Sept 26 Message Living in Days of Awe
In the Yom Kippur of old at this great temple of the Levite priests in Jerusalem and at the Essene temple in Carmel, one high priest stood at one alter and beseeched the one true God/Goddess on behalf of his people.
The lesson learned is that the pure and righteous actions of one person done with correct intent, CAN make a difference.
Call to Worship
Opening Hymn
Opening Prayer
Hear our prayer
We have failed to live in Thee
Have compassion upon us and upon our children
Help us bring an end to pestilence, war, and famine
Cause all hate and oppression to vanish from the earth
Inscribe us for blessing in the Book Of Life
Let the new year be a good year for us
Scripture Reading
Message
Today the Jewish world is preparing for the holiest day in the Jewish calender. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins Sunday at sunset. When this day ends, it will close the Jewish High Holy Days for the year 5770 on the Jewish Calender. These days began with Rosh Hashanah (Friday, Sept 18th) and will end on Monday, Sept 28th with Yom Kippur. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are commonly known as the "Days of Awe" because they are days of great solemnity and reverence. As we read in the scripture above, these High Holy Days were set as an everlasting ordinance to be commemorated for all time.
Yom Kippur is probably the most important holiday of the Jewish year. Many Jews who do not observe any Jewish custom will refrain from work, fast, and/or attend services on this day. Yom Kippur commemorates the day that God forgave the Jewish people for creating the Golden Calf idol. As such it is set aside as an annual day to ask for forgiveness. It is a day set aside to atone for all wrongdoings, mistakes and errors of omission of the last year. It is the last chance to make things right.
According to Jewish custom, there is a Book of Life in which each soul's name is written. In this book, it is written who will live and who will die, who will have a good life and who will have a bad life for the next year. The writing is done by God on Rosh Hashanah. However, our actions, during the Days of Awe can alter the decree. The actions that change the decree are repentance, prayer, and good deeds or charity. The book is sealed on Yom Kippur. This concept of writing in the Book of Life is the source of the common greeting "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year".
It is important to understand the past in order to shape the future. You have to know where you have been and where you are now before you can know where you are going. That is why we have taken the time to explain the tradition behind the Jewish High Holy Days. That is also why scripture implores us to keep these feasts for all time. It is important to understand both historically and through observance, the past practices of our religion because that is the foundation upon which our future spirituality is built.
Our spiritual ancestors, the ancient Essenes, rejected many of the concepts of the mainstream Judaism of their day. Their goal was to filter out all impurities and distill their worship of God to its purest essence. They did not go to the temple in Jerusalem because the priesthood had become corrupt. They did not sacrifice animals to atone for their sins. They even had their own solar calendar rather than the Jewish lunar calendar that is still in use today. Their intent was pure but in their zealousness for purity, they became increasingly isolated.
Father and Mother God saw the purity of their intent and sent Yeshua to help guide the Essenes to a better way. Yeshua showed His Essene brethren that they could be in the world but not of the world. He taught that that those who have eyes to see have a responsibility to guide the blind... to bring the Kingdom of God to earth. He showed a better Way. It was a way of Love. Today, during this annual time of introspection, we as modern Essenes should seek to refine who we are again. We need to get our our spiritual GPS and guide ourselves back to the Way. Mother and Father God have given us the coordinates. They are found in the three core principles of the Days of Awe...forgiveness. prayer, charity. Forgiveness opens the heart to love. Prayer is way we giving that love to God. Charity or acts of kindness is the way we give that love to others.
In those three principles...Love in action... there is power. Remember the words of Yeshua. "If you have the faith of a mustard seed you can move mountains." You are a child of God. Your positive energy, your strength can make a difference. You hold the keys to the world's future. Your good deed, your primal cry from the depths of your soul, can penetrate the Gates of Heaven.
Moment of Meditation
Closing Prayer
Closing Words:
May You Be Sealed in the Book of Life for a Good and Sweet New Year!
AND NEXT YEAR MAY WE BE IN THE NEW JERUSALEM OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH!
