ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
July 31, 2020
Scripture: Leviticus 23:40-41
On the first day you must take fruit from majestic trees, palm branches, branches of leafy trees, and willows of the streams, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. You will celebrate this festival to the LORD for seven days each year; this is a permanent rule throughout your future generations. You will celebrate it in the seventh month.
Thought for the Day: Leviticus 23 describes a number of festivals, including the Festival of the Tabernacles. What caught my eye in reading this was how they were to celebrate the festival for seven days. It’s interesting how Christianity is rooted in Judaism, but we seem to have consolidated all the celebrations into one day events. Even the 12 days of Christmas, which were to be the 12 days of celebration between Christmas and Epiphany, got turned into a cheesy song that we hear on the radio starting in early November. Yet what would it be like for us to require all Christians to take a week off around Easter, Pentecost or Christmas for a week of nonstop festivities. We try to cram so much into a 24-hour period that we return to work the next day exhausted. I’d like to give rejoicing a full week where nothing else is distracting me. Just an idea…
Prayer: Come and rejoice with me, O Lord God. Let me celebrate you in such a way that it is not simply a holiday, but a true festival by which you are honored. Amen.
