The Pew was always meant to be a view of the gospel from a layman’s perspective. Taking God’s word from the pages of our bible to the pages of our lives, a difficult process in today’s world. Sometimes, we need to step outside the Pew and experience others views, customs and beliefs. This blog is another of those “Paul Harvey” moments….”The Rest Of The Story”

Almost everyone knows the history of our Thanksgiving and the customs that have developed over the years around it. Most of us see Thanksgiving as an American holiday. It would be safe to say that over the years it has evolved from not being a religious holiday to one of some religious inclusions. Advent and the soon to be birth of Christ are in the heart of every Christian during this special time of the year. Friends, family, food and gifts sometimes overwhelms the “Greatest Gift” but somewhere amidst all this secular bravo there is the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ and the Angels on high raise their voices in celebration, somehow managing to rise above the spirited verses of “We wish you a Merry Christmas”. We will write more about that in another blog. Right now, back to Thanksgiving.

Let me introduce you to “The Rest Of The Story”. May I present Sukkot. While wandering around outside the pew I came across a wonderful article by Tori Avey that is not only interesting but sorta makes the point we are not as different as we would like to believe. Sukkot is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, a Jewish holiday. It finds its origin in a Biblical Mandate, which we can find in Leviticus 23:29 – 23:43.

39 “‘So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days; the first day is a day of sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is a day of sabbath rest. 40 On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees—and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters 43 so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’”

Here are two paragraphs from the article:
“Sukkot is a harvest holiday, which means that the foods served are seasonal in nature. The Sukkot menu generally features vegetables and fruits that are harvested at the turn of the season—apples, squash, eggplants, grapes, etc. As a food lover, this holiday is one of my favorites because we are encouraged to create dishes from fresh and delicious seasonal ingredients. The arrival of Sukkot ushers in the autumn season; Sukkot foods are inspired by the bounty of the harvest.

Does this all sound a little familiar? You might have noticed that the Sukkot holiday resembles the American tradition of Thanksgiving. Believe it or not, the similarities between Sukkot and Thanksgiving actually have a historical frame of reference. Before coming to the New World, the Pilgrims lived for a short time among Sephardic Jews in Holland. In fact, our American Thanksgiving tradition may have been indirectly inspired by the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.”

(See the full post:https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/sukkot-the-harvest-holiday/#CRG7axB3YqercT05.99)

There is a lot more to this story and I encourage you to go to the above link. The Jews and the Pilgrims both were victims of religious persecution. You won’t be disappointed, click on the link above.

It is also interesting to note that….“In 1868, in response to a proclamation to celebrate Thanksgiving issued by Pennsylvania Governor John W. Geary that was viewed as “apparently intended to exclude Israelites” from the celebration, Philadelphia’s rabbis condemned the encroachment on the freedom of religion and expressed the sentiment that national holidays should be devoid of religious content.” (American Jewish Historical Society; Chabad; Wikipedia)

It seems we have been at this PC thing for quite some time after all. Let’s keep this simple. The God we serve created all we have, everything and to him belongs the glory. We can call it Thanksgiving, Sukkot or whatever you are comfortable with. The fact is it is a time of giving thanks to God for the bountiful harvest of his creation. That may not have been the original intent but it is right and just that we do just that.

We will be visiting family in the coming week, we will not publish next week.

Give Thanks in all things……Life is Good

jk

 

A few weeks back The Pew looked at the trend of culture overwhelming the place of the church in society today. We recognized that there is also a church culture, the way we do things. I did not look back to dig up an old bone but rather acknowledge, might still be some meat on that bone. We have started a Wednesday nite study at church that looks to be challenging. The title tells a lot, “A Charitable Discourse, Uncomfortable Conversations” edited by Dan Boone. The book hits right at my attention button within the first three chapters. We are doing, or plan to do, a chapter a week.

A few things off the top of the page.

-we have become to comfortable within the confines of our faith

-Confrontation with those who disagree with your thoughts will take most of your time and not allow you to tell your story.

-is there a place for us between the unchurched world and religious fundamentalism

-we are the odd ball, the world has changed and accepted the possibility that sin can be managed and defined by society

-we have found a way to escape accountability

-we have grown comfortable with a predictable faith

-the uncertainty of these days has created frustration and anger among the people of the way

This is a good read. You might want to look it up. Moving on, I have a strong feeling that the culture of the day has always driven the direction of the church for some time now. I don’t look at it as an us against them thing but rather a natural reaction to being comfortable and not wanting to rock the boat. The boat being your denominational affiliation, your church and in some instances your faith. What brought me back to this blog of a few weeks ago? Beth Moore…..well another one of her books I have read. I enjoy her writing and have used her books in bible studies over the years. Her book “The Beloved Disciple” had a few points to consider within this “culture” discussion.

Luke 16: 16
16 “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.

Right off we get a hint at the discourse that is building within the Jewish society and church. “The Law” or the new way, the “Good News” which would it be? From the book Beth Moore writes that the year was 28 AD and it had been four centuries since they had heard a word from God. Life was pretty good for the Jews at this time and the absence of a word from God had left the people comfortable and not really receptive to something new and to the religious leaders of the day, this new thing was totally without merit.The people had withdrawn into a world they could control and shut the door to maintain its reliance on “The Law”. they didn’t have much of a relationship with God. Then along came John, John the Baptist.

