May 30 Sabbath Message - Shavout, the Feast of Weeks, Pentecost and First Fruits
The Coming of the Spirit
Call to Worship
Click on the title above listen and recite along with the cantor. Let the words resonate within you and prepare your heart to worship.Opening Hymn
Click on the title to hear the music. Read the lyrics and sing along.
Opening Prayer
Our Father and Mother in Heaven, on earth and within us.
You are one and You are holy.
The same from the beginning of time til the end of the ages.
Alpha and Omega
As you were in the beginning you will be in the end
Praise Your holy name.
In each age, in each time,
You have provided us a new glimpse of yourself.
In the days of Moses, you gave us the commandments
that showed You as a God of Order and Law
In the days of Yeshua, you gave us your Son and then Your own Spirit
that showed us you were a God of love.
We celebrate today all that you have showed us of Yourself.
and we ask that You give us now a new glimpse of You.
Amen
Scripture Reading
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies....
15 " 'From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. 16 Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD. 17 From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the LORD. 21 On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
22 " 'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.' "
Leviticus 23: 1-2, 15-17, 21-22
1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"
13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." 14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17" 'In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy."
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy."
Acts 2:1-18
Message
On this Sabbath we celebrate Shavuot which is the Jewish harvest festival described in our reading above. Sha Vu Ot is the fourth feast and the second pilgrimage festival of the Jewish calendar. It starts seven weeks after Passover. Seven weeks is 49 days so the day after that is day fifty. That is how this holy day became known as Pentecost. Pentecost is Greek for fifty days. This is the time of the wheat harvest in Israel. Sha Vu Ot is a "First Fruits" feast for the harvest. Thus this holy day is often known as the "feast of first fruits" Sha Vu Ot is more than just a harvest festival. It is one of the Holy Sabbaths that the Lord commanded be kept for all times. According to Jewish tradition, the giving of the law (mantan Torah) is celebrated at this time. It is believed that God gave Moses the Torah on Mount Sinai fifty days after the first Passover and the exodus from Egypt. (Exodus 19) Devout Jews stay up late on the first night of Sha Va Ot and dedicate themselves to studying the Torah. It is a time to eat honey cakes as God's law is "honey and milk under thy tongue" (Song of Songs 4:11)
The Sunday after Sha Va Ot is the Christian feast of Pentecost. Pentecost Sunday commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire above the heads of the Disciples, illuminating their minds and providing them with the gifts of the Holy Spirit prophesied in Isaiah 11:2 "The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power,the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD."
It is significant that the gift of the Holy Spirit was given on the same day as the gift of the Torah. The Torah was inscribed on tablets of stone by "the finger of God" which is an expression meaning Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit Mother wrote the Father's law on tablets of stone to create the original covenant between God and mankind. Then Her presence descended on Pentecost to create an intimate one-on-one relationship between God and Man.
In Essene circles, we recognize Sha Va Ot /Pentecost feast as the great feast of Right Relations and unconditional understanding. In Jeremiah 31:33 it states, "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD."I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. That is the essence of Sha Va Ot and of Pentecost. With the Holy Spirit Mother's presence within us, we are now able to please God. Born into the family of the Father and living within the Presence of the Mother, we have the ability to interact with others with the love and wisdom of the Divine. It is only through this Spirit that we are able to create and maintain correct relations between each other and the world.
There is significant symbolism in the Sha Va Ot "first fruits" festival. It was celebrated with a wave offering of the first of the harvested wheat. Bread was made from fine flour from the wheat and was waved before God. Fine flour represented perfect righteousness. The offering was not presented to God as raw, coarse wheat but only after being ground down to the finest grain and put into the oven to be processed by the flames. This is the type of offering that our God expects from us. As the grain is ground down, we, also should present ourselves as "living sacrifices" allowing God to refine us into our purest form. Just as the bread is baked in the fire, we should allow the flame of the Holy Spirit to transform us into a presentable offering consecrated to God.
In California and much of the west, we have wild fires in the summer. We think of them as very destructive. But the fires are not meant to be a destructive force. Wild fires come to burn down all the old brush so that new plants can grow in their place. Fire is a purifier. It removes all the disease and pests. The Holy Spirit came as flame at Pentecost as a symbol of all the good attributes of fire. The Holy Spirit flame is a light in the darkness. It illuminates our hearts, it show us what is not right. It burns away the unnecessary in our lives. It cleans and purifies and prepare our souls so that the seeds of God's presence can grow.
Then and only then can we present our own first fruits offering to God. That offering is the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22) This is the secret...the key... to right relationships. The Spirit must be allowed to flow in us and cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in order for us to have correct relationships - both with God and our fellow man.
Won't you let the Spirit flow now within you and plant the seeds of the fruit of the Spirit in your heart?
Hymn of Consecration
Click on the title below. Sing along with Hymn. Open your heart and allow our Holy Spirit Mother to fan the flame of divine presence within you. Let the cleansing fire burn and purify your soul. OK, now let's lighten it up a bit. Today, after all, a feast day...a day of celebration. This is the day We celebrate the giving of the law.
This is the day that our Mother came to commune with us, as Yeshua promised.
It day is our Homecoming... where we hear the word of our Father, reunite with our Mother, and bring God the gifts of our first fruits.
Let's celebrate.
Celebratory Video
Click on site below and watch, listen, smile and celebrate how the world could be if we allowed the Spirit to guide us back to God.
Celebration Continues!
Click below. Watch the creation of the Torah
Click below and sing the fruits of the Spirit
Discussion of the Message
Those of you who are participating with us on line, can take this time to quietly reflect on the message. If you have comments or questions that come to your mind, you are welcome to write them in the comments section below.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, Creator, Yahweh,
God of Abraham and Moses,
Thank you for the gift of Your word
that was given to Moses for all mankind on this day.
Our Mother, Holy Spirit, Sophia
Thank you for the gift of your Presence
that You give to each one who seeks You.
and was experienced by Your disciples on this day.
Thank you for Yeshua
As we celebrate we also commit ourselves
to a better understanding of Your word
and a closer relationship with You
So that we can fulfill our destiny
as vessels of mercy and righteousness in this world.
In the name of Yeshua,
Amen
