OT DAY 270 - Centralizing Festivals (Please click here for English podcast)

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Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile

2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3.   Open your heart to praise the Lord

        
         The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble!
                 He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!

                                  Psalm 99:1

Confession and Repentance

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word (Deuteronomy 16:1-17)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy 16&version=ESV

16 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. 17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.

                   Deuteronomy 16:16-17

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

My Listening

     Why does God command the Israelites to go to their main sanctuary to celebrate the three major festivals?

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us: 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :

    

     Deuteronomy expects Israel to destroy all those local sanctuaries and thus to celebrate Passover at the central sanctuary, and 2 Kings 23:21-23 refers to the celebration in King Josiah's day as the first of this kind in the entire period of the monarchy…
     The context in Josiah's story helps explicate the logic of centralizing the observance of Passover and other sacrifices. For decades before Josiah's day, worship in Jerusalem and in the local sanctuaries had been influenced by the way Baal was worshiped, and/or it explicitly involved the worship of Baal. In light of the discovery of a "covenant scroll" in the temple, Josiah made it his business to desecrate the local sanctuaries and thus attempt to stop worship there once and for all, and also to clean up the worship in the temple itself. The parallels between what he did and what Deuteronomy enjoins make it plausible that the covenant scroll was Deuteronomy, or something like it. Centralizing festivals and sacrifices in Jerusalem would make it possible to ensure they were celebrated and offered in a way that truly honoured God. 

John Goldingay. Numbers & Deuteronomy for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.151-152.

      So, Professor Goldingay gives us the historical context of this passage. But, how can this passage to do with us?
      I think it is very simple. How many times in a year that your church can join other churches to worship God together in your own denomination/diocese/network? For us, Anglican Mission in Canada we have two, in May we have National Leadership Conference at Richmond Emmanuel Church, Richmond and in October we have National Summit at Jericho Road, Port Alberni. So, for us, it means that we need to join that two major festivals to worship God together and be with each others. Please click this link to learn about our coming National Summit, September 30 to October 3 http://www.theamcanada.ca/node/96.

Our key note speaker of this coming National Summit will be Archbishop Yong Ping Chung and his wife Julia Yong. 

If you are member of AM-Canada, are you willing to join us in this two annual events? If you are member of other denominations/churches, are you willing to join your denomination's major events to worship God together?   

Dear Lord Jesus, 
Help us to be willing to join other churches to worship you in major festivals. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect on these questions:
1. Do you understand more about the historical context of today's passage now?

2. Are you willing to join other churches to worship God in your major festivals?

Praise and Thanksgiving

Let's give thanks for God with us. Let us praise Him:

10,000 Reasons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E

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