Post by Mark on Oct 4, 2008 6:08:17 GMT -8
Each Moed (festival time or season) is to run the spiritual magnifying glass over one specific area of our faith: to focus intensely on one individual aspect of our relationship with Adonai, without dismissing or devaluing any other.
It is wrong of us to think of Rosh Hashana (the Feast of Trumpets) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) as two separate holidays. They encorporate one central theme and thesis: that of reconcilliation.
It is said that on Rosh Hashana, the gates of heaven are opened wide so that Adonai can look intently, without ant obscurity, down into the hearts of men. On that day, He pulls out the Book of Life and the Books of Deeds... in my minds eye, I see His greatness lying out on the floor, at the edge of the gates, peering out over our lives, with His books and pencil before Him, much like I used to lay across the edge of my bed doing my homework for the next day. There is not necessarily a sense of urgency nor passion; but keen interest and comfort with the subject at hand.
The Days of Awe are particularly special for us. We begin with tashlikh, where we symbolically cast our sins into the sea of forgetfulness. Throughout the previous month, we have been taking some spiritual inventory, allowing God to reveal to us the things in our lives that need to be addressed. We have taken thsoe short-comings and offered them back to Him, to remove from us and remember no more.
Messiah told a story of the Days of Awe that is rarely associated in this way
And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, how much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
(Luke 16:1-9)
On Rosh Hashana we are put on notice that Adonai is coming to take an account of our lives. During these ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we are well advised to go to anyone to whom we are indebted, by offense or by sin or by wrong-doing, and set things at right, cancelling debts and and gaining returns for the Master.
On the eve of Yom Kippur, we pray the release of vows, the Kol Nidre, declaring that we are unworthy stewards of His grace and pleaing His mercy upon us.
On Yom Kippur we stand in His presence, in a way that we never stand at any other time: free, clean and naked (symbolically). We traditionally wear all white garments and no leather. I had a fellow ask me yesterday, "You can't eat anything on Yom Kippur?" I responded that we choose not to; but it is not about not eating. It is about not allowing anything to come into distraction from being settled on who our God is and what it means to be in communion with Him.
The Days of Awe are about reconcilliation: first with ourselves, then toward our brothers and finally to God. May these days of worship be truly days of Awe and triumph in your life as you grow closer to Him.
Lashana Tovah,
Mark
It is wrong of us to think of Rosh Hashana (the Feast of Trumpets) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) as two separate holidays. They encorporate one central theme and thesis: that of reconcilliation.
It is said that on Rosh Hashana, the gates of heaven are opened wide so that Adonai can look intently, without ant obscurity, down into the hearts of men. On that day, He pulls out the Book of Life and the Books of Deeds... in my minds eye, I see His greatness lying out on the floor, at the edge of the gates, peering out over our lives, with His books and pencil before Him, much like I used to lay across the edge of my bed doing my homework for the next day. There is not necessarily a sense of urgency nor passion; but keen interest and comfort with the subject at hand.
The Days of Awe are particularly special for us. We begin with tashlikh, where we symbolically cast our sins into the sea of forgetfulness. Throughout the previous month, we have been taking some spiritual inventory, allowing God to reveal to us the things in our lives that need to be addressed. We have taken thsoe short-comings and offered them back to Him, to remove from us and remember no more.
Messiah told a story of the Days of Awe that is rarely associated in this way
And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, how much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
(Luke 16:1-9)
On Rosh Hashana we are put on notice that Adonai is coming to take an account of our lives. During these ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we are well advised to go to anyone to whom we are indebted, by offense or by sin or by wrong-doing, and set things at right, cancelling debts and and gaining returns for the Master.
On the eve of Yom Kippur, we pray the release of vows, the Kol Nidre, declaring that we are unworthy stewards of His grace and pleaing His mercy upon us.
On Yom Kippur we stand in His presence, in a way that we never stand at any other time: free, clean and naked (symbolically). We traditionally wear all white garments and no leather. I had a fellow ask me yesterday, "You can't eat anything on Yom Kippur?" I responded that we choose not to; but it is not about not eating. It is about not allowing anything to come into distraction from being settled on who our God is and what it means to be in communion with Him.
The Days of Awe are about reconcilliation: first with ourselves, then toward our brothers and finally to God. May these days of worship be truly days of Awe and triumph in your life as you grow closer to Him.
Lashana Tovah,
Mark
