What I want to learn about celebrating

I am a lucky mom.

My house is located about halfway between Duke University and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A few minutes' drive in either direction can take me to an amazing university.

And I'm especially lucky, because one of my sons went to Duke and another went to Carolina. Which means I get to root for both teams. It can get sticky when Duke and Carolina play one another, but when they're playing other teams, I can cheer to my heart's content.

You can imagine the cheering that took place here last night.

At 1:00 this morning, I got a text from my middle son: a photo of himself:

Preston was hanging out on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, one of thousands of Tarheel fans celebrating the NCAA basketball championship.

As much as my heart hurts for the Gonzaga Bulldogs (what a great team!), I'm so happy for the UNC community this morning. What a celebration they experienced last night! After coming so close to the championship last year, this year the confetti fell on their team.

Even if you don't like the winning team, you don't begrudge the fans their victory.

Celebrations are fun, aren't they? And the festive spirit is contagious. Today, although tired from a late night last night, UNC fans are walking around with a spring in their step. It's fun to be around them.

I don't mind telling you that I think the world needs more celebration. In the midst of so much doom and gloom, we need reasons to cheer. We thrive when we come together to celebrate.

All this celebration has me thinking about what's coming up in the church calendar. Less than two weeks from now is the celebration of an amazing victory: the resurrection of Jesus.

Carolina fans are celebrating what's been called a "redemption" victory. It's easy to understand that they're especially thrilled about this triumph. Who wouldn't be celebrating such a win? Their excitement is understandable.

I'm thinking that Christians on Easter should be more like these Carolina fans. We should get together to celebrate! The whole world should know we're jubilant. We should have such a spring in our step that we're fun to be around. Our joy should be infectious.

But how many times do Christians act like curmudgeons? How often are we the joy-killers instead of the ones who give the party? There's something wrong with that picture!

Jesus has defeated death. The good news is for everyone. We can celebrate with reckless abandon. Anyone who wants to come is welcome.

There's a huge victory celebration coming up. Are you ready to party?