Restoration Place

Feasts of Israel 16-Month Biblical/Jewish Calendar

My dear Mother surprised me with this beautiful Feasts of Israel calendar. It's from The Galilee Experience, where you can find many great Jewish and Messianic resources.

Here is the month of December/Kislev-Tevet. The art for the calendar is by Pamela Suran. You can view more of her spectacular art at Jerusalem Prophetic Art.

The calendar is now on one of my kitchen magnet boards, where I can see it, use it, and remember to daily pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Why would I want such a calendar? Because I care for Israel. But I'll have to post about that some other time. Right now there's chicken noodle soup to finish cooking and some tidying up to do, and children asking for a snack.

Tabernacle Visit

We recently visited the Biblical reproduction tabernacle in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was originally created in the 1940s by a Baptist minister in Florida and later purchased by the Mennonites and joined with their Mennonite Information Center.

Though we weren't permitted photograph the interior of the tabernacle itself, we were able to take some photos of the outer courtyard. This is the view from the inside vestibule/lecture area looking out. Here we see the people transmitting their sins to the animals and preparing the animals to be sacrificed on the altar:

And turning right around we see the beautiful wall mural painted by local high school students. This depicts the tabernacle and the people of Israel's encampment. It is conservatively estimated that there were 2 million people. Others estimate the total number being 4-5 million:

The entire tabernacle is built to scale and the inside court where only the high priests were allowed is brought to life with realistic reproductions of all the various articles used to minister to God as He required.

I was deeply blessed to experience this in person rather than just viewing a drawing or painting. It came to life for me and my children in a way that we hadn't experienced before. At some point in the future we plan to purchase a tabernacle model kit (available for order at the Mennonite Information Center and various places on the web).

Forcing Paperwhite Narcissus Bulbs

Forcing paperwhite narcissus bulbs is something I've wanted to do for many years of winters. Why I haven't done it before now is a wonder to me as it is so easy to do and brings such joy to my children.

Reading about Jacci's experience inspired me to finally do it. And we couldn't be happier with the results.

After one week:

Two weeks:

I think we'll have blossoms in a day or so--they look like they're about to burst open!

Here's what we gathered before we began: shallow, wide glass container (Michael's, about $10), 2 bags white river stones (Michael's, about $5), 5 paperwhite narcissus bulbs (local home improvement/garden center, can't remember cost). We simply layered the stones around the bulbs and filled the container with enough water to cover at least the lower half of the bulbs and placed it in a sunny place.

My favorite part of this project by far is that we did it with a friend. And now that we've had success, we're going to make one for our neighbors. I think they'd enjoy some blossoms as we head into February.

Happy Chanukah!

(Image from By My Spirit 16 Month Biblical Jewish Calendar, available here. )

Though we are Gentile (not of Jewish blood), as Christians we believe our Christianity can be greatly illuminated by learning about the festivals and feasts. As explained by Jeris Cribbs in  "HANUKKAH--A Festival of LIGHT to the World!"  Jesus is portrayed prophetically in the feasts and festivals, and though we are not required to observe or celebrate these festivals and feasts, it's a joy to see Jesus pictured in them.

We began celebrating Chanukah several years ago, when we became aware of learning about our Jewish roots. We are, after all, grafted in according to Romans 11:19, "...branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." With this new understanding, we began to look into participating in some of the Jewish festivals and feasts. Not in a ritualistic way, not to pretend to be Jewish, but to share in the revelation and blessing that is ours through Jesus.

To begin our celebration of Chanukah, we enjoyed a Chanukah tea:

Some of the elements you see above we learned about in books like the one displayed, Enter His Gates to Your Jewish Roots by Susan Marcus (still having trouble creating a clickable image, despite very kindly help in doing so...there must be a black hole in my brain when it comes to this HTML code stuff):

Chanukah begins this evening and lasts for 8 days. Tonight we'll light the first candle on the Chanukiah (the special candle holder or candelabrum--seen at our tea above) recite the traditional blessings, and play dreidl. At some point in the eight days we'll make latkes, read books about Chanukah and play dreidl some more.

We don't immerse ourselves in the celebration, as Advent and preparing for Christmas is our central focus, but we don't want to ignore it, either. Our lives are enriched by celebrating Chanukah in our own simple ways, and for us it only enlarges our perspective of Jesus and His coming.