Time for a Feast

This evening I had the privilege to hear a presentation by Roy Shcwarcz from Chosen People Ministries on how the gospel is foreshadowed by the seven feasts of Israel in Leviticus 23.  It was a fascinating presentation, and Roy is a gifted and engaging communicator.  I was glad to have been in attendance with 50 or so other Riverview-ers.

During my second to last quarter in seminary, one of my favorite professors had us watch an Israeli movie entitled Ushpizin.  This film details the story of a traditional Jewish couple and the trials and challenges they face as they attempt to celebrate the Feast of Booths.  In reflecting on the film, the professor wanted us students to focus on the role that ritual plays in our lives.  As I reflected on it, I was glad for the small yet significant role that tradition and ritual played in my own life, as I can see quite a bit of value in it, even in regards to training and teaching my children the things of God.  At the same time, however, I was somewhat dismayed that I could only identify a couple of rituals and traditions that my family holds to here and there.  In other words, we're not very ritualistic people (at least not religiously).  As I saw the value of ritual and tradition, I wanted more of it in my life.

There's a lot of value in ritual.  It can help or even force us to think about certain things.  Sometimes this is good, but sometimes it can be bad.  Consider the use of formal liturgies in worship.  Liturgy is good in that it directs our thinking and worship.  But it can also be dangerous in that it can be rote, and performed without any thinking or engagement in the heart.  As a Baptist, the "default switch" of our denomination is to shun most forms of liturgy or even ritual.  Again, I think this has positive and negative aspects.  But as a Baptist who has, for the most part, been starved of ritual for most of his life, I  am intrigued by the prospect of having ritual observances play a more prominent role in my spiritual development, and in the development of my family.

That was then, and this is now, and as I listened to the presentation tonight, delineating the feasts of Israel, I felt a renewed desire to engage in more ritualistic observances.  What would it look like, I wondered, if the feasts of Israel were celebrated in a Christ-centered manner?  In other words, could a Christian celebrate the feasts, but instead of looking forward to Messiah, look backward and celebrate his finished work?  I talked to Roy briefly at the end of the presentation and asked him if such a thing was common among Jewish believers.  He said that yes, indeed it was.  Moreover, he affirmed my thought that celebrating the feasts was a very real and memorable way to extol the work of God in the hearts and minds of children.

All this has got me toying with a seemingly strange idea (at least it's strange to me): I want to try to celebrate the feasts of Leviticus 23.  I might have to wait a while, though, as the "feast season" (as I understand it) begins in the spring, and I don't have enough time to prepare for it this year.  I'd like to do the feasts in order, so I might have to wait until 2014 to begin.

Crazy?  Maybe.  We'll see what happens.

Gone to Gator Country

In about nine hours I'll be on a plane with my family headed to Orlando, Florida.  I've been to Florida five times before - well, that is if you count layovers on my way to Jamaica.  One of those was an over night layover.  Does that count?  Anyway, this'll be my first time spending a significant amount of time in the Sunshine State.

The reason for our visit is the 2012 Triennial Conference of North American Baptists.  This is a conference held by North American Baptists ever three years, as indicated by its name.  This will be the fourth Triennial Conference that I've attended over the years.  The previous three I attended either as a teenager (and so went to the youth portion of the conference) or as a volunteer youth leader (and so also went to the youth conference).  So then, this will be my first conference attending the main sessions and even the business sessions (lucky me).

The first Triennial Conference I attended was in, I think, Alberta Canada.  A couple of unique things about this conference (at least things that stick in my memory) were that it marked the first time I ever raised my hands during a worship song.  I remember having a lot of trouble with it.  I felt like a complete phony doing it, and probably for good reason.  I also remember that the speaker said that he was in "an intimate love relationship with Jesus Christ."  Being a teenage boy at the time, my mind immediately went into the gutter and I remember chuckling at it: here was a grown man describing his relationship with Jesus as an "intimate love relationship."  It was a concept that was totally foreign to me at the time.  It's interesting to think back on my immaturity.  To cap the trip off, the small group of kids that attended the conference got to be "bumped" from their flight on the way home.  It was announced that the plane had been overbooked, and that anyone willing to give up their seat would receive a voucher from the airline for use on a future flight.  We all called our parents and got the OK, and the airline put us up in a hotel for the night and paid us a few hundred bucks each to take a flight the following day.

My second Triennial Conference was as a 19 year old in Sacramento, California.  What I remember about this conference most was two things: the speaker, and the day trip to San Francisco.  The speaker was one Francis Chan, long before he had risen to notoriety on the international stage.  In one of his messages, he quoted J. Vernon McGee, who said, "This is God's universe, so he does things his way.  Now, you may have a better way of doing things, but you don't have a universe."  This quote stuck with me since that conference, and it's been one of my favorites ever since.  The day trip to San Francisco was memorable as well, if for no other reason than that it's a cool city to visit.  "Cool" being the operative word, here.  I remember being floored by how cold it was when I got off the bus and stood on the street corner in Downtown San Fran.

My third Triennial was held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Not too much I remember about this conference, but that was probably because it was held two weeks before I was to be married.  I suppose my mind was on other things.

So now my family and I will be flying down to Orlando, Florida tomorrow to attend this year's conference.  From what I hear, the conference is only about half full, so that's kind of disappointing.  Plus, I wonder who's idea it was to start the conference on July 4...in Florida, no less.  Florida in July.  I suppose the up side is that there won't be too many tourists.  This is also a strange location considering that the majority of NAB churches are either in the norther and western portions of the North American continent.  Oh well.  I guess I can't complain too much about attending the conference for free and staying at the illustrious Peabody Hotel for absolutely nothing.  All I have to pay for is my family's travel to and from the conference (which is no small expense, mind you).  The speaker for this year's conference is once again Francis Chan.  I'm excited to hear him speak.

Needless to say, we're a little nervous for the kids, as neither of them have ever flown before.  We were in the backyard last night and a plane flew over our house.  I told the kids that we would be in one of those planes in just a couple days.  Han said, "I don't want the plane to come down."  Smart kid.  Although I did have to explain to her that the plane had to come down in order to land.  All in all, the kids seem pretty excited about it.

So here's to safe travel and a profitable conference.