2nd Peter 3: 3,4
3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

They had not heard a word from God for some time and were lulled into this closed-door thing comfortable in the old way. I love the way Beth Moore puts words together to paint a picture that comes to life even in today’s world. After 400 years of silence, out of the wilderness comes the Word of God! John’s voice was loud and had the authority of God in it. From the wilderness all the way to Jerusalem it is heard, people were drawn to this strange man and the door was cracked just enough to bring the Sadducees and Pharisees from behind the door to hear this “new thing”. Beth Moore has a great way of painting the picture….Jerusalem had pulled a security blank over its head, keeping only what they accepted to be true, determined to preserve the old and rejecting change,” pulling the blankets over their heads the Sadducees and Pharisees kept their heads from getting doused in change.” (Beth Moore)

So here we are today a church mired in confusion and endless debate about how to proceed. Is the loss of membership real are just a figure that reflects the changing church landscape, denomination by denomination. Even the question of how do we reach people is prefaced by the conversations around who are we trying to reach and then of course how? If this is not enough to contend with, we are having debates as to the true meaning of certain scriptures in today’s society and changing moral standards as defined by society in general. We do not have a man in rough clothing and a strange diet yelling in the desert and if that were to be, most people would be to busy to listen.

I see a difficult path ahead as we continue to adjust to the ever-changing demands of societal culture, while we ourselves question what we believe and struggle to adjust church culture to fit our comfort zone. I don’t have an answer but this weeks blog never set out to find one. Are we looking for church growth or lost souls? Who decides what people we seek out to share the message with? I can say with confidence that much of what we believe to be necessary to reach those folks in the desert does not always include the following. Exciting services, great music, congregational services, family life centers and other things that are designed to get people to come to your church. Now this may seem to be a harsh assessment of current practices, some of these do bring people in and some of these cause disputes and create debt. One last question. What does the calling of a Holy Spirit infused church look like? I don’t see us going anywhere until we answer that question.

Thanks for visiting The Pew this week, please come back!

Life is Good

jk

They say numbers don’t lie but I always like to be sure. I will share these with you because they are important to the blog today. “There are 929 chapters in the Hebrew books of the Bible (“Old Testament”) and 260 in the New Testament.  (bibletruths.com) 

Contained somewhere in all these chapters are little gems that seldom make their way to the pew. As usual here is Merriam’s view on that.

Definition of gem:
1 a :jewel
b :a precious or sometimes semi precious stone cut and polished for ornament

Using “b” and changing it just a little, you might say shamelessly to make my point, I read it as such. A precious nugget of knowledge when found and understood becomes an ornament on the tree of knowledge. Rather hokey but I’ll go with it. Today’s blog will look at some covenants that shaped the faith. For us in the pew there is a lot here we pass over when we just read the words. Let’s start with the word covenant.

covenant definition.  “Literally, a contract. In the Bible, an agreement between God and his people, in which God makes promises to his people and, usually, requires certain conduct from them. In the Old Testament, God made agreements with Noah, Abraham, and Moses. Of the covenants found in the Pentateuch or Torah or the first five books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy:”(Wikipedia)

 

The Noahic Covenant is unique in applying to all humanity.

 

 

 

While the other covenants are principally agreements made between God and the biblical Israelites.

 

 

 

One other from the Old Testament we will consider because it illustrates a conditional covenant.The Mosaic covenant (named after Moses), also known as the Sinaitic Covenant (named after the biblical Mount Sinai), refers to a biblical covenant between God and the biblical Israelites, including their proselytes.

Exodus 19:5–8
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.

In Exodus chapter twenty we find the Ten Commandments. Many believe they are the very foundation for the law God gave to Israel (see vs. 3-17). Of the ten laws, four apply directly to God and six to man’s responsibility to man, vs. 3-8, 12-17, respectively). Nine of these laws are found in the New Testament with attendant spiritual amplification (Rom. 13; Jas. 2).

Covenants are important in our biblical readings and studies because they are a record of certain promises God has made to his people.Some of His promises are to all people, and some are limited to Israel.

“The conditional covenant mentioned in Scripture is the Mosaic Covenant; the blessings it extends are contingent upon Israel’s adherence to the Law. The unconditional covenants mentioned in the Bible are the Abrahamic, Palestinian, and Davidic Covenants; God promises to fulfill these regardless of other factors. The general covenants mentioned are the Adamic, Noahic, and New Covenants, which are global in scope.”
(compellingtruth.org)

Again, why are these covenants so important? They are God’s direct communication with man and all of God’s promises are based on who He is and His plan for the world. Next we turn to the covenant that we today live under. We are God’s people and the God we serve desires to be reconciled to all his people.

‘We find in the Old Testament that covenants made with God were traditionally ratified with the blood of an animal sacrifice. (Genesis 15:8-18; Exodus 24:1-8) We also find in the New Testament that the New Covenant was also ratified with sacrificial blood. Hebrews 10:29 calls the blood of Jesus the “blood of the [new] covenant,” which sanctified us and so has made us holy. Jesus mentioned the New Covenant during his last meal with his disciples. The cup of wine represented “the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:20). The blood of Jesus, which is the blood of the New Covenant, was poured out for us at His crucifixion and ratified the New Covenant.” (compellingtruth.org)

We can see past the pain of the resurrection and understand all the more “how precious was the blood” when we understand this New Covenant…..The Christian view of the New Covenant is a new relationship between God and humans mediated by Jesus which necessarily includes all people, both Jews and Gentiles, upon sincere declaration that one believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior…..and the people said AMEN!

Next week in the pew…God Bless

Life is Good……..jk

Reference Material –compellingtruth.org-  bibletruths.com-  Wikipedia