MARTY GOETZ
We will be leaving shortly to go see our friend Marty Goetz at the Sar Shalom fellowship. We consider Marty and his wife Jennifer to be our friends, but they live in Tennessee and they are all over the globe ministering regularly.
When Marty sits at the piano and sings, it opens the windows of Heaven! It is one man and one piano, but it may as well be a symphony orchestra and an angel choir. His ministry invariably blesses our socks off, so we always take an extra pair of socks :)
No time to wax eloquent about how much we appreciate him at the moment.
Go here: http://www.martygoetz.com/ to see and hear more.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
RESURRECTION DAY!!!
Let's see. Last post published on 23 October 2006. That means nearly twenty (20) months have come and gone since that last post. Hmmm.
So, this is Resurrection Post #1.
Much has happened in those intervening 20 months. More "church visits" happened. But also we settled into a community of worship called "Har Adonai" (Mountain of the Lord), which meets on Saturday evenings, worships and celebrates "havdalah" (the end of Shabbat). A key feature of this gathering is an intentional focus on studying, practicing, sharing, embracing and rejoicing in the hebraic roots of our christian faith.
I cannot overstate the profound impacts this endeavour has had on my perspective, my worship, my faith, my prayer-life, my relationships, my interpretation and understanding of scripture, my worldview, application of scriptural truth to the daily activities of my life, fellowship with the "mishpochah" (family of faith).... It is amazing.
We have not lost or forsaken our passion for UNITY. I still believe this to be a fundamental value for the Body. At this point, I am convinced that true unity is most likely to arise from a simple, humble, unabashed acceptance of the origins of our faith.
Among other things, Jesus (Yeshua) himself was a practicing Jew; and he stated emphatically that he did not come to abolish the Law (mitzvot), but to fulfill it. Also, for example, the Feasts are stated in scripture to be YHWH's feasts, established and commanded to be observed FOREVER (Lev. 23:2). What Yeshua came to establish, and what has been called "Church" and "Christianity," increasingly look like two different things to me. He did not establish "the church" to replace Israel.
Paul teaches us in Romans 11 that we are "grafted in" to the original tree. The original tree was not dug up and discarded, and replaced by us. The original tree still stands and we are a new branch - i.e., a smaller, dependent part of the whole, still drawing LIFE (zoe) from the original tree.
SO MANY statements in the New Testament take on untold light and power when understood in accordance with Old Testament truth and testimony.
For example, the woman with the issue of blood, when she reached out and touched the "hem of his garment" was actually touching the "tzit-tzit" - i.e., the fringe dangling from Yeshua's prayer shawl. These are "the wings" envisioned in the Psalms when they mention being gathered "under his wings" and that he will arise "with healing in his wings." How much more powerful is that simple understanding?
And when the woman was caught in adultery and Yeshua wrote in the dust, it brought to mind a command regarding bringing an accused woman before the cohen to be tested (Numbers 5). Without saying a word, Yeshua was able to remind her accusers that they were operating in a spirit of jealousy.
Such revelations are too numerous to mention. They are practically in every line of scripture.
This is the ancient way, but it is a blessed new path for us.
Let's see. Last post published on 23 October 2006. That means nearly twenty (20) months have come and gone since that last post. Hmmm.
So, this is Resurrection Post #1.
Much has happened in those intervening 20 months. More "church visits" happened. But also we settled into a community of worship called "Har Adonai" (Mountain of the Lord), which meets on Saturday evenings, worships and celebrates "havdalah" (the end of Shabbat). A key feature of this gathering is an intentional focus on studying, practicing, sharing, embracing and rejoicing in the hebraic roots of our christian faith.
I cannot overstate the profound impacts this endeavour has had on my perspective, my worship, my faith, my prayer-life, my relationships, my interpretation and understanding of scripture, my worldview, application of scriptural truth to the daily activities of my life, fellowship with the "mishpochah" (family of faith).... It is amazing.
We have not lost or forsaken our passion for UNITY. I still believe this to be a fundamental value for the Body. At this point, I am convinced that true unity is most likely to arise from a simple, humble, unabashed acceptance of the origins of our faith.
Among other things, Jesus (Yeshua) himself was a practicing Jew; and he stated emphatically that he did not come to abolish the Law (mitzvot), but to fulfill it. Also, for example, the Feasts are stated in scripture to be YHWH's feasts, established and commanded to be observed FOREVER (Lev. 23:2). What Yeshua came to establish, and what has been called "Church" and "Christianity," increasingly look like two different things to me. He did not establish "the church" to replace Israel.
Paul teaches us in Romans 11 that we are "grafted in" to the original tree. The original tree was not dug up and discarded, and replaced by us. The original tree still stands and we are a new branch - i.e., a smaller, dependent part of the whole, still drawing LIFE (zoe) from the original tree.
SO MANY statements in the New Testament take on untold light and power when understood in accordance with Old Testament truth and testimony.
For example, the woman with the issue of blood, when she reached out and touched the "hem of his garment" was actually touching the "tzit-tzit" - i.e., the fringe dangling from Yeshua's prayer shawl. These are "the wings" envisioned in the Psalms when they mention being gathered "under his wings" and that he will arise "with healing in his wings." How much more powerful is that simple understanding?
And when the woman was caught in adultery and Yeshua wrote in the dust, it brought to mind a command regarding bringing an accused woman before the cohen to be tested (Numbers 5). Without saying a word, Yeshua was able to remind her accusers that they were operating in a spirit of jealousy.
Such revelations are too numerous to mention. They are practically in every line of scripture.
This is the ancient way, but it is a blessed new path for us.
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