"Trimming the Tree"

My simple sukkah - for celebrating, remembering, and rehearsing.

"Trimming the tree" for the holidays means something different to me now than it once did.  Four years ago, it meant assembling a pre-lit, artificial Christmas tree and then adorning it with ribbons, berries, balls and bows, and even some sentimental ornaments from my childhood.  But now, "trimming the tree" for the holidays has taken on a more literal meaning.  

Trimming the trees for Sukkot

Now my holiday tree trimming includes leafy greens instead of evergreens, and my tools include a saw and a pruner. Now I'm literally trimming tree branches to celebrate the Messiah, who came and is coming, to "tabernacle" with us.  Not only has my tradition changed in form, it's also changed in season.  I used to celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas, but now the Fall feels much more fitting.

My re-purposed hydrangeas.

This is my third year of observing the Biblical Fall festival of Sukkot.  Part of the joy of this commemoration comes in the form of a simple structure called a sukkah.  My sukkah is just an EZ-Up, draped with curtains and a burlap covering, and trimmed out with a leafy border. This year, I spiced up my sukkah with re-purposed ribbon and artificial hydrangeas that had previously embellished my Christmas tree.  Truly I have found child-like joy in the creativity and simplicity of communing in this lovely little space.

The timing surrounding Messiah's birth at Sukkot is fascinating in all that it symbolizes.  The first night of the seven day festival of Sukkot, otherwise known as Feast of Tabernacles, Festival of Booths, or Feast of Ingathering (the harvest) is presumably the very night so long ago when our Savior was born.....in a sukkah in Bethlehem.  Quite likely it was during the Fall on this first night of Sukkot when the shepherds witnessed the angels praising God and bringing greetings of peace and the good news of a Savior. Read or watch more on this here:  https://jewishvoice.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/why-sukkot-is-yeshuas-real-birthday/

Celebrating God's completely perfect timing!

Sukkot, which lasts seven days and occurs in the seventh month on the Biblical calendar is the seventh of the seven appointed Feasts of the Lord.  The obvious link of this appointed time to the number seven, signifies the spiritual message that Sukkot embraces God's perfection and completion in the coming and coming again of Messiah Yeshua.   The Word was made flesh to dwell, or tabernacle, among us - John 1:14.  

In the days of the Temple, during the Festival of Tabernacles, the children of Israel were required to live in booths or temporary shelters.  The Feast of Tabernacles was the third of three yearly pilgrimage feasts in which the Jews were required to go up to Jerusalem to rejoice at the Temple.  Camping in  sukkahs reminded them of the forty year wilderness experience of their forefathers when the Heavenly Father provided for every need of His Chosen, beloved, young nation.

Symbolic branches to wave before the LORD in worship.

Biblically, as believers, we have reason to join with Israel in keeping the feasts.  In unity, we live out the mysterious reality that we are one in Yeshua and that by God's grace we have been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel - Romans 11:11-22.  Someday our unity with believing Israel will become a reality, and someday God's Torah will be fully on our hearts - Jeremiah 31:32-33.

The Feast of Tabernacles is like a dress rehearsal to prepare our hearts for a future Day when Messiah returns to take His rightful place in Jerusalem on David's Throne.  On that Day, Yeshua will once again tabernacle among us, but this time He will come as the Judge of all the earth, as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, as the King of kings and LORD of Lords.  At that time, all the nations of the world will be required to pay homage to the King of all the earth by making pilgrimage to Jerusalem on the Feast of Tabernacles - Zechariah 14:16-19.  

My branch & citrus - memories of Sukkot.

There are SO many more facts, details and symbols that I have gleaned in celebrating this AMAZING holy feast.  Truly my heart is overflowing with the richest of fare.....the eternal treasures of God's Word that leave me full of awe at the majesty and wisdom of our great God.

While I admit that it's been quite a paradigm shift for me to incorporate these new-to-me Biblical traditions into my life, I have to say it's been worth it.  I don't have to ask, WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) when I can actually DWYD (Do What Yeshua Did).  Yeshua observed His Father's appointed festivals .....that's what makes them important to me.....and that's why I'm "trimming my tree" in September!

