FROM:
http://www.youall.com/refresh/3rsfot.html
Many people who accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, whether they refer to themselves
as Christian or Messianic, observe the biblical Feasts and Holy Days, including the
weekly Sabbath, as times of worship, fellowship, and celebration. They believe that
these Feasts and Holy Days are shadows pointing to the reality of Jesus. And they
believe that there are valuable spiritual lessons to be learned week by week and
year by year through actually physically setting aside these times as “appointments
with God.”
See The 3 Rs Introduction article for an overview of the three biblical principles
of Refreshment, Rejoicing, and Remembering as they apply to the observance of the
biblical Feasts and Holy Days. The rest of the articles in this series on The 3 Rs
provide specific, practical suggestions for building those 3 Rs into these observances.
Refreshment
Preparations
The preparations your family will need
to make for celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles may depend on the
customs of any group you may be in regular fellowship with. If you are
part of a group that celebrates the Feast at a central Feast site, much
like a church convention, your primary preparations will involve travel
arrangements and accommodations for the period of the Feast. See the
section below for information on such “pilgrimage” Feast options.
If you are celebrating with a group
that keeps the Feast locally, or if you have no group to fellowship with
at all, you will have to decide whether the idea of building a sukkah
at your home might be a way to enhance your family observance. For more
information on this see the section below on traditional Jewish
celebration customs of the Feast. If you decide to go this route, you
will need to create building plans and gather building materials for
your sukkah, and construct it in time for the beginning of the Feast.
Another option for a one-family
celebration might be a family camping trip for the eight days, or even
camping in the back yard in a tent or trailer. If your family is not the
“outdoor” type, you will need to come up with some creative ways to
weave the themes of the Feast into indoor activities.
Environment
Many families find that changing their
home environment for the Feasts and Holy Days adds to the feeling of
celebration and refreshment. This can include:
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Special tableware and centerpieces for one or more of the meals for each day.
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Special lighting such as candles or a fireplace.
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Special background mood music that is themed to the observance.
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Special decorations around one or more rooms.
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See some of the suggestions below for
decorations and music for the Feast of Tabernacles for group settings,
and adapt them to home use. It is particularly important to involve the
children in planning and creating these elements, as that gives them an
“investment” of their own in the celebration.
Children’s Activities
Most of the suggestions in the Crafts, Games, and Other Special Activities for Children section
below on group projects for children for the festival period can be
adapted to home use with just a little creative adaptation
Devotional
An eight day Feast of Tabernacles devotional booklet titled Bringing in the Sheaves of Your Year is available in this
Times of Refreshing series.
This devotional is available also for viewing on the Internet, or printing out for your use individually or with a group.
Each day’s entry provides relevant
scriptures to consider, inspirational thoughts, and points for
meditation or discussion. For those who observe the Feast in their own
home, this devotional will help keep a focus, each day, on this time of
celebration. For those who print it out to take to a Feast site, it
can provide a very personal emphasis to why you are there.
In Bringing in the Sheaves of Your Year
you are invited to consider the spiritual harvest you have reaped in
eight areas of your life in the year just past. In each area, you will
be asked to reflect upon: Provisions the Lord made for you to sow; seed
that you sowed; the harvest that you reaped; and how you might improve
next year’s harvest..
Both devotionals are suitable for one
person to use alone, two people to share with one another, or for whole
groups to use as a focal point for a group discussion. If you are at
home (or have a lap-top at a Feast site) you can read the
devotional right on your computer screen. You can also print it out from
the Internet in black and white or color as full 8.5 X 11 sheets. Since
it includes sections that require writing down your thoughts, it might
best be printed out so that you can make use of the printed lines in
the appropriate sections.
Rejoicing
Among those Christians or Messianics
who observe the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day, there are
several distinct styles of observance. Below are three typical ways that
Christian or Messianic congregations choose to celebrate. See the 3 Rs
Introduction booklet for more details on each of these types of groups.
