PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 345: FOOD TWINS, Part 3
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 345: FOOD TWINS, Part 3
We are still talking about more ideas for Feasts and celebrations in your home.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! And to everyone who is listening, moms, wives, young people, little ones, and even husbands, I know there are husbands who are listening too.
Well, we have just watched the inauguration. It was so wonderful. President Trump gave a great inauguration speech, so very, very inspiring. It was really wonderful. If you didn’t get to see it, well, pull it up and listen to it. He was calling today “Liberation Day,” and the “revolution of common sense.”
Of course, he is ready to completely wipe out so many things that have been destroying our nation. It all sounds so wonderful, but I do believe we’re going to face some challenges, face some storms. It’s not going to be easy, because this shadow government that we have had that’s been controlling this nation and the world, is so wealthy. They actually have 87% of the wealth of this nation and they’re very powerful. I don’t think they’re going to let everything happen so easily.
So, we, as God’s people, wanting God’s blessing on our nation, wanting evil to be eradicated, wanting righteousness to come forth, praying for a mighty revival which we so need, we need to pray. Nothing will happen without our prayers. In fact, we called emergency prayer for these last three nights, Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday night, because of the threats that were about for this inauguration. There were many threats. It’s not known to everybody, but we knew that it would only be God’s people praying that would keep this inauguration very safe.
God has answered our prayers, and we thank Him, we thank Him for all the answering of our prayers. But I believe in the days to come, we’re going to have to continue to pray. Pray as families every day, morning and evening. If you are not part of a prayer meeting, praying for this nation, well, start one in your own home. Even if you're bringing one other family each week to pray with you, and pray for this nation, and pray through all that God wants to do.
We are still on our subject of FOOD TWINS. There are 25 different things in the Bible that God associates with food. We’re still talking about food and celebrations. Last time I was talking about what we love to do with our birthday parties.
In fact, one of our birthday parties has become a great tradition. I think I’ve told you before about Breezy’s Ball. That started when Breezy was only four years of age. At that age, she loved to dress in princess clothes and dance around the house like a princess and dream of marrying a prince one day. So, Serene thought, “Well, let’s have a princess ball!”
Of course, it was only a family ball. All the moms and dads and children, that’s what our birthday parties were, usually, everyone got on board. They came, and the girls, the little girls, and the mothers, all dressed as princesses. And the boys dressed like princes and knights. It was such an amazing night that somehow it just became a tradition.
This last year, we had Breezy’s 15th birthday. Once again, it was Breezy’s Ball. This time, it was a very big occasion. We had it at the Wedding Barn. There were quite a few hundred people there. It was an amazing night. Of course, we had a feast. We had a celebration. That’s what we’re talking about, celebrations.
One of our fun celebrations we have in our family, and I think I’ve talked to you about these before too, is our book parties that we have once a year, around Christmas time, with our older children, and then we have one with the young couples. This is where we have a beautiful meal together. Then we will play the white elephant game with books where we really fight over them and have a great fun time. They’re great celebrations in our family.
There are a number of celebrations that are mentioned in the Bible. I think of the dedication of a NEW HOUSE CELEBRATION. I think that’s a very important one, actually.
We read in Deuteronomy 20:5, “What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.”
Because it was a tradition to dedicate a home when a couple moves into a new home. I think that’s a beautiful celebration. I was used to that, back in New Zealand. Whenever a new couple got married, and when they went into their new home, we would always have a celebration. Everybody would bring something for their home, and we’d have food together. Then we would pray over the house. I think that’s a beautiful thing, not only when someone goes into a new house, or builds a house, or even if they buy a house. It may not be a new house, but they’re going into it as a new family. It’s a great idea.
If you know someone in your family, or very close to you, who’s going into a new house, or buying a new home, why not think about a special celebration for them? Gather friends around, take food, take a gift for their home, and pray over their home, especially when it’s not a new home, and people have lived there before.
You never know who lived in a home before you. It’s very important to pray over that home, to pray God’s blessing and pray against any evil or uncleanness that was in that home, and cleanse that home. I think it is such an important thing that I trust, and I hope, that Donald Trump and Melania would have brought people into pray over the White House before they went back in. I couldn’t imagine going and living in that White House without it being cleansed and prayed over. I think that’s important for any house.
Then there are SEND OFF CELEBRATIONS. When somebody is leaving, someone in the family, or someone close to you, someone in your church fellowship, and they’re leaving to go to another town, well, it’s a beautiful thing to have a send-off feast for them. You may have it in their home, or you may have it somewhere else. But get everybody involved. All bring something to eat, a dish. Organize a wonderful evening.
Whatever you decide to do, have a feast and have a celebration. Of course, have speeches, and let them know what a blessing they’ve been to you. Give them words of wisdom as they go to their next place.
