On being Jewish...and stuff.

So it's apparent that my sister knows more than I may have thought. I had told her about a year ago that I was doing a Bible study - and then she found those emails on my computer that I mentioned in an earlier post. Mostly we just don't discuss anything about religion or faith...but once in a while she either lets me know how disappointed she is that my 13 year old son isn't having a Bar Mitzvah...or she reminds me that "we're Jewish" in a very angry tone, as if somehow I forgot who I was.

This brings me to something that's been on my mind and heart for a long time. I'm Jewish. That hasn't changed. Just as Jesus was born a Jew and died a Jew, so will I. I've never once said or thought about denouncing my Judaism. I'm proud to be a member of God's "chosen" people. I'm not sure I feel so much connected to the "religion" of Judaism as the culture and the traditions of being Jewish. The fact is, throughout the history of the world, many nations and peoples have tried to destroy...completely wipe out...every last Jew on the planet. This has basically led to a strong sense of urgency among the remaining Jews, especially in recent history since the Holocaust, to hold on to every last Jew standing. This is one of the reasons that interfaith marriages haven't been embraced so much...we're afraid of losing our people not just to genocide, but to mixed marriages where children aren't raised as Jews. There's such a desperation that synagogues and Jewish organizations have reached out to interfaith families and have accepted children with a non-Jewish mother as Jewish too - even though according to Jewish law, children are ALWAYS the religion of the mother. There are groups to help support non-Jewish wives to include them, support them, teach them Jewish customs and traditions, etc. I have several members of my family who have married non-Jews (myself included). One thing I've noticed is that every non Jew that comes into the family seems to embrace Judaism and is either ok with raising their children Jewish, or just feel so pressured by the family that maybe they believe this is the only way to be accepted by everyone.

There's no doubt that there are lots of really cool customs, holidays, traditions, foods - etc that make Judaism very appealing. My own husband has always embraced my Judaism...in fact he loves the family gatherings for the holidays, he has learned some of the prayers we say in Hebrew, he was totally fine with us sending our kids to a Jewish preschool and would have supported my sending them to Sunday and Hebrew school if I had chosen to do so. He's kind of "assimilated" into our Jewish culture - and my family loves him, they LOVE the latkes (potato pancakes) he makes for Hanukkah so much that they insist he make them every year. Since my grandma passed, he's also played a huge role in making the donuts at our Hanukkah celebrations. He's become quite familiar with the Passover Seder and he knows just enough Yiddish words and phrases to make people wonder if he really is Jewish.

The fact is, being Jewish can be a lot of fun, and it's different and special because most of our society is secular. When Jesus was here, he was called Rabbi (teacher), he prayed to God regularly, he observed the Jewish holidays...in fact the Last Supper was indeed a Passover meal that he was sharing with his Jewish disciples. He came as a Jew for the Jews, and he tried to teach the Jews of that time, the Pharisees and Sadducees, about the Kingdom of God. He saw that they were so focused on the laws (refer to the Torah, the 5 books of Moses), that they were not living in the Kingdom of God. He tried to show them the way to truly follow God was not to be so legalistic that they couldn't even fathom or allow tending to a man who had been beaten and left for dead because it was the "Sabbath" - the day of rest. Jesus tried to show them that following God is a heart thing, and it's about love - not just loving those who followed all the rules, memorized prayers, sacrificed the right animals at the right time...but loving EVERYONE. Loving sinners, loving prostitutes, tax collectors, enemies.

Jesus came to fulfill the law that they had been following so meticulously that their hearts were actually hardened towards those who didn't follow it like they thought they should. He came to give them the new covenant because it was clear to God that the covenant by which they had been living wasn't changing their hearts. If you read the Old Testament, you will see how many times God performed miracles, protected the Jews, saved them from slavery...tried to show them the way...and how many times they forgot all God did for them and turned their backs on Him...sinning so horribly that He allowed them to suffer at the hands of their enemies, and then they'd repent and beg for His help and protection...and so He would save them, again - this cycle continued over and over. Just read the books of Kings and Chronicles...you'll see what I'm talking about. Even today Israel and Jews all over the world are fighting to keep what God promised us. By all principles of statistics and logic, the Jews should have been obliterated by now. You know why we're still here? Because God made a promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and He has kept his promise. He will never allow the Jews to be wiped out. This is good news!

The problem is that He sent His Son here to show us the way to a relationship with Him...how to live in the Kingdom of God right now...and that message has been ignored by most of the Jews while gentiles worldwide have embraced it. We're not meant to be following all these separate religions, Jews, Christians, Muslims, etc...we're all supposed to be God's people, following God's example of love and living in a relationship with Him and with each other. We should ALL be celebrating together. Jesus didn't come to start a new religion, but to take up our sins, be the final living sacrifice to God and set us free so we could live together for each other and for God. When I celebrate Passover next week with my family, I'll be thinking about how Jesus celebrated that last Passover meal on earth, thankful that I'm a Jew, and thankful that I know that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. I'll be wishing my family and Jewish brothers and sisters around the world would come to know this too and that we can all live in the Kingdom together...with no one having to "remind" us who we are, because we're all the same, God's children. Just as God intended it. Amen!


When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them,

“I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”

After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said,

“Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying,

“This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying,

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him.”

