Ok now, this is the coolest thing I have been excited about in the Bible in a awhile. The Jews camped for God! Literally, they gathered olive, palm and shade tree branches and made huts and camped out for a week. Their only intention to praise God! (Nehemiah 8)
stop mourning and be filled with JOY
I am blown away when God tells them to stop mourning over how they feel they were not living up to God’s ‘laws’. He tells them to hold onto joy! He says “Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 Say what? Stop grieving, but don’t we love to wallow and especially in these circumstances of covid-19 and the worlds uncertainty! We love to complain and find a companion to share our complaints with.
the Jews had it going on!
I am sitting at my desk, filled with this joy all-of-a-sudden! Can you imagine a world where one week a year and did nothing but praise God from your tent? Camped for Christ? The Jews had it going on with all of their festivals, celebrations and feasts.
are you a cultural Christian?
Where did we lose these celebrations? Inside of my soul I believe that we are still to do them. As a reminder, a joy-filler, a soul-pain saver! It would be my opinion, that we as a cultural Christian society we worry about becoming a ‘rule-follower’. Worried about others thinking we are trying to, ‘work our way to Heaven’ that we gave up traditions. When traditions became ‘in the way’ of our day to day lives they became sacrificial time. A duty of obedience and not a gift to us. This is my inference.
my inference
I could also infer that after Jesus died for us, the Christians didn’t want to do anything that resembled their old Jewish life. They probably wanted to be “set apart”. Yet in this action of being set apart, they may have forgotten one of the most important things. Jesus is the same God that took them out of Egypt; the same God that they celebrated in the festival of the tabernacles!
can we celebrate each month?
It would be the coolest thing to stop thinking of these festivals, feasts and traditions as old and sacrificial. I would love to replace those thoughts with joy-filled celebration? In my opinion many Christians love Christmas and they say it is their favorite celebration. I am challenged to think, what if we had celebrations like this every month for God?
stew on this for awhile
Think about camp when you were a kid. Think about how much camp filled you up. I came back home after a week and was joy-filled ready to praise God daily! Then, time goes on and I would long for summer again. I would long to be with others who freely praise Jesus, learn scripture, eat together and play together. The old testament traditions and festivals were set up perfectly, by our perfect God, for our benefit. Let us stew on this for awhile.
not for us, but for Christ
What a joy would it be to have the Festival of Tabernacles again? Once a year. Camping for Christ! Not the type of camping that is for making picture worthy memories. Not the type of camping so we can prove to our kids we “did something with them” while they were young. But the type of camping that is joy-filled by learning and praising Christ. Not by waterskiing all day and consuming your favorite alcoholic drink, basking in the sun. Even though these times are fun, nothing is more important than being a role model to our kids; to be joy-filled by Christ.
are we able?
Are we able to do this as a culture that is so dependent on external joy and jam-packed schedules? Can I actually devote one week a year to praising and learning about Jesus from dawn till dusk? Maybe, just maybe, this is how summer camp originated? Well, my friends, lets bring summer camp back! There is one issue, Festival of Tabernacles is set for October 2-9th, 2020 smack dab in the middle of harvest season here in Alberta, Canada. This brings up a whole whack of other questions to be saved for another day.
tell me about your celebrations
If you celebrate Festival of Tabernacles already I would love to hear how. Please send me your celebrations and what they have done for you and your family. Many families I hear go to summer camp. I am curious to know how your camp impacts your life for Christ.