Varieties of Contemporary Observances
Traditional Jewish Celebrations
Some groups, particularly those which
label themselves as Messianic or Hebrew Roots congregations, model their
Tabernacles (Hebrew: Sukkot)
celebrations closely on the traditional modern Orthodox or Conservative
Jewish customs for this Feast. They will, however, often interpret
these customs in ways that emphasize Jesus (whom they may refer to by a
Hebrew version of His name such as Yashua or Y’shua) and the Gospel of salvation.
Such celebrations are local and community-based. Each family builds a sukkah
(small booth or hut) at their own home, perhaps in the back yard or on a
patio. Family members eat their meals, study the Bible, and perhaps
entertain friends in the sukkah.
Family members will each have their own esrog and lulav to use throughout the Feast. (For a description of these items, and details about this and related Jewish customs, see the Times of Refreshing booklet Jewish Feast and Holy Day Customs: Sukkot.)
A congregational Holy Day worship service is held on the Holy Day that begins the seven-day Feast, and for the Holy Day of the Eighth Day (Hebrew: Shemini Atzeret). Other social events and Bible studies may be held on the other days of the eight-day
period, most often in the evenings. Special children’s activities are
commonly included, both on the Holy Days and at the other group
gatherings.
All of these activities will mirror
closely the customs and symbolism of contemporary Judaism. Decorations
and rituals, including traditional prayers, will be distinctively
Judaic.
Opinions among such groups may vary on
whether individuals are expected to take the full eight days as a
vacation from their regular jobs, or just take off on the two Holy Days
and the weekly Sabbath and continue working on the other days,
participating in the evenings in the special Feast activities.
Non-Jewish Celebrations
Some Christian groups which observe the
Feast of Tabernacles pay little attention to Jewish customs and instead
create their own style of Feast celebration. Among such groups it is
typical to focus on the “pilgrimage” aspect of the Feast, and staying
full time in “temporary dwellings” for eight days somewhere away from
home, rather than on having a sukkah in the back yard in which one just
spends a few hours a day. This most often takes the form of gathering at
central “Feast sites” in various parts of the country. The size of such
meetings can vary from a few dozen people to hundreds or even
thousands. The emphasis is the communal experience of getting away from
the workaday world for the whole eight days (the Feast itself and the
Holy Day of the Eighth Day Assembly), and spending all that time in
regular fellowship with others.
This style of Feast would be more
comparable perhaps to a religious convention or conference. Daily
gatherings are typically held in a central convention facility, and
families stay in nearby temporary housing such as motels, hotels,
vacation rental homes, condos, cabins, or campgrounds. Each morning,
afternoon, and evening may include one or more gatherings. Such
gatherings may include worship services, seminars and classes for adults
and youth, social events such as Ice Cream Socials, amateur Variety
Shows, sing-alongs, and more.
Some groups prefer if possible to find a
facility, such as a State Park convention center, that allows all the
people in attendance to stay in the same building or complex of
buildings (and/or campgrounds), so that there are constant fellowship
opportunities at all times. Regular group meals are also very important
to some.
This type of centralized Feast site is
most often attended by the members of more than one congregation. There
are some denominations (groups that have a central headquarters with
oversight of multiple congregations) that sponsor their own
denominational Feast sites, serving their own members. People from a
number of their congregations scattered around a section of the country
would join together at one of these central sites. It is typical in this
type of organization for all Feast activities to be organized and
administered by the central headquarters leadership.
There are other “ministries” (as
opposed to “denominations”) that sponsor Feast sites that are designed
deliberately to attract anyone and everyone who would like to attend.
The ministry may do all of the planning, presentation, and coordinating
of activities at the site. Or it may “sponsor” such a site and promote
it, but leave the planning and such to an independent group of people
who volunteer to provide that service.
One example of a ministry that sponsors
and promotes such a Feast site, but leaves the coordination of the
actual planning, administration, and coordination of activities to an
independent “Festival Association” made up of volunteers, is Christian
Educational Ministries. The Feast site sponsored by this organization
attracts nearly 1,000 people from all across the US and several other
countries each year to a Christ-centered Feast of Tabernacles. In 2008 the CEM-sponsored
site was in Panama City Beach, Florida. In 2009 it will be on Okaloosa
Island, east of Pensacola, Florida. Information about the site sponsored
by CEM can be seen at www.borntowin.net. Click on the menu selection
“Feast of Tabernacles” from the navigation bar on the left of the page.