Being the Light

Jesus said to them, “Does anyone bring in a lamp in order to put it under a basket or a bed? Shouldn’t it be placed on a lampstand? Mark 4:20-22 Until recently, I've been reading that verse and thinking that it means I need to tell EVERYONE, including my Jewish family and friends, about coming to Christ in my faith. It's been tearing me up that I know that I should be proclaiming the good news to everyone...all this guilt that I have and knowing how disappointed people will be in me has prevented me from shouting it from the mountaintops. However, I think my perspective on this verse has shifted a bit in the last couple of months. Why can't I be the light...just do the things that Jesus did...LOVE and love well. Love the sinners, love the poor, love the people who don't love you. Treat your neighbor as yourself. I don't know about you, but I'd like to be treated well...and whether I ever am or not, it shouldn't stop me from treating others well, from being the light. I don't have to TELL anyone about Jesus, I can SHOW them who Jesus is by my actions and with my heart. I have seen the light in others, I see Jesus everyday in many people - including my awesome bible study girls who have been amazingly supportive and inspirational to me. I can see His light in them, shining so bright...sure, I happen to KNOW that it's because of their faith in God and their walk with Him. But what if I didn't know that? Would I still think they were great people with amazing hearts? You bet I would! Would I be curious to find out what makes them shine so bright? Yep, I would. Is it possible that others might see that light in me and wonder where it's coming from? Yep, sure is possible. Wouldn't that open up a potential path to a conversation where I might give credit to God for the light they see in me? Sure could. Hmm. I think I'm gonna order up some of that LIGHT stuff from the menu, please. I think that it starts with my last post about gratitude and I have started my own gratitude journal. Only have 70 things on that list so far because I haven't been so faithful about writing in it every day...but even when I am not writing things down, I'm constantly walking through my days and nights looking at life through a lens of gratitude and I gotta say, it's pretty awesome what that has done to my heart. Another thing I started doing is to take action on things that stir in my heart. One example is that almost every day I work downtown, there is a homeless man standing on the street off the highway as I exit. It's not always the same man, in fact I don't think I've seen the same one twice so far. Seeing them has tugged on my heart strings for a long time - not just since I've had this job but my whole life whenever I see someone on the streets begging for work or money or food. Unfortunately, our society has this stigma about homeless people...and there's a fear of giving them money because what if they go buy alcohol or cigarettes or drugs with that money? How do I know they aren't just scamming me? Or there's a fear that maybe they'll try to jump into the car and kidnap, rape, murder...whatever. I've been gripped for years by this fear. I've either avoided eye contact or I've walked fast past them or sometimes I've dropped money into their tins, but questioning in my heart what they would do with that money. So, one day, I got off the highway, and remembered I had an extra protein bar in my bag. So I waved the guy standing there over to me and gave him the protein bar. He seemed grateful, I looked him in the eye and said "God bless you sir" and he blessed me right back. I went home and I told my boys and I had this idea that every day I go to work down there, I can pack a bag of food to hand whoever might be standing there, and I asked them to help me pick some things to put into my bag for the next day. So far, I've handed 5 or 6 bags of food to 5 or 6 different men. I have added notes with a prayer or some scripture. I have to say, it feels REALLY good to be able to do SOMETHING for someone else. I hope they eat the food or at least give it to someone else that is hungry. It doesn't matter what they do, I stopped and took the time to look someone in the eye that I used to fear to some degree, to give them something to eat, and to bless them. In my own small little way, I'm showing someone outside of my comfort zone the love of God, the light. In my upbringing, we call this a Mitzvah or good deed. This, according to many Jews...and others, is the way to get to heaven. By doing good deeds. It's actions that get you written into the book of life. The problem with this, is that it's not really about the heart, it's about the deed. Many people like to get credit for their good deeds. They are looking for praise and for someone to acknowledge what they are doing, that's what makes them feel good about it. Honestly, it does make me feel good when someone recognizes that I've done a mitzvah for someone, but it is HUMBLING to just do it when no one is watching and to do it because you feel led by God to serve others in some way. I always think about whether I should tell people when I've done a good deed because I really do not want to seem like I'm boastful or that I'm seeking praise or that I'm a better person because I did something nice for someone, or that this is what's going to get me into heaven. The truth is, heaven is here and now for those of us that want to live in God's kingdom. It's not just some place we go after we die because we did a lot of good stuff in our life on earth. Living in the kingdom means following God, not people. But, there is something valuable, I think, in telling others about things that we do. It gives us ideas of things WE can do for others. I LOVE hearing about what people do for others. My great friend/neighbor that I talk about alot, her husband has told me about some good deeds that he's done for others and it not only warms my heart, but it gives me ideas of things I can do - and he ALWAYS gives the credit to God. I loved a recent story that involved him filling up someone's gas tank while he was waiting for his tank to fill - someone that he could tell was struggling and was only able to pump a certain amount of gas because that's all the money she had. Through something that only God could orchestrate, he was actually "forced" to look around and was able to see this person in need, and quickly offered to fill up her tank. She was so grateful that someone would do that for her. I loved hearing this story because now when I'm at a gas station and in my own little world pumping my gas, I can be on the lookout for someone that could use a full tank. That is what fills my heart and that is how I want to be the light. See a need, be led by God to do something, and do it...not for recognition or for praise or for a plaque on the wall, but to be the light of God in this world full of darkness. I just want to be the light in my words, in my deeds, and especially in my heart. Someday, maybe someone will inquire about this light and it will open up a conversation about Jesus.