Post by Mark on Mar 24, 2008 6:12:05 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.
Birkat Hashanim
"Bless for us, Adonai our God, this year and its crops. Grant us a blessing on the earth. Satisfy us from Your bounty and bless our year like other good years. Blessed are You, Adonai, who blesses the years."
I was praying this prayer, dreading what seems an impending economic recession. Adonai said to me, "C’mon, Mark." Still I didn’t get it. Even our recessions put us in an economic position more comfortable than four-fifths of the earth. Still I didn’t get it.
Blessing comes from Adonai. It is not protection from the changing economic tide nor is it drifting along. It is receiving from Him, despite what circumstances may appear to be demonstrating.
O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
(Psa 34:3-8 KJV)
The Hebrew word "tevu-attah" can be translated as loosely as "that which is". The contextual reference , being agrarian, the Israelite community would have interpreted this word as "crops" or "the produce of the land." It is appropriate that we recognize the flexibility of this word and apply it to our own circumstance. Otherwise, we are left with that hint of, "this doesn’t apply to me."
Yet, as I look at past years of how Adonai has carried me through very difficult times, as I remember and I am faced with the honest realization that all that have today and all the goodness that I have been carried through in life is a direct result of His blessing. "As You have been trustworthy to bring me through till today, carry me on through in Your blessing."
It is natural for us to separate the spiritual and relevant godliness from the relevance of our daily experience. We eat because I go to work and bring home a paycheck. That’s the natural conclusion. As we pray the Amidah, we realize that the natural truths are not whole truths. It is Adonai who imparts upon us the blessing of life and the goodness of the productive year. This is evidenced in the reality of my experience because there have been years that the money just wasn’t there; but Adonai has provided all the same. "Blessed are You, Adonai, who blesses the years."
Birkat Hashanim
"Bless for us, Adonai our God, this year and its crops. Grant us a blessing on the earth. Satisfy us from Your bounty and bless our year like other good years. Blessed are You, Adonai, who blesses the years."
I was praying this prayer, dreading what seems an impending economic recession. Adonai said to me, "C’mon, Mark." Still I didn’t get it. Even our recessions put us in an economic position more comfortable than four-fifths of the earth. Still I didn’t get it.
Blessing comes from Adonai. It is not protection from the changing economic tide nor is it drifting along. It is receiving from Him, despite what circumstances may appear to be demonstrating.
O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
(Psa 34:3-8 KJV)
The Hebrew word "tevu-attah" can be translated as loosely as "that which is". The contextual reference , being agrarian, the Israelite community would have interpreted this word as "crops" or "the produce of the land." It is appropriate that we recognize the flexibility of this word and apply it to our own circumstance. Otherwise, we are left with that hint of, "this doesn’t apply to me."
Yet, as I look at past years of how Adonai has carried me through very difficult times, as I remember and I am faced with the honest realization that all that have today and all the goodness that I have been carried through in life is a direct result of His blessing. "As You have been trustworthy to bring me through till today, carry me on through in Your blessing."
It is natural for us to separate the spiritual and relevant godliness from the relevance of our daily experience. We eat because I go to work and bring home a paycheck. That’s the natural conclusion. As we pray the Amidah, we realize that the natural truths are not whole truths. It is Adonai who imparts upon us the blessing of life and the goodness of the productive year. This is evidenced in the reality of my experience because there have been years that the money just wasn’t there; but Adonai has provided all the same. "Blessed are You, Adonai, who blesses the years."
