Today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This day begins the High Holy Days for the Jewish people. The roar of the shofar marks the start of this holiday and its significance is a call to repentance. Likewise, the Jewish New Year is a time to begin introspection, looking back at the mistakes of the past year and planning changes to make in the new year.
I have been neck deep in commentaries preparing for our launch of a new Bible study season at our church. As I have been studying and putting together my opening day message on the book of Ezra, I am repeatedly confronted with the holiness of God and His call for us to follow that holiness. The relevance of which couldn’t be more timely.
God chose the Jewish people from all the nations on the earth to be His covenant ones. He designated them as a holy people. They were called to be witnesses to the world of God’s glory and grace. It was through the Jews that God would send Messiah, savior not just to the Jews but to the whole world.
I think sometimes words can lose their meaning when you hear them over and over again. I decided that I needed a fresh reminder of what exactly “holy” meant. I looked it up in my lexical aide and found it meant among other things “set apart”. As I thought about this I was reminded that I, as a Christian, am called to live a life holy unto God. I was confronted with the question “am I living a life set apart unto God”. Sadly I found more areas in my life where the answer would be no.
I look at my husband and I am flooded with conviction when I examine his life. He is what is referred in some circles as a completed Jew. Five years ago, he accepted Jesus as Messiah. To this day I believe I was drawn and attracted to the God in him even though he wasn’t following Him at the time. This past summer, he went to Haiti on a mission trip. That in itself is commendable but he did this after going on a different trip last year to the Galapogos Islands where he fell through a roof, in and out the hospital for three days after his return, followed by months of rehab. Most people wouldn’t do another trip. He didn’t care. While not even aware of it, he was making God recognizable.
Not long ago the company that my husband was working for was looking to be sold. One of the potential buyers was a group of Hassidic Jews. On a day when they were at the business checking it out, one of their cars was vandalized. My husband mentioned to the individual whose car was broken into that he should go in and the office would give him money to get it fixed. His reply gave my husband pause and myself wonder. He said “No I don’t need to do that. God allowed this to happen so I will praise Him and thank Him for it.” He made God recognizable.
We are called to live lives set apart for God for His purposes. The point of our calling is to make God recognizable to the world, so that they might want what we have. Do I live a life that is so distinct that people even notice? I don’t think so. I think I have more or less been absorbed into the culture of this day with its bent towards social networking sites, texting, twittering and iphone apps that I rarely even spend time communicating with others face to face to have the opportunity.
I am filled with sadness at what has been lost. A few years ago, this would not have been my problem. I was on fire for the Lord and I loved the radicalness of His agenda. I embraced it with fervor and a robust spirit that I find lacking in my walk today. How did this happen? Life happened. A prolonged season of illness and financial hardship happened. I became weak and lost my zeal. But what I found within the pages of Ezra gave me hope. Ezra is about restoration. In this book, God is restoring the Jews back to their rightful place in Jerusalem.
Our God is a restoring God. He delights in the repentant heart that truly wants to live a life set apart. With God there is always an opportunity for a fresh start. The chance to restore what was lost. The chance to start again.
There is a popular practice associated with Rosh Hashanah, it is Tashlikh ("casting off"). The celebrators walk to flowing water, such as a creek or river, on the afternoon of the first day and empty their pockets into the river, symbolically casting off their sins. It is a day of fresh beginnings. What a wonderful picture of leaving our past failures behind and starting a new.
God’s timing is perfect. His word and the traditions of the Jewish people remind me that there is always opportunity to start again. I think I will take Him up on it today with this beginning of a new year. I think I will go find me a river, I got me some pockets that need emptying.
L'shanah tovah! (For a good year!)
Shalom!!
“To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda, nor even in stirring people up, but in such a way that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.” Cardinal Emmanuel Suhard
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