*Here's a great website if you want to learn more about Sukkot - The Season of our Joy:

hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Fall_Holidays/Sukkot/sukkot.html

Shifting Shadows

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy Faithfulness, now ninety years old, is considered by many to be one of the favorite hymns.  But personally I confess, that after hearing and singing it so many times over the course of my life, I had started to become weary it.  And so it was that recently during a worship service, I was confessing this to the Lord as the song was about to begin.  Truly I wanted to sing the deep truths of the song with heartfelt conviction and without a negative attitude, and genuinely, I wanted the words of mouth to align with my heart.  So I asked the Lord to create in me a new heart that would allow me to bring a true praise offering of worship to Him.

The Father of heavenly lights does not change like shifting shadows.

As the song began, my mind explored an intriguing perspective on the lyrics that excited me and resonated with my soul.  In the musical message, I saw the sun as spiritual imagery demonstrating God's constant faithfulness, contrasted to the moon's ever-changing phases that could be likened to man's perpetual pattern of inconsistency.  




God's goodness, His life-giving strength, and His immutable character could be compared to the qualities of the sun, for just as the sun rises each morning to give its light so powerfully, freely and faithfully, so too, the Lord's mercies are new every morning.  Day by day, of every month, every season and every year, our Heavenly Father provides for our needs.  He is faithful to forgive, encourage, and give us hope for the future with the truth of His Word through His Holy Spirit.  His loving presence is constant and enduring.  Even more immutable than the sun, the Father of heavenly lights does not change like shifting shadows - James 1:17.  As the song testifies, "There is no shadow of turning with Thee." 

Waxing & waning.....our love is like the moon's shifting shadows.

In contrast to the imagery I saw in the sun, I found it fascinating to consider that man's character qualities could be likened to the moon.  Unlike the sun, the moon has no light of its own, rather, it is designed to be a reflector of the sun.  Similarly, man was created in the likeness of God to reflect His image!  As God's image-bearers, sometimes we reflect poorly, and sometimes we reflect more fully. 

Each moon cycle begins with just a sliver of reflection.  The reflective crescent grows and grows each night until the moon is full and fully reflective.  Following this fullness, the moon begins to wane until it is reduced to darkness.  How meaningful this understanding has become to me now, as I see this cyclical pattern as a mirror of mankind.  We too, wax and wane in our love for God and for our fellow man.  At times our love shines fully and brightly, but more often, like shifting shadows, we only dimly reflect our marvelous Maker.  

Yom Teruah - The Feast of Trumpets

Just as each new day is a gift, each new month provides us with new opportunities to grow in our love toward God and our neighbor.  According to the Biblical Hebrew calendar, each new moon (Rosh Chodesh) signals the head(rosh) of a new month(chodesh).  New moons are announced with the blasting of the shofar to signal time for celebration with the realization that by the mercy of God, each new month brings opportunity for rebirth and renewal.  Psalm 81:3 proclaims, "Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival."   Each full moon marks the midpoint, the fifteenth day, of each month.  Ordained by God's wisdom, a number of festivals of freedom and abundance, including Passover, Purim and Feast of Tabernacles occur during the time of the full moon. 

In Hebrew, "moon" or “month” is chodesh, meaning renewal.

There is one very special new moon celebration that occurs during the Fall of the year.  It is known in Scripture as the Feast of Trumpets but it is better known as Rosh Hashanna.  This particular new moon celebration is one of the Lord's appointed times for celebrating with the blast of the shofar.  

I find it amazingly significant that the prophetic message of this holy convocation foreshadows the return of the Messiah as the ruling, reigning, conquering King of Creation,  or as the Bridegroom returning for His Bride, or as the Judge of all the earth, or as the Redeemer of Israel - Revelation 11:15, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.  Among its many messages, the shofar blast on the Feast of Trumpets is a wake-up call, a call to warfare, a cry for help to the Lord, a signal for breaking camp or ushering in a new king.  Let us prepare our hearts.  Let us wake up.  Let us be fully alert and ready as the Day approaches.....the King is coming! - Joel 2:1

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son” - Galations 4:4

 

 Abba Father,
Oh how we thank You that Your mercies are new every morning.....and every month.....and every year!  We give praise to You for Your faithfulness, even though we are so desperately undeserving and unfaithful!  May we humbly reflect less of us and more of YOU!  Fill us, we pray, with the Light of Your Word through Your Holy Spirit, because it is only through You that we are able to be who You made us to be.  Amen.

How great indeed, is Thy faithfulness!  

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
    Great is your faithfulness. - Lamentations 3:22-23