Post by Mark on Jan 21, 2008 6:22:14 GMT -8
One of the things that I'm working on in our community is trying to help those coming from the gentile Church see the beauty and value of the Messianic Liturgy, as taken out of the Jewish Synagogue. I've been writing a paper each week on different prayers and thought some of you might be interested in what I've shared thus far. I'll start posting them in this area, as I go along, hoping that these generate some response of praise to Adonai our God, or stimulate questions on the Judaic perspective of our faith.
Amidah
The Hebrew word "Amidah" means "to stand". It can be understood, in the context of prayer, with the idea of presenting oneself before Adonai as presenting oneself the Holy One of Israel.
Another name of the Amidah is Sh’moneh Esrei which means eighteen. This is because it is composed of eighteen individual prayers of praise, petitions and thanksgiving. It is suggested that the model prayer that Messiah gave in Matthew 6:9-13 is a capsulated paraphrase of the Amidah, touching on each of the eighteen points and similarly divided into the three distinctive categories.
The Amidah was not developed into formal liturgy until some time in the fifth Century. Before then, as in the days of the Messiah, there was little formal teaching on the nature of prayer itself; but prayer was modeled and taught to each generation with great care. By the fifth century, anti-Semitism and the threat of genocide had become so intense that the rabbinical scholars were pressed to establish a model for the purpose of preserving the conduct of faith for succeeding generations of Jewish people. The Talmud was begun and the Siddur (Service Book) was created.
When the disciples came to Messiah and asked, "Teach us to pray," it was an appropriate question. Up to this point, Messiah’s teaching had rocked the foundations of how they had been taught to perceive the Bible. had become a rule for establishing a socio-religious hierarchy, not a vehicle for bringing every man into intimacy with Adonai. The teachings under which they had sat from childhood were suddenly revealed to be the product of human ambition and private agendas: they didn’t know what to believe nor of what they had been taught they could trust.
Many who enter into the Messianic perspective of faith who have come out of traditional Christianity are faced with the same insecurity. Christianity, for them, what rabbinical Judaism had become for the disciples of the Messiah. The Amidah can be a valuable tool.
Keep in mind that prayer is not designed to be a repetition of words and phrases as a rote example of devotion. Many times the prayers are repeated twice. Personal thoughts and ideas are incorporated into the prayer. It is said that since we are never the same person from one moment to the next, because our perspective, our ideas and our maturity changes, the prayers ought never to be repeated exactly the same.
The Amidah is recited silently, as to oneself, because it is the most intimate time between the praying person and his God. Since our prayers go to the One who can see out hearts, the audible tones of our words often get in the way.
The Amidah is traditionally repeated three times a day. We stand before Adonai, facing the Holy City, and open ourselves to the Living God. "May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer."
Amidah
The Hebrew word "Amidah" means "to stand". It can be understood, in the context of prayer, with the idea of presenting oneself before Adonai as presenting oneself the Holy One of Israel.
Another name of the Amidah is Sh’moneh Esrei which means eighteen. This is because it is composed of eighteen individual prayers of praise, petitions and thanksgiving. It is suggested that the model prayer that Messiah gave in Matthew 6:9-13 is a capsulated paraphrase of the Amidah, touching on each of the eighteen points and similarly divided into the three distinctive categories.
The Amidah was not developed into formal liturgy until some time in the fifth Century. Before then, as in the days of the Messiah, there was little formal teaching on the nature of prayer itself; but prayer was modeled and taught to each generation with great care. By the fifth century, anti-Semitism and the threat of genocide had become so intense that the rabbinical scholars were pressed to establish a model for the purpose of preserving the conduct of faith for succeeding generations of Jewish people. The Talmud was begun and the Siddur (Service Book) was created.
When the disciples came to Messiah and asked, "Teach us to pray," it was an appropriate question. Up to this point, Messiah’s teaching had rocked the foundations of how they had been taught to perceive the Bible. had become a rule for establishing a socio-religious hierarchy, not a vehicle for bringing every man into intimacy with Adonai. The teachings under which they had sat from childhood were suddenly revealed to be the product of human ambition and private agendas: they didn’t know what to believe nor of what they had been taught they could trust.
Many who enter into the Messianic perspective of faith who have come out of traditional Christianity are faced with the same insecurity. Christianity, for them, what rabbinical Judaism had become for the disciples of the Messiah. The Amidah can be a valuable tool.
Keep in mind that prayer is not designed to be a repetition of words and phrases as a rote example of devotion. Many times the prayers are repeated twice. Personal thoughts and ideas are incorporated into the prayer. It is said that since we are never the same person from one moment to the next, because our perspective, our ideas and our maturity changes, the prayers ought never to be repeated exactly the same.
The Amidah is recited silently, as to oneself, because it is the most intimate time between the praying person and his God. Since our prayers go to the One who can see out hearts, the audible tones of our words often get in the way.
The Amidah is traditionally repeated three times a day. We stand before Adonai, facing the Holy City, and open ourselves to the Living God. "May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer."