Go Feast Card Game from Rebekah Co
Passover Gifts for Kids
Why I Started Celebrating the Biblical Feasts
This was a slower process than the decision to honor the Sabbath day. Growing up, my mom had the wisdom to recognize the many problems with Easter being celebrated in the Christian church, so we turned to celebrating Passover in my early teens. It seems obvious in hindsight but it took us several years before we figured out we should keep the rest of the Biblical holidays as well. So what led to the change?
For me that spark came when I started seriously reading and studying Scripture. While I have consistently read my Bible since I was a preteen, I wasn't studying or being taught all of it. If you cherry-pick the popular Christian passages of Scripture, you are going to miss a lot.* Realizing that all Scripture is breathed by YHWH and intended to instruct us (1 Timothy 3:16), I knew I needed to study the whole book to see its instructions for me. Upon reading the Bible in a year I could see that not only are these holidays mentioned, but that their thread can be seen from Genesis through Revelation. (My personal learning and conviction was compounded by my small congregation that was also studying this - surround yourself with those seeking truth and working to be obedient to the word and your life will change.) And when I saw that the thought of celebrating YHWH's set apart times was exciting! To enumerate a few reasons...
I wanted to start celebrating the Biblical feasts because:
-Scripture commands us to. Once I checked out Leviticus 23, Deuteronomy 16, and the many other verses on the feasts this was loud and clear! "This is a festival to YHWH throughout all your generations." (Exodus 12:14) I mean, really no reason beyond this is needed, right? Scripture says throw a party, so that is just cause to celebrate. If the word says to do something then it is in our best interest to do that. You don't have to be a scholar to realize that following Scripture's instructions is the wise choice to make.
-Paul exhorts believers (even non Jewish ones) to keep these feasts. Many people have told met that the Biblical holidays are strictly an Old Testament thing and not needed after the Messiah came. Apostle Paul didn't think so and expressly told believers to keep the feasts (1 Corinthians 5:8). Both the Old and New Testaments tell us to do this. Think you're not invited because you don't come from the right gene pool? Nope, this instruction is for everyone. When Paul wrote this, he was actually addressing a Greek group of believers from Corinth. His target audience wasn't Jewish people or those living in Israel, and you don't have to meet those descriptions to celebrate.
-The Messiah and his disciples kept the set apart times. Remember those WWJD bracelets? Well one of the answers to that question is, "He would keep the feasts!" We see him doing this at the last supper for Passover, traveling to Jerusalem for a feast as a boy, and in John 7 at Sukkot. The cycle of the seven set apart times would have been foundational to his life, marking the seasons and the calendar. Just as we know that fall means back-to-school, leaves changing colors, and pumpkins and apples, he would have associated fall with getting ready for the fall feasts. I love how this gives us such an idea of what his days were like...picture him putting together a sukkah before the Feast of Tabernacles or counting the omer in the spring time, and making plans to celebrate the feasts.
-There is both historic and prophetic significance to each of these times. The Biblical holidays are action packed to say the least, from the Israelite exodus from slavery to the resurrection of the Messiah; the giving of the Torah to baptism in the Holy Spirit at Shavuot. Each set apart time is so rich because it symbolizes not only what YHWH wants us to remember regarding the past, but what is to come at those times in the future. Did you know when Yahusha said that no one knew the day or the hour of his return he used an idiom for the Feast of Trumpets? We can learn so much from the feasts.
-Wanting to honor YHWH. We host birthday celebrations and engagement parties, and award ceremonies because we want to honor people. What about a few days to honor the Creator? While we can do that through other means as well, we shouldn't neglect that he asked us to observe these times.
-Conviction. I've had no problem celebrating cultural holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, workplace/career milestones, high school homecoming, the Ohio State versus Michigan football game, and even completely made up days like 'National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day'...is it too much to ask to give YHWH's days a little attention? In fact, I'd willingly jumped into all of those other days because they sounded fun and (mostly) they held some significance. What am I saying when I reject the feasts of YHWH because I don't think they have meaning or could be celebrated with joy?