Description from the website above:
For eight days in the fall of the year,
Christians in our tradition pause to observe “The Feast of
Tabernacles.” We celebrate this festival because it is commanded of God
and because we see a powerful Christian significance in the feast. For
us, this is not merely a Jewish holiday, but one of the “Appointed Times
of God,” given to remind us every year of an important part of His
plan, and to deepen our understanding of the work and ministry of Jesus
Christ.
... Come and keep the feast with us.
Everyone is welcome, and no prior reservations are required. We have
plenty of room for you. Come and worship for one day or eight, but come.
You will grow deeper in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Hybrid Celebrations
Some groups, while borrowing some of
the customs, rituals, and symbolism of Judaism, are more experimental in
their inclusion of these. Rather than try to imitate the whole package
of the standard Jewish Feast of Tabernacles celebration, they will pick
and choose those aspects which appeal to them, perhaps sometimes for
spiritual reasons because they seem to be deeply meaningful, and at
other times just because they are aesthetically attractive or seem fun.
These groups vary in custom also
regarding whether they keep the Feast as a local activity or at a
central Feast site. Some may choose to stay in the local community and
build one central, “symbolic” sukkah at their place of worship rather
than at their individual homes.
Their worship services during the Feast
may feature music with a particularly “Hebraic flavor.” Yet some may
completely ignore such customs as the esrog and lulav.
Others may include these items, but not necessarily follow all of the
detailed, traditional guidelines for their use typical among Jews.
Those who choose to create a larger,
centralized site to which people travel may include some variation of
Jewish customs there also. If the site is suitably rural, one common
activity is to have the children and teens construct a single outdoor
sukkah as a project for youth classes.
Local or regional gatherings both may include features that are more “Messianic Jewish” than Orthodox Jewish, such as the so-called “Davidic Dancing.” This is viewed as a form of worship, in which groups often dance to Hebraic-flavored contemporary Praise and Worship music in a style loosely based on Jewish folk-dancing mixed with stylized dance moves reminiscent of ballet.
Festive Food
While there are no specific foods
connected with Feast of Tabernacles celebrations, the Feast is a fall
harvest celebration, and in the Holy Land it would have been
particularly the time of the harvest of fall fruits and vegetables
(grains such as wheat and barley were harvested earlier in the year).
This makes it quite comparable to the American November Thanksgiving
celebration, and typical Thanksgiving-type foods would be certainly
be appropriate. In fact, regional seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables,
and regional recipes, would be particularly suitable.
Remembering
Message Ideas
The original command for the
celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles noted that God wanted the
Israelites to annually “dwell in booths” to commemorate the time period
after the Exodus when their ancestors stayed in such “temporary
dwellings” during their wilderness wanderings and had to rely on God
totally for both protection from the harshness of the elements and for
food and drink. As a nation, they weren't yet “home” in the Promised
Land, and were only looking forward to it. During some periods they
seemed to trust Him to keep providing, but all too often they became
impatient and whined and grumbled, and even threatened to go back to
Egypt just to get their bellies full. Just so, Christians as a people
aren’t yet “home” as they will be in the resurrection in the Kingdom,
but are “dwelling in temporary dwellings” in their physical bodies,
waiting for the “blessed hope” of the return of Jesus, when they will
dwell permanently with Him. We all have some periods when our trust in
His provision is strong, and some times when we just aren’t sure if it’s
“worth it” when we go through difficult times.
In addition, it was God’s plan for them
to go directly to the Promised Land shortly after their sojourn at Mt.
Sinai to receive The Law. But because they were fearful, and didn’t
trust God’s assurance that He would go before them into the Promised
Land and take care of the enemies there, He chose to let them wander in
the wilderness until that whole generation died off.
Suggested message titles related to these factors:
“God’s promised provisions”
“What are you complaining about?”
“Are the ‘giants’ in your life keeping you from trusting God?”
“While you wait to enter the Promised Land” (redeeming the time in His service)
“So you want to go back to Egypt?”
Ideas for Bible Studies and Discussion Sessions
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