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Weekly Devotional

May 5, 2008

God’s Peace be with you all.

 Leviticus 23:15-22  ¹⁵ And from the day after the Sabbath, from the day on which you bring the sheaf of the elevation offering, you shall count off seven weeks; they shall be complete.  ¹⁶ You shall count until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days; then you shall present an offering of new grain to the LORD.  ¹⁷ You shall bring from your settlements two loaves of bread as an elevation offering, each made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of choice flour, baked with leaven, as first fruits to the LORD.  ¹⁸ You shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, one young bull, and two rams; they shall be a burnt offering to the LORD, along with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD.  ¹⁹ You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of well-being.  ²⁰ The priest shall raise them with the bread of the first fruits as an elevation offering before the LORD, together with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.  ²¹ On that same day you shall make proclamation; you shall hold a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. This is a statute forever in all your settlements throughout your generations.  ²² When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the alien: I am the LORD your God.

This coming Sunday we will celebrate the Day of Pentecost, which is the culmination of the Season of Easter for us.  But the day of Pentecost has been around much longer than the Christian religion.  The day was actually a Jewish celebration of the 50^th day after Passover.  To the Jewish people, it is known as the Festival of Weeks.  They celebrate 7 weeks of 7 days each, as commanded by God.

                For us as Christians, we do the same.  We also celebrate 7 weeks of 7 days.  It is our reason for celebration that is slightly different.  We celebrate Pentecost as the day in which the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples, as recorded in Acts 2.  For Christians, this symbolizes the time after the Ascension of Christ into heaven, in which the Holy Spirit is given from the Father and the Son as the means through which to carry out God’s work on earth through the church. 

                I find it interesting that Pentecost of us is another tie-in to the Jewish roots of the Christian religion.  The Easter Season is filled with them, from the celebration of the Passover feast by Jesus (The Last Supper, which now has become our Holy Communion on Sundays) all the way to us celebrating a Jewish Festival (all though for different reasons).  For us, this shows how God is at work not just through a specific people (like the Israelites), but instead is at work in the world. 

 In our prayers this week:  Gail and Linwood, Ruth Brown, Doris and her mom, Deborah Steed, Michael and Brenten

God’s Peace,

Pastor Judson