-Sincerely wanting to be a doer of the word. I don't know about you, but for me there came a time when I just got sick of letting myself off the hook with excuse after excuse for why we don't actually need to keep Scripture's instructions. Life is too short to live in half-hearted compromise. And if abundant life comes through the Messiah, shouldn't I align myself with his lifestyle and value system, at least to the best of my ability? YHWH deserves more than just my verbal praise, he desires that we show our faith by our actions. Celebrating a few times a year is a doable and joy filled way to do that.
I am so thankful to be able to honor and celebrate YHWH's set apart times. It is a great joy to have the seasons of my life revolve around Scripture. I wish I could adequately tell you how celebrating the feasts has enriched my faith and understanding of Scripture, but it has been so much more than I ever imagined. 2 Peter 3:18 tells us that we are to continually grow in the favor and knowledge of the Messiah, if you're feeling like you've been stuck or stagnant, keeping the feasts is an amazing opportunity to grow! All are invited.
*That really bad habit of skipping over large portions of Scripture leaves believers in the dark on many topics, and most live in complete ignorance that there are times of year that are set apart by the Creator for specific celebrations. This is compounded by bad translations (like Shavuot's misnomer Pentecost, or heaven forbid, calling Passover "Easter," or how a mention of it being "already after Yom Kippur" in Acts gets changed to "we had lost a lot of time"). If you have a poor translation of Scripture that you don't read all of or study, you are going to miss important blocks of Scripture, including these ancient festivals we are commanded to keep.
More on the Biblical Holidays:
The Beginner's Guide to the Biblical Holidays
The Beginner's Guide to the Biblical Holidays
A Peek at the New Torah Sisters Magazine - Passover Special Edition
Even though it's called Torah Sisters, I think Hebrew men would also enjoy its content, and there are even a few activity pages for children. With more than fifteen contributors, topics in this issue include: recipes for Passover, spiritual housecleaning, DIY tzitzit holder, 10 Scripture verses on gardening, Torah portions list, Passover bucket list, Scripture poster for Passover, how to make kombucha, plans for deep cleaning your home, saving a bad homeschool day, Passover coloring pages and lots more.
I loved this piece from Kayte Abaffy about spring cleaning your diet. It had practical and doable advice for healthier eating habits, and I especially enjoyed how she tied that into the process of cleaning the leaven out of our homes before the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The Torah portions page is just beautiful, and you can easily remove it from the magazine to put on your fridge or bulletin board or in your Bible. In this issue there is another poster, coloring pages, and my Passover Bucket List that you can also remove for real life use!
Can I just add that I even like the advertising in the magazine? I know that sounds crazy - most of the time when an article title lures me on the front of a magazine, I turn page after page of ads and eventually give up without finding what I actually wanted to see. That is definitely not the case here: there are only a few ads (maybe six in this issue?), and they are actually pertinent to your life as a believer! Advertisements are from companies selling things like Hebrew apparel, tzitzits, and resources for teaching Scripture to children. Yay!
There are lots of pictures of different ideas for Passover tablescapes. You will hear from a number of believers about how they celebrate this feast. It's so nice to have something tangible that is an inspiration for keeping Torah and celebrating the feasts. I think that it's fun and lighthearted make it easier for others to approach the Hebrew faith when they see it sticking out of your bag or in the break room at work or on your coffee table. It's a great way to start a conversation about faith!
You can head to the Torah Sisters website to order your copy of the magazine in time for Passover. It is also available as a PDF if a digital version would better suit your needs. Amy and Crystal have done a wonderful job of putting together a beautiful magazine that you will certainly enjoy. It would also make a great Passover gift for a friend.
Open My Eyes - Psalm 119 Printable
What an amazing statement! If you haven't read through the 119th psalm to see the author's reverence for the words and instructions of YHWH, it's definitely worth a look. The unknown author waxes quite poetically about the beauty of the word, the goodness of Torah's instructions, that it's worth more than millions in gold, how the word is a lamp to our lives. He or she has nothing but praises for the Torah, and this is the longest chapter in the whole of Scripture...nothing but praises.
And yet, still they are asking to see more.
There is so much more richness and depth to Scripture than what we realize. And the more I see, the more I am aware that there is more that I haven't yet understood. No matter where you are in your faith, you can have more. This printable is available to you for free in hopes that this reminder would stir in your heart to ask to see more of the beauty from YHWH's word.
Click here to download this printable. It is free for your personal use and easy to print off on a regular printer. Enjoy!
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