SEASONS - NOAH AND THE DAYS OF LENT

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Lent in 2017 begins on Wednesday, March 1 and continues until Thursday, April 13th.  It is mostly the Catholic Church that faithfully observes Lent, but there are some other devout Christians who also believe it is a good thing to do, and they join in by offering up or giving up something to and for God to show they care and want to change.  

This year, as many faithful people begin to observe the practice of Lent, I am reminded of the story of Noah. 

Every time I stop to think about all that is going on in the world today, I see comparisons to the world that must have existed in the days of Noah.  Ironically, this sad fact gives me great hope because of the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:37;  “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.”  (New Living Translation).  This makes me feel it is possible that the Second Coming is near!

Consider what we know of the days of Noah.  We read in Genesis 6:5 that “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”  If you listen to the news, click into the Internet, or just simply walk down the street today you will notice a consistent pattern of wickedness and evil.  

Day in and day out we see greedy government corruption, children murdered while attending school, sex trafficking, the worship of pagan and demonic spirits appearing as half-time entertainment in televised football games, rampant homosexuality and the threat of being punished if you take a stand against it.  All around us there are people wishing to change the definition of marriage and family as God created them, and our government and civilization seems to be in the process of changing everything that has ever given us stability and hope.  

There are machines of special interest groups out there changing the whole essence of the world we live and breathe in; causing families to be wounded and ripped apart.  We see horrible sins committed against children and women.  We see men being martyred and put in prison for their belief in Christ.  There are more martyrs today than ever before in history.  Their deaths never make the front page of the the paper or the main event on your local news station.  The press looks the other way and promotes things of no value.  Most of us feel unsafe just walking down the street alone.   

Perhaps these same things were just what God saw as He looked through the windows of heaven at the world during the days of Noah.  

God probably saw the perfectly good, clean, pure world He had given to mankind being corrupted and used more for evil than for its original intended purposes.  This must have really caused the heart of God to grieve.  Perhaps today He is grieving even more.   

Imagine having grieved over this situation once and caring enough to send Noah a solution to change and correct it, then seeing it happen all over again, and deciding to send your very own Son to straighten it out.  

Imagine allowing your only Son to give His life for the good of the people, and then looking down again to see things only getting worse than before.  

Do you think God’s heart is grieved?  

I know it is.  

This surely helps me to understand the wrath of God when I think of the significance of how many times He has made a way for people to change and they have not done so. 

We really do have a way to change!  

There is a blueprint; it is in the Holy Days, it is in The Scriptures, it is even written in the stars of the sky.  God has provided His Son to save us and He has given us a chance for mercy and forgiveness.  

We only need to turn around and go in a different direction.   God has spelled out his instructions to us in a million different ways.  

If you’re living and breathing you can’t really miss this!  They are in the setting and rising of the sun, the ebb and flow of the tides, the phases of the Moon, the working of all things together.   Noah had the good sense to see them, accept them and follow the Creator that put these things into motion. 


In the days of Noah, there was one godly family; a man and a woman with children; the godly family of Noah.  God looked down and saw that they were good.  

Do you ever wonder what was so good about them?  

I think it was that they totally obeyed every word that God gave them.  That is all it takes to actually please God; just to be obedient.  

God is smart enough for all of us, we don’t have to be smart.  

He is good enough for all of us; we don’t even have to be good.  

We just have to listen and obey, like Noah and his family did. That was their secret for success, and that is all that is required of us in the end.  

The subject of obedience keeps presenting itself as people go through the process called "Lent."  

We can learn a lot about obedience as we ponder the old story of   Noah and his family.  

Many questions arise:  

Who is still obedient to God on this earth that we live in today?  

Who will get to enter that ark that will save us when the wrath of God comes to the earth the next time?  

Who can be like Noah and still keep their eyes on God and be obedient even when troubles come?

God said to Noah, “I will send a great flood of water to wash everything clean and to make all things new again.  Build an ark….”  

Who is listening to God saying “Build an ark?”  

Can anyone else hear that voice saying, “Heal My church, build it up, make it strong, because the rain is coming!”  

How many Noah’s are out there listening to the voice of God today?  

How many of them are warning about the days to come?  

How many of them are proclaiming the hard things instead of feeding unhealthy sugar to the frenzied crowds that flock to a building on Sundays just looking for some little spark of hope that God is still there, that He exists, that He has a plan and He is carrying it out and He will provide a way for them to be a part of it all?  

Where are the modern-day Noahs who say “I hear the voice of God and He is telling us to get ready?”  

