Rev Dr Ezamo Murry
Model Village, 5th Mile Chümoukedima
No sooner had an educated churchwoman asked me about how many years make a Platinum Jubilee than a deacon of a local Baptist church asked me which moment, the hour, the day or the year of the first baptism should be the Jubilee day of his church. The churchwoman had surveyed the available sources and found that the duration of Platinum is made of 70 years only and not 75 years as the churches assume. She added that even the alternate term Diamond Jubilee for75 years Jubilee would mean duration mostly of 60 years.
The deacon was in search of dead accuracy in pinpointing the moment the first baptism took place in his church, hour, day, month and the year. This may also involve considering the practice of different countries in fixing the specific time, day-month-year as we follow in India. Among the Naga Christians there is an animistic tendency to determine time or rituals meticulously lest the divine is displeased. How will it be when there are countries counting the dates starting from year, month and the day? But, will the God worshipped by the Christians be so particular about the specific moment or day to accept the thanksgiving of the believers? No, even the year can be pre-poned or postponed to express the gratefulness to God if situation demands. After all the celebration of ‘Jubilee’ by the Church today is just to express gratefulness to God. It is nothing in the likeness of the year of Jubilee commanded to the Jews (Lev.25; Deut.15).It has been said that there is no record of the Jews observing the prescribed Jubilee either. Jesus did speak about the time of release of the oppressed and the proclamation of the time of the Lord’s favor (Lk.4:18-19) but it does not mean a compliance to the command of Jubilee to the Jews.
This does not mean the church should shun celebrating ‘Jubilee’. It is true not many churches of the world celebrate Jubilee like we do in Nagaland. Jubilee celebration in Nagaland is a blessing in disguise. For we find Jubilee a time for the believers to come together and put efforts, resources, time and dedication leading to reaffirm our allegiance to Christ our Liberator. In today’s Jubilee we find even the hidden members of the church coming forward to participate contributing time and money. The church’s treasury is thus swollen letting the church to plan for development and mission. The church’s Jubilee surely enlivens the members letting them to think of their belongingness to a community called the Church.
What is the intricacy then in messing up the dates of the Church’s Jubilee with the wedding anniversaries of the West? The wedding anniversaries seem to come in cycles of decades, thus, 50, 60 and 70 years. The counting of the years for Church Jubilee seems to have started from 25 years which event does not align with the Jewish Jubilee.
In so far as the Church’s Jubilee today is not obedience to the Jewish Jubilee the Churches today can omit the term ‘Jubilee’ and call it ‘Anniversaries’. Then it is easier to understand if we call, as some churches already do, 50 years of God’s faithfulness, 75th anniversary of our church, and so forth. Other societal organizations celebrating anniversaries may also follow suit. Just a proposal.
