MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I don't find the celebration of Christmas to be separate from the reality of my heritage in the house of Israel.
I also don't find the information about the feasts and celebrations still celebrated by those brothers and sisters of mine in the house of Israel who have not yet embraced the Messiah to be a problem.
They celebrate THE LIGHT.
Although the house of Israel has been scattered through the diaspora which was prophesied, there is within us a common thread.
We seek the LIGHT.
Though that search takes many forms, the end result WILL be the same. To those who are willing to see the truth and follow the way, the LIGHT will be revealed in the form of the Only Begotten Son.
From the earliest memories of my childhood, I remember learning about the feast of lights, the prayers for the coming messiah and the songs and hymns that were sung. I remember thinking that the lighting of the candles over the days of Hannukah was so very much like our twining the electric lights in and on our home as we prepared to remember the birth of THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
Now, we have become over time a people separate as if time makes who we really are less important.
We are all heir to the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant. The blessings of the promise are available to us all.
Yet, too many reject the light simply because the source didn't come in the way we expected it to come.
When the prophecies of the birth of Jesus Christ were made through the record of the prophets in the scriptures, there were those who decided it would be a military coup since the house of Israel had long been treated with disrespect and scorn.
Indeed, at the very time of the birth of the Son of God into the world, the Romans occupied a large segment of the Holy Land as conquerers and as rulers. It was assumed that the Messiah would come and sweep the 'enemy' off the earth.
But that wasn't the plan, because the Romans, and indeed all mankind, are not our enemies in the strictest sense of the word. The plan instead was to unite men in the bonds of love through the birth of an innocent and helpless babe who would grow to be the Son of Man and take upon Himself all of our sins.
It wasn't what was wanted.
I wonder when the House of Israel will WANT to see the Light for what HE truly is.
MERRY CHRISTMAS.
I say it with all of the feeling of my heart because only when we rejoice in the Light that has come can we truly be saved.