Put your ear to the street and listen for their voices, I hope you do not only hear scoffers and unbelievers feeding you the same old lies; that things are fine, that we don’t have to change, that God doesn’t care what we do or how we live, that you shouldn’t worry about the voice of those old prophets.

Yes, we are living in days just like Noah’s.  How long will it be before God removes His people from this state?  

So Noah set about following the blueprint that God spelled out for him. 

As Noah built the ark the animals began to arrive, two by two, male and female, imagine that!  

Was God trying to give us an example here?  I wonder.  

The ark was finished, and the animals came inside.  

Last of all came Noah and his family.  

God shut the door.  Once God shuts a door it cannot be opened again until He decides to open it.  Get inside the ark before God shuts the door.  Time is short and the rain is coming!

And the rain came down, and it rained buckets of water for forty days and forty nights. 

All the 40 days of Lent will come and go so quickly and it is possible that much rain may fall.  

I’m thinking about Noah being all locked up in that boat with all those animals for all those days.  

I look around me, and I can have some sympathy for what that was like.  We live in a world of humans who want to act like animals, and those in the boat with Noah were pretty tame compared to some of the ones we have to deal with day-in and day-out as we go about our business.  

How did Noah feel?  

Well, he dealt with those animals in a loving way.  

He fed them and cleaned up after them, even though they probably smelled pretty bad.  

He tried to keep them safe and secure.  

He fed and watered them.  

They were like his career while he was in the ark.  He looked after them.  Even though they were dirty stinky animals now, Noah knew they carried within them new life for the planet.  

He respected this.  

He overlooked what they could not understand; and he looked after them.  

Every dirty stinky needy person walking on this planet today is carrying around a tiny seed that could grow into new life.  

We just have to care for them.  

We just have to feed and look after them until God brings that change about.  It is our career, while we are stuck in this storm we call life.

It might have been pretty boring living in that ark too; never seeing the sun, never going out for a walk; just staring at that gopher-wood day after day after day.  

Sometimes God wants us right where we are, and He has work for us to do while we are there.  

Just like Noah, we must learn to put away our own feelings and get to the chores at hand.     
So Noah and his family passed the days away on the ark.  The water rose and the ark rocked.  

Ever been in a rocking ark?  

It can get a bit frightening at times.  

Sometimes the ark of the church rises on a flood of water and the people get rocked and move around a lot.  

Some of them get knocked out of their places and they fall and slide and land in other areas.  

It happens when the floods come.  

Things change.  

You can’t see what God is doing and you can feel pretty shaken at times and wonder what on earth is going on.  Often there are rains all around and people are moving and changing all the time.  Sometimes they fall and sometimes they are able to hold on.  

Just know that God is in charge; and we just cannot see exactly what He is doing yet.  

It is the time to  have the faith of Noah and endure for a season.   

We have to wait for the ark to settle down on top of the more peaceful waters.  

We need to ride the waves of life every day for awhile.  Those waves can get pretty high at times, but you will be safe in the ark, all you really have to do is hold on and wait.  Just like Noah.

God spared Noah from seeing those who did not survive the flood.  

He kept him occupied inside the ark tending to the animals, just like you would spare your own child from the violence of hard situations.  All through the flood God kept Noah and his family safe, warm and dry.  They waited with faith.  One day the rains stopped and God sent a mighty wind to dry up the water.

Noah went up to the deck of the ark and released a dove.   The dove flew away but soon returned because it could only find water for miles and miles.  

After a few days Noah sent the dove a second time, and it returned with an olive leaf.

Noah knew the water was subsiding.  Noah sent the dove a third time and it did not return, it had found a new home. 

Soon the ark landed; and Noah let the animals out of the ark.  They too went out and found new homes. 

Then, Noah and his family came out onto dry land.  

The whole world was washed clean and new.  

God had made them a new home, and it was good.

Just like that dove and the animals and Noah's family that found a new home after the flood, the Holy Spirit can increase in the place of our hearts during the time of waiting through Lent or any other season of time, as long as we are trusting God no matter what the circumstances;  as long as we are being obedient to what He is saying to us.  

As the season progresses and the 40 days are passing by, the faithful know that God is going to take His people to a new home, one that is purer, cleaner, and better than this one that we live in today.  

That future home will be one where no evil or wickedness may dwell.  I know all of us who believe in Christ and have the faith to get inside the ark and ride out the storms of life will be shown a better place one day.  

It is just a matter of trusting God to see us through the storm.  

God is continually making things new in preparation for this new home He wants to give to us.  

So; during this season of Lent, won't you let Him make your heart new too?  

It feels cleaner.  

It feels fresher.  

