Birthdays are not just special occasions that mark the anniversary of our physical birth. Spiritual and physical births are gifts of God. While spiritual birth prepares us for eternal residence, physical birthdays are an annual reminder of our earthly and limited existence, a day to celebrate and thank God for the journey of life and the milestones we have achieved. Beyond the delightful aspects of receiving birthday wishes from our loved ones and friends, birthdays afford a chance to reflect on the past year and to set goals and intentions for the year ahead.
Beyond being about numbers, birthdays are about life and constant personal renewal. Celebrating another year helps to promote a healthy spirituality and renewed attitude toward ageing, getting older, and getting better. Birthday celebration conveys to us the concept of spiritual and physical growth, age, and time. Birthday celebration reflects our spiritual identity and helps to renew healthy and structured family relationships with the hope of eternal life. Birthday celebrations provide moments of happiness, creating emotional and memorable memories.
Birthday celebrations beyond the history of birthday cakes and candles to presents promote mental health and emotional well-being. A birthday surprise is an unforgettable experience and gift that makes a day unique. Ten years ago, I was 50 years old. About four months before my birthday, one of the elders in the Nigeria Methodist Mission, UK, and Ireland, invited me to conduct a child dedication on a particular date for one of our Mission FAMILY members. I accepted the invitation without any reservation. On the date of the child dedication, I made every preparation to be punctual, dressed in my white cassock.
I arrived at the venue with the Order of Service for the child dedication. My wife and children accompanied to the child dedication and we were ushered into the big hall venue for the child’s dedication full to capacity with a melodious happy birthday song. I was off my feet. I learnt what it takes when people go out of their way to surprise you on your special day; I acknowledged their efforts, especially my family, with a heartfelt thank you message and my rededication to serve God and His people with renewed strength.
A few months to my Diamond Jubilee 60th birthday, January 6th, 2024, my wife asked for my plan. We agreed on a family communion service. In December 2023, one of our Trustees, Nigeria Methodist Mission, requested for a Communion service to mark a very significant family event. The date requested was on my birthday. Reflecting on what happened ten years ago, I inquired to ensure the request was not another surprise coup before I obliged to the request. On Saturday, January 6th, 2024, after the family morning prayer and birthday greetings, I set out for my birthday morning prayer walk before attending to the request for the Holy Communion celebration to one of our Mission’s Trustees.
After the Communion service and visitation, my host offered me a lift because, according to them, they were going to a wedding ceremony very close to my residence. On our way, my host requested to use the toilet, and by then, we were very close to my church, Askew Road Church. We agreed to stop over at my church. On arrival at the church, I saw some unusual movement of people on a Saturday when I was sure there was no fixed appointment. To my surprise, I was ushered into the church hall with friends, family, and Methodist ministers from across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland already seated.
In an age of changing culture, church decline, and biblical illiteracy, it is tough to be a Methodist Christian. Honestly, for one reason or another, each of us needs a spiritual Calvary, a new revelation of Calvary and union with the Living Jesus, counting ourselves “dead to sin” because “we were buried with Him through baptism into death.” Calvary is where the heavy burden of sin drops off the guilty one’s back, providing eternal peace and rest. Spiritual Calvary makes real the work of the Cross in us and the church, where Jesus Christ not only died for us all, but we died in Him. The guilty come to Calvary and they go away forgiven and freely justified. The filthy come to Calvary and they go away fully cleansed. The poor come to Calvary, and they go away with eternal riches. The lost come to Calvary and they go away saved and eternally secure. Sinners come to Calvary, and they go away as saints, set apart for God’s service.
The purpose of spiritual Calvary is that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, that we might live holy and Christ-like lives and manifest Him in this world. There can only be a revival with personal and corporate spiritual Calvary. Paul said, “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God” (Rom 7:4). In our spiritual Calvary, Jesus identifies Himself with us, ‘becoming our Champion in the struggle against evil.’
For me, my birthday at 60 through the lens of the theological and political divide, I am entering Epiphany at 60 with a thankful heart, a renewing revelation of Calvary and union with the Living Jesus. The Bible says, ‘And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). The central theme of God’s redemptive plan through the miracle of Calvary runs through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible leads to God’s purpose plan, and at its heart is the spiritual Calvary – a personal experience of divine love and amazing grace.
My Epiphany at 60 is heavy and heartbreaking because many people are worried, weary, and without hope about Jesus’ Second Coming. After all, the church keeps spreading confusion and divisions while calling it ‘pastoral.’ Many ‘are heartbroken because they feel mercy is being thrown out in favour of cold justice. We all are grappling with a Church with a particular ‘concupiscence toward favouring the institution over the heart of Her mission – the salvific love of Jesus Christ.’
My Epiphany at 60 offers a renewing personal and corporate missional opportunity to open our eyes and see Jesus as the ONLY Saviour Who died to save us from our sins and hell. My Epiphany at 60 calls us to the place of Christ’s crucifixion, marked in our minds and as a symbol of death to the world. Spiritual Calvary makes the message and the place of the Cross awe-inspiring, a place of grandeur, and a symbol of new life after death.
From the bottom of my heart, I thank all my family and friends for your kind birthday wishes. It was nice to receive your prayers and sweetest thoughts. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, honourable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. – Philippians: 4:8
Please join me to pray John’s Wesley’s “Covenant Prayer” a key element in his own spiritual (Calvary) discipline and in Covenant discipleship:
I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put met to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by you or laid aside by you,
enabled for you or brought low by you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things.
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
you are mine, and I am yours. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
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