Ideas for Embracing Rosh Hashanah (The Feast of Trumpets)
Rosh Hashanah (or The Feast of Trumpets/Yom Teruah) is one of the 3 Major Biblical Festivals. The other two are Passover and Pentecost. Rosh Hashanah is also the first of three very special fall festivals. Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) follows 10 days after Rosh Hashanah. These days in between the two feasts are known as the Days of Awe and are a time of repentance, reflection, and rededication to the Lord. Then 5 days after Yom Kippur comes the beginning of the The Feast of Tabernacles ! It’s an exciting time, friends!!! All these fall feasts point us to Jesus and are a reason to…
Embracing the Biblical Feasts and Celebrations (our family’s journey…)
I get so many messages asking if I could share our journey towards the Biblical Feasts and Celebrations. There is no possible way I can personally respond to each friend with the love, care, and detail they deserve, so, I thought I would do one big response right here. I don’t feel at all qualified to write this post, but… here goes. Our journey is ours, and I in no way want my thoughts/beliefs to offend or upset anyone else. This is simply one girl sharing the journey God has taken her and her family on… flawed, imperfect, and struggling to live and love God in the only…
Ideas for Celebrating a Christ-Centered Hanukkah (Feast of Dedication/Festival of Lights)
If you are wondering why a Christian might celebrate Hanukkah, I’m working on a post that answers that very question. Also, can I humbly suggest you might read my two other posts about Hanukkah? In them I go into more detail about Hanukkah and the deep, wonderful meaning behind this beautiful celebration: Embracing a Christ-centered Hanukkah Reflections from Hanukkah I also highly recommend A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays by Robin Sampson. Below are some fun and meaningful Ideas for Celebrating a Christ-Centered Hanukkah: Celebrate by lighting the Menorah and reading God’s Word together as a family every night of Hanukkah- We light a candle…
Ideas for Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)
Psst… This is only our second year celebrating the Biblical Feasts, so if you’re new to this, so am I and we’re in this together, sister! It is all very new and exciting (and somewhat mysterious in parts!) to us. We are, by no means, experts in embracing these Biblical Holidays. It is simply my heart to humbly share our journey and hope and pray that our journey may inspire yours… I want to quickly add that I don’t plan to do a post about all the reasons you should celebrate this and not celebrate that (insert mainstream holiday of your choice). I don’t consider myself at all qualified…
Ideas for Embracing a Christ-centered Passover
Over the past couple of years our family has been on a totally unexpected journey. The Lord has met us in the most beautiful ways and we’ve started to walk in faith on a very new and unfamiliar (but exciting!) path. The new path led us to embracing the Biblical Feasts and Holidays. Oh yeah, and the tiny bit about letting go of the traditional holidays we’ve celebrated all our lives.Yes, we prayed and sought and tried to will ourselves out of this most ‘out of the box’ direction, but no matter what we did to wiggle our way out of it, we had no peace. We knew the Lord…
For Such a Time as This… Whispers for Purim {The Feast of Lots}
“Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” These are the words spoken by Mordecai to Queen Esther that have echoed for thousands of years. Esther, an orphan, through God’s divine orchestration, becomes Queen of all of the great kingdom of Persia. And in that very season, she is called upon to make a choice. A choice to risk her life in order to save her people from certain death and destruction. Yeah, that’s definitely a ‘for such a time as this’ moment of epic proportions. She’s one my most favourite historical figures in the bible. What a Godly heroine to…
Reflections from a Christ-Centered Hanukkah
It has been oddly mild for late December and I can’t help but be glad for the not-so-wintery weather. Last year we were in the midst of the biggest ice storm to hit Southern Ontario in years. This year we’ve been playing with hens in the grassy backyard! So much was different this year (not just the weather!). Our home, our hearts, our new found celebration of Hanukkah – very new and very special. I had to share from my heart… Our embracing Hanukkah this year came after much prayer, reflection, and yes, good old fashioned research. Last year, the day after Christmas, our hearts were incredibly burdened. My…
Embracing the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah)
We’re hanging lights and dancing around the kitchen in December again. But this year there is a different feeling in our home. There is a deep, indescribable peace. A peace I’ve never felt before. There are no gifts to purchase. Nothing to wrap. No stress. No bustle. This year, we are embracing Hanukkah for the first time. Our Menorah shines pretty earth tones on antiqued brass – and beeswax candles all in a row. And there is something breath-taking about the very Menorah God commanded in the Old Testament shining in the darkness of an old country kitchen. This year has been a whirlwind of awakenings and blessings and the…
Whispers from our first Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)
If you aren’t familiar with the Feast of Tabernacles, can I whisper a suggestion to consider reading my last post, written as we prepared to celebrate? I stall miserably in taking down our Sukkah. I watched through the back window as my husband disassembled the last of our beautiful ‘tabernacle’ this evening. The back deck is eerily solemn and empty now without the curtains and lights and flowers and banners and all the beauty we created for our celebration of The Feast of Tabernacles. So many memories were made in that tent out the sliding door. But by day 9 our pumpkin lanterns were sagging and the table…
Preparing our Hearts for the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)
It poured rain this morning at the same time the sun was shining bright. Our country windows were glistening tiny sparkles of cleansing rain. She called to me from the back room, “Mama!!! A rainbow!” There it was, stretched across the autumn sky – the rainbow that always brings me to tears. God’s love and promise painted in the midst of water and light. Water and Light. I stood and stared, snapping photos in between thoughts. Wait a minute. Water and Light. Both these things Christ Jesus claimed for Himself. He is the Light of the World. He is the Water of Life. The very Wellspring that feeds our thirsty…