That’s a great thing to do, too, although I must tell you a funny story. My father, who passed away, used to tell this story of this family in this church fellowship. They were a thorn in the flesh to everybody in the church. They just put up with them and tried to show them love. But they were a real thorn in the flesh. One day they announced that they were leaving and going to another city.
Well, everybody was secretly very happy about that. They thought, “Wow, we’ll give them a send-off!” They had this send-off for them. People got up to give their speeches. They were saying what a nice family they were, and so on. I don’t think they were truly being very genuine. That’s the important thing. We have to always be genuine in what we say.
Anyway, at the end of this, the father got up and said, “Well, I didn’t know that we were so loved. I think now we have decided we will stay!” That didn’t end too well, did it? But that, of course, doesn’t usually happen. You’re sending off dear, precious friends, and you’ll be missing them. You’ll want to give a special feast for them.
The Bible also talks about WEANING FEASTS. Well, we don’t really do that today, do we? Genesis 21:8 was about Isaac: “And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.” Well, in Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, he says that Isaac would have been about five years of age when he was weaned. Other commentators say he would have been at least three years of age. Many babies today are weaned before that, so their weaning is rather insignificant.
But if a baby gets to five years, well, it’s quite a big thing, isn’t it? This is what they did back there. In fact, Matthew Henry, in his commentary about that, says, “Abraham made a feast on the same day that he was weaned, because of God’s blessing upon the nursing of children, and the preservation of them through the perils of the infant age, are signal instances of the care and tenderness of the Divine Providence.” So, we see here, he not only made a feast, but he actually made a great feast! I don’t know whether you want to do that one or not.
WEDDINGS. We read a lot about wedding celebrations in the Bible. Wedding celebrations were more than they are today. They were often lasting for three days, sometimes up to a week. They really celebrated a new couple getting married. Even if we are going to just have a day, I do believe that we should really celebrate with the couple on that day. I think a wedding celebration is very important. God loves them.
Now, let’s see. Jeremiah 33:10. I love this Scripture. It says here: “Thus saith the LORD; Again, there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah,” and so on. It was desolate, but there was coming verse 11: “The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts.” This is talking about a great celebration. There is mirth, and gladness, and joy, and feasting, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. It’s a celebration of a wedding.
God is using that illustration to show His blessing upon the land. When the children of Israel were walking in His ways, obeying his commandments, He says, “This will be My blessing. There will be the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, and the voice of gladness and joy.”
And yet, there are other Scriptures. There are about three other Scriptures where it tells the same thing, but in the negative, because when they disobeyed the Lord, and turned away from Him, he said, “There will be no more the voice of mirth, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.” That was a judgement upon them.
But God’s blessing was the joy of weddings! God rejoices in weddings, and we should too. Sometimes you can go to a wedding, and they have the service. Then they have the reception, and it’s just a little cup of coffee or tea, and a cake, and not very much more. Everybody begins to disappear! That’s sad! At many American weddings, they don’t hang around. It’s just a token thing. “Come, yes, watch them getting married.” There are no speeches.
Oh, remember how we love speeches! In fact, wedding speeches, I think, are very important. When I grew up in New Zealand, this was a tradition. Shall I tell you the tradition? We have carried this tradition on. There were traditional speeches. There was always the speech of the father of the bride, and the speech of the father of the bridegroom. Then they would appoint someone to give a speech about the bride’s family.
Someone else was appointed to give a speech about the bridegroom’s family. someone who knew them well. They were always amazing speeches, because the one family would find out all the funny stories, and all the things about the other side of the family. Then there was the speech of the best man, and, of course, the speech of the day, the bridegroom.
That was always the speech of the day. He had to prepare for that speech. It was a speech where he thanked everyone who had taken part in preparing the wedding. He thanked his parents, and he thanked his bride’s parents for giving his bride to him. Then he spoke about their lives. Of course, if they were a couple walking with the Lord, they would give glory to God and speak about Him.
I remember back to my wedding. We had all these speeches. I think when my husband got up to speak, his speech was about a half-hour speech. The best man, his brother, just about all the speeches were about half-hour speeches. It was a tradition of speech-making. We have loved to continue that, and not only that, we then open it up to anyone. Well, first of all, those in the bridal party who know them so well. And then to anyone who was invited. They were also welcome to get up, and speak about the couple, speak blessing into their lives and vision into their lives. It is always so powerful, and so meaningful!
I remember when we first came to the States. When we first arrived, we settled in Atlanta. Well, no, we were there just for a little while. Then we traveled. We were travelling around Canada ministering. Then we came to Minneapolis, because this is where we were going to be marrying Evangeline and Howard. He lived in Minneapolis, and they had both come back from Israel. We went to a city that we didn’t even know, rented an apartment, and put on a wedding.