It feels like a page turning, like a new place forming.  

It is good; and it makes you want to give thanks!

That was just what Noah and his family did.  They built an altar and they gave thanks to God.  At that time God must have smiled.  The skies reflected His smile in the form of a rainbow. 

The rainbow was the sign that said God always keeps His promises. 

Those of us who have weathered the storms of life are realizing it more and more.  

He will keep His promise.  

He will return again. 

Let us be found as faithful as Noah.

SEASONS - IS THERE A POSSIBILITY THAT LENT EVOLVED FROM THE PRACTICE OF PURIM?

LENT FROM PURIM????
(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

The rhythms of religious time are quite amazing.  

I have long held the theory that the season of Lent and the time of Purim are related and linked together in so many hidden and unnoticed ways.   

This becomes clearer to me each season that I observe Lent and Purim together.   That may sound a bit strange to some ears, considering the fact that Purim is a joyous holiday celebrating the end of more than two centuries of exile under the Babylonian Empire and the rescue of the Jewish people from an extermination plot by the sacrificial acts of Esther, and Lent is a time of fasting and penance during the 40 days, plus Sundays, from Ash Wednesday to Easter in the Christian calendar.  How could I possibly place these days together?   Think about it....

In this time of Lent, most Christian people remember the journey of Jesus to the cross and the time leading up to His resurrection.  

This is often the first place in time that many Christian people come to hear and appreciate all the details of the story of salvation.

In the time of Purim, most Jewish people remember the acts of Esther, how she was willing to sacrifice her life for her people and the time that led to the conviction of Haman, who was the enemy of the Jews.  It is as much about the defeat of Haman as the heroic acts of Esther.  His conviction and the reversal of the decree he had placed against Esther’s people saved the nation of Israel. 

Hmmmmm…..do you see the parallels here?  Can you see that sacrificial love in each case is saving people from total destruction?  We have Jesus defeating Satan; Esther defeating Haman.  God is definitely the author and orchestrator of both stories.   Both acts brought hope and new life and joy to those who had lost hope and joy.  Both stories are about great restorations and great reversals that only God could bring into totally hopeless circumstances. 

So I ponder these things each year as I celebrate both occasions; Lent with my Catholic brothers and sisters, and Purim with my Jewish brothers and sisters.  Oh wait….Oh dear….Have I lost you with this one statement?  I surely hope not.  Does it have to be either/or here?  Is not the same God teaching the Catholics and Protestants that teaches the Jews?  Can I not as a godly Protestant agree with some Catholic and Jewish customs and observances? 

I think yes! Not only do I think yes, but I think it very much matters that we recognize it is the same God at work in all cases.  Christianity (both Catholic and Protestant) and Judaism worship the same God.  We all have our Father in common.  Perhaps all of us do not yet know our brother, but we do recognize that our Father is the same.  This God we all worship is different than the god worshipped by Hindu’s, Buddhist and some other religions.  None of these cultures worship our God; they have their own gods, but the two cultures of Christianity and Judaism do worship the same God.   Who can read the scriptures and history and deny this fact?
 
I agree and recognize the fact that the Jewish people have not accepted the whole story yet, but just the same,  all of the stories are told specifically to them (Jews)  and us (Christians), by the same God, and it is evident throughout the scriptures.  So, each season I ponder and journey through both of these customs, because I have finally been able to see that it is not about US, but it is all about GOD, in both situations. 

Personally, I can’t get lost in the spirit of division that both sides are striving to defeat with these very observances that we speak of.  That would be too ironic for me.  The love of my Father gives me the grace to go both places and experience the richness of both occassions.  I must stay in the love of God that I see in both cases.   THE FOCUS MUST BE GOD IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND EITHER OF THESE TEACHINGS.  If you’re looking at the ways of man, you will miss it completely. 

God meets true hearts that celebrate Lent.  God meets true hearts that commemorate Purim.  Miracles keep happening to both Christians and Jews.  Prayers are heard and answered to both Christians and Jews. 

It always does my soul good to go back and have a deeper look at the parallels in both seasons, because they only prove this same theory to me over and over again.

For instance, let’s take a look at some scriptures found in Esther 9:20-23:  

And Mordecai recorded these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending choice portions to one another and gifts to the poor. So the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them.

Can you see the striking similarities more when you read this passage?   Did you catch those words saying “the day on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending choice portions to one another and gifts to the poor?”   Can you see the picture of the Jews going from fasting (as Esther did with her maids before she went to the King on behalf of the people) to celebrating their freedom and the forgiveness from the decree of the King? 

