Do this in remembrance of me.

Yesterday was my birthday. I had a good birthday, but not for the reasons you might think.

When you're a kid, birthdays are about the presents you get and the party you have. At some point when you're growing up, birthdays become the one day of the entire year you can devote to yourself. Society would have us believe that your birthday is supposed to be all about you, a day in which you do exactly what you want to, and a day for everyone to show how much you mean to them.

The Bible doesn't disallow such practices, but you can't claim the Bible specifically talks about our modern birthday tradition because lets face it, our culture places a larger emphasis on celebrating one's birthday than the agricultural societies in the Bible could afford.

However, there was one holiday in the Jewish tradition that resembled the way we celebrate birthdays. Passover, with all it's kosher rituals and unleavened bread, was the one time when it was truly all about God. The Sabbath days were pretty holy themselves, but often, it feels like the reason you rest every seventh day and focus on God is lost amidst the commandments. The Passover was different though. You couldn't deny what it meant.

The Passover, as you likely know, was when the LORD brought the Israelites up out of Egypt. It goes back to all the miraculous signs God did so that all peoples might be willing to believe in the one true God, specifically to the actual passing-over by the angel of the LORD of the houses of all who had placed the blood of the covenant over their front door (usually understood as just the Israelites but I'm sure a significant number of Egyptians participated). Another big part of the story is how God let the Israelites pass over the Red Sea on dry ground, while the Egyptians were unable to. Whatever the miracles, the Passover is understood to be in remembrance and reverence of the LORD God Almighty.

Both the Passover and any birthday in our modern world have a central focus. In the one, we're supposed to remember the LORD and all he's done in our lives as well as every miracle he's ever done and just how unfathomable the extent of his power and love really is. In the other, we're supposed to remember the person was born, and show our appreciation for them as a person by expressing our love for them. One is cosmic, the other annual. Even so, these two practices are not that dissimilar.

If I'd had my way, my birthday would've played out lots differently. Ideally, I would've gone airsofting with as many friends as would come, but that's not a realistic expectation by any means. A more attainable model for my birthday would've involved sitting at home with one or two close friends and talking about the mysteries of life, perhaps while playing video games. In fact, I would've liked that one a lot because I didn't actually feel good yesterday. MD has me consistently tired and achy just recently so I wanted someone to covertly understand how to spend time with me without draining me any further.

Concerning the Passover, the LORD showed what he wanted it to be about right before Jesus was arrested. Jesus, being the LORD in the flesh, was very much the focus of the entire passover meal. Up until that point, everything about the passover meal had been representative of what he was to do, and if Jesus really was the LORD, the Passover was a celebration of all the love and power that made him who he was. He had every right to prop his feet up a while, and soak in the love. If it had been me, I would've been happy to lean back and bask in the glory given by the entire Jewish population.

But he didn't do anything like that. Jesus--the LORD God Almighty, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, the Beginning and the End, the Prince of Peace and King of kings, and the one true God--that guy, he got down on his knees and washed the disciples' feet. On the one day when Jesus could have taken a breather, he washed toe jam off his friends. He didn't want to be exalted during his time to shine, he wanted to serve others in love.

So that's what I tried to do.

I spent the day with Cherie (who was turning 21 also), and while I was not at all interested in the alcohol fervor for which one's 21st birthday is infamous, I sat with her at her house most of the day, and then went with her to meet some of her anime friends, and finally we all went to dinner so Cherie could down some sake for the heck of it. Most of the day, Cherie was blah and very much consumed by all the effects of the alcohol she'd already consumed. Despite the fact I'm not all that interested in alcohol for disability reasons and my body was screaming in pain, I spent time with Cherie on her terms, and formed new relationships with lots of people. I feel I've come to know more about Cherie in some areas I'd been fuzzy before, and I believe good things will come out of all that happened yesterday.