So, we prepared everything for the wedding feast. We had arranged all the speakers, those who were giving speeches, just like we were used to. But I couldn’t believe what was happening! After the feast, everybody gradually started disappearing! Well, they’d had a nice feast, and all the food. They weren’t used to staying for speeches, so they just gradually all left until it was really just the basic two families, the extended families left.
We had speeches with them, but I was so sad. I thought, “Why are these people leaving?” And I realized it was just typical. That’s what they were used to doing! They weren’t used to having speeches. In fact, we used to have more than speeches. We would have, like I was telling you last podcast, we’d have what we called “items.” We would have someone who would sing a solo, or sing a duet, or something special. We would always have “specials” as well. It was wonderful, not only a feast, but entertainment as well.
Then came the time of Serene’s wedding. I thought, “What will I do?” Because I didn’t want a repeat of that. I wanted people to stay to the end! Of course, I talked to people around who we’d invited. “Oh, you've got to stay until the end! We’d just love to have a real reception, with speeches, and with entertainment, just a wonderful time of blessing the couple.” In fact, I did write on the invitation that, “We will be having a program, and we would love you to stay to the end.” I was very tempted to put on it, “And we will be locking the doors until the end!” But I didn’t, of course.
Serene’s wedding was so amazing. We did have the speeches, and everybody stayed. Actually, it was a cold, freezing, rainy day. The place where we had the reception had a big fire going and it was so cozy and glorious. The speeches were amazing and everything was great. They did stay to the end. That was great.
Well, of course, we are now a new generation, and we’re now marrying off all our grandchildren. We still have all the speeches. It’s part of our family traditions. Although it does sadden me when I go to other weddings and they may have a few speeches, but often the bridegroom himself doesn’t speak. And yet, that should be the most important speech of the day.
If you have a young man preparing for marriage in your family, prime him up. Get him prepared. Let him know that that’s a responsibility he has, at the very beginning of their getting married, to give a speech, to take that authority as a young man. He has a responsibility too, to thank everybody, and thank those who have come to celebrate with him, and to thank all those who helped. So many people are involved, to give thanks to both sides, both parents. That is so important. And to think of what he will speak about, the vision for their life together. I think that’s very important.
Another thing that I think is very important, and I will just share it while we’re talking about weddings. That is that when you go to a wedding, of course, I encourage you, stay to the end. I think it’s great to stay to the end, and wave them goodbye as they’re going. Actually, we were at a wedding just this last weekend. Sadly, I couldn’t keep to my very own principle. I’ve been fighting this flu, and I just couldn’t stay until the very end. But we stayed for the most part of it.
So, you stay until the end, but then (we certainly did this part). you never leave the wedding, or that is, any other function that you go to, without going to thank the host and the hostess. At a wedding, it’s usually the bride’s parents. At this wedding, it wasn’t, because the bride’s parents live in another country, so we had to go to those who were preparing and putting the wedding on for them. Just thank them. Thank them so much for inviting us. Thank them for the feast that they put on. Just thank them for the joy of being there.
So, when Colin and I realized that I needed to get home, we said, “OK, we’ll just go and do our ‘thank-yous’ first,” because we always do that. Often it takes time to find them, but we will always do that. I want to encourage you moms; can you please teach your young people that this is etiquette? To go to a function, a wedding, a party, or any function that someone is invited to, and to not thank the people as you're leaving is very rude. You’re gone. You haven’t said you're going, and you haven’t said goodbye. You haven’t thanked. What is it in this generation? What has happened?
Recently, I was talking to a friend who had just had the wedding of one of their daughters. It was a big wedding, by the way. I said to her, “Tell me, how many people came and thanked you at the end?” She said, “Well, let me think. I think there were about three. And one was you.” Isn’t that sad? It’s really not because people are unthankful. It is because they are ignorant. They don’t realize this is what you do. Or actually, you’d think that they would think that was what you should do, wouldn’t you? But do teach your young people.
I have so many functions. We are an hospitable home. Over the years, I’ve had so many parties, functions, things happening in our home. So many times people, not only young people, but even adults also come in. They don’t say hello or greet you. And then, at the end of the evening, “Oh, where’s so-and-so?” Well, they’re gone. They never said good-bye, and they never said thank you. They just came when they wanted and left when they wanted. It’s time we got back to courteousness and etiquette which is really just being kind and loving to one another.
OK, what follows? Feasts, what can we talk about? Oh, yes, RECONCILIATION FEASTS. We read about quite a few of them in the Bible. One of them is in Genesis 31. You can read the whole chapter there. That’s when Jacob left Laban. He had been serving Laban, his father-in-law, for 20 years. Can you believe that? He served him for Leah, He served him for Rachel. He served him for all his cattle and sheep. Twenty years. I guess he thought it was time he moved on.