Isn’t this just like Lent leading up to Easter, when Jesus first suffers and is then resurrected?  Do we not go from sorrow to joy?   We find such a shadow of the story of the cross and the resurrection in the story of Purim.  

Do we not see Satan defeated just as Haman was defeated?  There is the custom of the Jewish nation to always use plays to symbolize the stamping out of the name of Haman at Purim.  It was just a shadowing of Jesus forever defeating the work of Satan with the cross.   The Jewish people are very focused to remove all memory of Haman from the earth, just as the Christians are very focused on the fact that all sin should now be done away with. 

Do we not see the King of all Kings, the God of Heaven and Earth, overturning his decree against humankind and bringing mercy and forgiveness for their souls?  This is just as the King did to Haman’s decree after he hung him from the gallows.  He reversed the decree and gave freedom and mercy to the Jewish people in the land. 

A king's word cannot be reversed, just as the Word of God can never change.  The King could not legally take back his decree, but he could allow the Jews to defend themselves, which they boldly stepped up and did.  God could not change the curse that mankind brought on himself by disobedience, but He could allow them to be defended and covered by the blood of Jesus.  The price was still paid through a way of substitution.  The law was upheld, but The Christians claimed Jesus as their defense against sin and the mercy of God has prevailed!  The mourning has turned to joy! 

You may be astonished to see these things and how they have worked hand in hand together in the whole big picture of salvation. Then again, perhaps not; maybe you had already seen this picture that God painted for us twice.  I don’t know, but either way, now that the first glimpse has been presented, did you see the rest of the links? 

Did you see that one story would not have been possible without the other?   Had Esther not sacrificed herself to save the lives of her people on Purim, the bloodline of Christ would have been wiped out.  We, Christians, would not have our “rest of the story” to tell.   The mourning would not have been turned to joy.  Thank God for BOTH stories!

Does this make the miracle of Purim and the practice of Lent and Easter tie together even more for you?  I hope so.  These stories do go together.  They go together as surely as God will bring the two peoples together in the end.  We all share One Father.  This is a Father who prefers a united family.  We are not blending different religions in putting two and two together here.  Neither are of pagan origin.  We are simply understanding more completely ONE religion; the one where God The Father reigns over the Kingdom. 

He will clarify all the rest for us eventually.  Every little detail will pan out just as it is supposed to. 

In the meantime, let us open our eyes and love one another with respect and dignity and keep moving together toward the table of our Father in all that we do. 

Let us enjoy our feasts together because God has spoken and His words are “whosoever will may come.”

SEASONS - THOUGHTS ABOUT ASH WEDNESDAY AND LENT

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

February 10th was Ash Wednesday which was also the first day of Lent.  I do not feel this time is commanded, but I do not feel it is wrong either.  Any specific period of time set aside to grow closer to God is a good thing!  I have observed Lent many times and I have not forgotten all that the season has to teach, nor all the blessings I’ve received when I have taken the time out of my life to observe Lent.     

There is also a lot of golden wisdom to be obtained in the understanding of the meaning behind Ash Wednesday.  I find it very helpful.  Ash Wednesday happens on the first day of Lent each year, following Shrove Tuesday.   It marks a 40 day period of prayer and fasting, very similar to the 40 days spent by Jesus in the dessert when He was tempted by Satan before His crucifixion.  These are the days leading up to Easter (as the Catholic’s and Episcopals say ( I like to say “Resurrection Day”.)  Whatever you like to call this day; the fast of Lent ends with the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ and a very joyful time. 

On this day ashes are imposed on the foreheads of the faithful.  They appear in the shape of a cross and are worn all day as a testimony to the fact that we come from ashes and we will return to ashes.  Without God, we are nothing at all.  Perhaps we will be reminded of the mark of Cain who came from the dust of the ground and was doomed to return to the ground from whence he came.  He did not provide the proper sacrifice for his sins.  He was doomed to live with the mark of his own sins until he returned to the ground from where he was taken originally.  If only he had turned and obeyed God and provided the right sacrifice, he would not have to eventually die in his sin and be no more.  He would have gained the essence of eternal life.  But Cain thought like Cain and he continued in rebellion, much like mankind, much like the message of the dust of the ashes that we wear on Ash Wednesday.  There is nothing we can do for ourselves and there is no hope outside of a miracle of God.

The whole idea of the season is to examine your heart and repent of any unrepented sins before the day that celebrates The Resurrection of Christ, who IS the miracle provided by God.  

