectacle, traipsing to the river’s edge. Standing in the icy water, I would offer Scripture and immerse those being baptized into this tangible expression of God’s love. As they emerged, soaked to the bone, cheers and clapping erupted. Climbing up the bank, friends and family enveloped the newly baptized in hugs—everyone getting drenched. We had cake, drinks, and snacks. The neighbors watching didn’t always understand what was happening, but they knew it was a celebration.

Jesus’ story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32) reveals that it’s cause for celebration whenever someone returns home to God. Anytime someone says yes to God’s invitation, it’s time to party. When the son who’d abandoned his father returned, the father immediately insisted on showering him with a designer robe, a shiny ring, and new shoes. “Bring the fatted calf,” he said. “Let’s have a feast and celebrate” (v. 23). This was a massive, exuberant party including whoever would join the revelry. They “began to celebrate” (v.24).

On December 6, 1907, explosions rocked a small community in the US state of West Virginia, producing one of the worst disasters in the history of the coal mining industry. Some 360 miners were killed, and it’s been estimated that this horrific tragedy left behind about 250 widows and one thousand children without fathers. Historians maintain that the memorial service became the seedbed from which the celebration of Father’s Day in the US would eventually grow. Out of great loss came remembrance and—eventually—celebration.

The greatest tragedy in human history occurred when human beings crucified their Creator. Yet, that dark moment also produced both remembrance and celebration. The night before He would go to the cross, Jesus took the elements of Israel’s Passover and created His own memorial celebration. Luke’s record describes the scene this way, “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me’” (Luke 22:19).

Still today, whenever we approach the Lord’s Table, we honor His great, unflinching love for us—remembering the cost of our rescue and celebrating the gift of life His sacrifice produced. As Charles Wesley said in his great hymn, “Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”