But he was afraid that Laban would not let him go so he secretly moved out by night. But then, when Laban realized that he had gone, he came after him, and he was angry that he had taken his daughters and grandchildren away from him without even saying good-bye. They both had to say their piece and what they thought. Jacob was saying, “I served you for 20 years,” and so on. But in the end, they reconciled, and Jacob put on a big feast. They ate all night. But you can read all about that.
Another one was in Genesis 26. We read about (I always used to call him Abimelech, but I think the correct pronunciation in the Hebrew is “Abby-melech.”) Isaac was becoming more and more rich with his cattle and his herds. Abimelech said, “You’ve got to leave us! You’ve got to go! Go far away! There’s no room for you.” And they sent them away.
But then later he came back to Isaac, and he said, “I want us to be friends.” So, they reconciled. Once again, Isaac put on a great feast. They feasted together. Isn’t that a beautiful thing? When someone has reconciled with someone, and then, well, have a meal together, break bread together. There’s nothing like a meal to clinch reconciliation and friendship.
Another celebration that I did as Serene was growing up . . . I wanted to do something special as she was entering that age of 12, 13 years of age. Many people today like to do that. Many of them will have a special something for their son who’s coming to that age of 13 years of age. We take that age, of course, from the Jewish people, who have a bar-mitzvah for their sons at 13, and a bat-mitzvah for their daughters at 12, although a lot of them do the daughters at 13 as well.
They see their sons and their daughters coming of age, coming into maturity at that age. That’s interesting, isn’t it, because often we still think our children are so young at 13. We think, “Oh, well, they’ve just got to get through these teenage years.” No! At 13, they are moving into adulthood, into maturity.
There is no time for teenage years. Why people have teenage years I don’t know, but they are interim years, usually of wasting their time. No, from 13 on, they are meant to be moving into adult life. Traditionally in Israel, when they have their bar-mitzvah, they are able to be part of all adult activities because they’re moving into adulthood, into maturity.
So, I decided that I would do a bat-mitzvah for Serene. I did it in our own particular way. I’ll tell you what I did, but of course, you can think of all kinds of things that you would like to do with your sons, or with your daughters, when they come to that age. But I think it’s great to do something.
I know some fathers have taken their son out hunting and had a special time with him out in the woods. Others will put on a special meal for their sons and invite other men of God around who will speak into their lives. Mothers will do similar things with their daughters. I think that’s a wonderful thing.
This is what I did with Serene. I took it from the Jewish bar-mitzvah but made it completely our own style.
We had a seven-branched menorah, and we lit the first candle. When we did that, Serene had to give a speech about Colin and myself and her upbringing.
After that, she had to light the second candle. Then Colin gave a speech to her about her life. Then, of course, her vision for her life. Of course, she had been such a special, beautiful child growing up in our home. I don’t think there was a day that she wouldn’t say, “I love you, Mom. I love you, Dad.” We were all very close. Our speeches were so special.
A third candle. I gave a speech about Serene, and an encouraging message to her.
Fourth candle, she had to recite. We gave her a passage of Scripture which she had to memorize. Then she had to recite it there.
The fifth candle, Serene then had to give a speech, really, a testimony of her walk with the Lord, and how she found Jesus and her current walk with the Lord and her vision for continuing to walk with the Lord.
Then the sixth candle, we asked Serene to pray a dedication of her life to God’s will and His purpose.
Then the seventh candle, Colin prayed over her and the others around prayed over her too. That was her special thing, and then, of course, we had a great big feast to celebrate her moving on into adulthood.
OK, well, I think our time is gone. We’ve most probably spoken enough about celebrations. We could think of so many more, but I hope it gives you a vision to be a celebrating family. It seems we make excuses for celebrations because they make wonderful memories. Yes, food and celebrations. They go together. They are twins.
Let’s pray.
“Dear Father, we thank You so much again for all Your goodness to us. Thank You, Lord, for answering our prayers, and for a safe inauguration for President Trump. Lord, we know that there were sinister plans behind the scenes. But we thank You, Lord God, that You protected him, and everyone who was attending. We thank You, Lord God, for what You’re doing, and what is ahead.
“We also thank You for our families. Lord God, I pray that You’ll give all those listening today ideas of things they can celebrate in their families. Each one has different ideas, and different things happening, and different visions. Lord God, just give them the ideas of how they can celebrate and what they can celebrate, to make precious memories and traditions in their families, because You are a celebrating God, and You gave us food with which to celebrate and thank You.
“We thank You that You talk about so many celebrations in Your Word, and all the seven feasts that You gave to Your people. They are all to be celebrated with food and feasting. We thank You, Lord God, for all Your wonderful blessings. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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