Personally, by the time this season rolls around every year – I have already done most of this work of the soul in the observance of the Month of Elul and The Days of Awe from the Hebrew calendar which lead up to The Day of Atonement, so if I join in and observe Lent, much of the spiritual housekeeping of my adopted Jewish heart has already taken place; but it never hurts to be thorough when it comes to your soul and eternity – so I often chose to join in with my friends, even though I do not feel this is commanded.  This is especially true, since we know from history and study that the whole idea of Lent was started by a monk many years ago, and possibly evolved from his study of those observing Elul and The Days of Awe.    The important thing is to be sure you repent, during any time or season.   This is what really matters.  After all, repentance should actually be a DAILY observance of all Christians, and this extra, though not commanded season, helps me keep aware of that fact all through the year.  

Seasons come and go and what do we learn in them?  How do we keep them pure with the right intentions before God?  

I try not to be  too legalistic with any season, but just strive to let God lead me to where He wants my heart to go whenever or where ever that proves out to be.   Every year for me is different in some way, because God doesn't have me living a stagnant life.  Nothing is ever the same if you are really alive!  Yet, all of God is constant and never changing.  What a balancing act!  It can get off center if you aren't paying attention to your true focus.     

I tend to lean in Hebraic directions and  I have noticed some years when I observe Purim and participate in The Fast of Esther, that it all  fits right into the whole mood of Ash Wednesday and fasting for Lent – so I don’t see any harm here, though it certainly confuses a lot of my friends who don't understand either subject whether from the Hebraic point of view or the Catholic point of view.  It gets even more confusing when we have one of those years when the calendar that God chose and the calendar that man has let evolve in the church get out of sync.  This is one of those crazy years when Purim comes long into Lent and Easter comes before Passover (completely backwards!)  I just laugh and go on.  God knows what I’m doing – and He knows my religious observances are always for Him, not mankind. 

The day is coming when God is going to either pull us outside of time with Him or step back into time with us.  I'll let him unravel the web we have woven, and until then, the Hebraic calendar will come first for me and when it is possible and logical, I'll join in with the others.  I'll keep holding on to the main things, the things that I feel will matter in the end.  
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 Just recently God has led me to a deep study of the life of Cain and Abel.  I have seen so many clues in their stories that make me stop and think.  One thing that always jumps out at me is the mark of Cain and it has me always noticing any time other people in the bible have been known for displaying or having a mark on their arm or their forehead.  Now I look for those things in order to grasp a better understanding.  

I notice every Ash Wednesday of Lent that the cross is a mark on the forehead of all of the faithful who go for ashes.  Of course this is in total contrast to the mark of Cain, as Cain was marked for the committing of sin, but the faithful also have their counter mark, their identification as being servants of The Most High God. They instead are marked for their submission to God's will.   

There are so many examples of different "marks," and I’m astounded when I begin studying them all.   Go just one step further and consider if the ashes on the forehead (the place of the brain, or the symbol of the mind) is the first step to the circumcision of the saved, or the mark of God over the heart of His own.  Could the marking of the heart, so symbolic of perfect love, be the next step after the marking of the mind?  I think it is a natural progression that every Christian pilgrim must travel.  What stays and resides inside the mind eventually shows up from the heart in either love or hate.  

Is your mind marked with the holy scriptures?  

Is your heart marked with the love of God?

I look at the passage in Ezekiel 9 which speaks of The Glory of God instructing a man with a writing kit in his hands to go about Jerusalem and mark the foreheads of the people who have lamented and wept or grieved over the detestable things that have happened in the city.  Instructions were given for everyone who did not have this mark to be killed, showing no mercy. 

 In one sense these people are like Cain in that they are protected from death.  The reasons though are very different.  They are protected because they have been faithful and true, Cain was protected so that he could suffer enough to possibly see his own sins and change.  It never happened.  God always allows us these times to consider our sins and He is patient as He waits to see if we will change.  Some of us remain in sin, like Cain, but those of us who are willing to humble ourselves and change eventually reap unimaginable blessings in eternal life.  

Lent is well under way now.  It began on February 10th this year.  Did you notice the marks on people's foreheads?  More importantly, have you noticed the mark of love and kindness from a neighbor or a friend?  That too might be symbolic of the mark of Christ over their heart.  Some sacrifices involve giving instead of giving up.  Sometimes God leads people to make changes in how they relate to their fellowman as well as how they relate to God.  

Whatever customs we follow and however we observe them today; in the end we will all be marked, one way or the other.  

Which way will you chose and what will be the sign over your heart?  

Will the things that you have been taught in your head sink down into your heart and spirit and spill out to others in the world or will you be like Cain and turn your face away?

We all have a choice.  

The mark comes from God, but the meaning of it is found within our own souls.  

What will your mark look like?