SEASONS – WHAT IS THE REAL MEANING BEHIND VALENTINE’S DAY?

( Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

It is almost that time of year again, that special day of celebrating love and lovers.  Most people either adore this day or hate this day; depending on their circumstances at the moment.  

Out come the Hallmark cards, all decorated in red and pink.   Out come the chocolates and the candy hearts and roses.  For one day these things seem to cover the land and occupy our thoughts.  It seems to be a special day for the whole world to say “I love you” to their sweethearts!  

The world has taken this day to a whole new level; probably one more than originally intended when the day first originated.  How on earth did all of this ever get started anyway?

Like most noble days, the day we now call Valentine’s Day was started with the brave 

actions of one faithful man.  His real name was Valentinus, and he later became known as St. Valentine. 

St. Valentine was a real Roman Catholic priest who actually lived during the time of the third century.  At that time there was a ruler named Claudias that was persecuting the church.   He had ordered the people to give their worship to twelve pagan gods, and anyone who associated with Christians or Christianity was severely persecuted. 

Claudias also thought that unmarried soldiers fought better than married soldiers because the married ones might be afraid of what would happen to their wives and children if they were killed in battle.  So he issued an edict that young couples were not to marry.  Reader beware!  This is what happens when we let rulers make edicts!  Can you imagine that?  This was a time of great evil and lawlessness and most couples simply wound up living together unmarried without giving a thought to whether it was right or wrong before the true God of heaven and earth.  This history is sounding a little too familiar.

Of course the faithful church was at work and intent on keeping the will of God.  Let's hope that will be the case in our modern times too.  Naturally, the true church was against people who were not married living together based on the fact that this act would break the commandments of God; so they had to come up with a solution for their congregations who were trying to live faithful lives amidst a very evil and pagan world.  

As an answer to this problem, they performed secret marriages.  The man who championed this cause was named Valentine.  St. Valentine began secretly marrying people of the church who were truly committed to following the ways of Christ.  These secret marriages became his main mission in life.  He also participated in rescuing those who were put into prison for marrying.  He would organize creative and successful ways for them to escape.    

Valentine was eventually caught and thrown into prison for marrying people against the edict of Emperor Claudias II.  It is said that he was terribly tortured in prison.  There are legends about his faithful actions and the ways he cared for others even while suffering himself in prison.

A man named Asterius was one of the judges who sentenced Valentine to prison.  He had a daughter named Julia who was blind.  

While Valentine was in prison Asterius brought Julia to be schooled by Valentine, who was also known as a great teacher.  

Valentine taught Julia history, math and science.   Though blind, she was brilliant and learned quickly.  

Valentine also taught Julia about God.  She trusted in his wisdom and followed his guidance.  One day she asked Valentine if God would really answer prayers.  He assured her that God would.  She confided in Valentine that she was praying for God to make her see so that she could see with her eyes all the wonderful things that that he had taught her.  Valentine told her that God always did what was best for us and that He always listened to the prayers of a believer.   

After that conversation, Valentine prayed with Julia right there in his prison cell and in a matter of minutes she screamed out that she saw a brilliant light!  She was healed of her blindness.   

Valentine was destined to be martyred the next day.  

  

Valentine died on February 14^th  in the year 269 a.d.   He died a horrible martyr’s death.  Because of his stance on Christian marriage he was sentenced first to beating with a club, then stoning and eventual decapitation. 

It is said that his last words were written down in a note that was sent to Asterius’s daughter Julia telling her to stay strong in her faith in God.  He signed the note with the words “from your Valentine.”  It is from the action of his written note, and how he signed it, that we get the practice of sending Valentine cards today.  The color red signifies his martyr’s blood and the hearts stand for his true heart. 

It is said that Julia later found St. Valentine’s grave and planted an almond tree with pink blossoms on it over the grave site.  That is how the tradition of giving flowers began.  

Because of the miracle that happened to Julia, her father,  Asterius, later became a Christian too.  

St. Valentine did not die in vain, many came to Christ because of his martyrdom.

So you see the real original St. Valentine was a Christian martyr.  He laid his life down for what he believed and he died for taking a stand for his faith.  Later he became known as the patron saint for lovers.  It is a good and fitting legacy. 

Many couples seeking advice for having a strong marriage are advised to study the life of St. Valentine.  Upon hearing his story they learn that sometimes you have to suffer for true love, but the truly committed keep their vows to the end, even unto death, because that is what true love is all about.  St. Valentine demonstrated this to us with his whole life.

PEN ART - CLEANING UP AFTER EPIPHANY

An Epiphany Poem 

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

 Pick up the tinsel and put it away, 

Epiphany has ended, and this is clean up day.

The ornaments must all go back into their cases.  

The wise men have arrived and left without traces.

So gather up the ribbons, the boxes, the bows, 

Oh dear;whatever will we do with all of those?

The cookies are all eaten, the candy is gone.  

The candles have all been burned, 

And we’ve sang the last song. 

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day passed by

 just as quick as a wink!  

Now it is several days later and the tree lights still blink!

The star on the top really made us all think.

But Joseph, Mary and Jesus have now journeyed on,

The babe is now a child 

And the wise men have gone.

And the Santas, the elves, and the dark red sleigh, must go back into storage for another day.

Throw out those leftovers; surely they spoil by now.

Move Frosty from the lawn, and gather the wreaths and pack them away some how.

Use boxes and boxes and packing and tape,

And pack and pack.

It is getting so late!

But another Epiphany will happen for sure: 

When the boxes run out, and the bubble wrap too,

The surprise after all the surprises,

That happens each year all anew - 

Is the fact that Christmas won’t fit in a box is so true!!!!!!

SEASONS - THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

PRAYER FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Incline Thine ear to our prayers, O Lord, we beseech Thee; and make bright the darkness of our minds by the grace of Thy visitation.  Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.  Amen.

Today’s candle symbolizes love.  

When we think of love, we are reminded of the joy that is found in the hearts of all those who love God and rejoice when they hear of The Messiah.   

God sent an angel to make the announcement to the Shepherds who were tending their flocks in the fields.  The angel told them where to find Jesus and they quickly obeyed God and joyfully went to look for Him.  They believed in the Word of The Lord and they wanted to see the Savior of the world who had come humbly in the form of a child.  

Are you like these shepherds?  

Do you believe?  

Are you seeking the truth of the words of the Angel of God? 

 Are you looking for the Christ child to come?

It is believing God, seeking His truth and obeying His word that leads us down the path that brings us straight to love and joy.

Why do you think God spoke to the shepherds instead of a king?  

It was the shepherds that He used to proclaim His good news to the world, not the rulers of the nations.  

Are you a shepherd too?  

Do you have the blessing of a shepherd in your life that has helped you to hear the good news?   

We should thank God for all the Good Shepherds out there who are spreading the wonderful news of the gospel, and we all should aspire to do our part - to spread the love of God throughout the land as we continue through the wonderful season of Advent.

Remember!  He is coming! 

SEASONS - QUESTIONS FROM A FRIEND AT CHRISTMAS

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

I was asked by my friend to explain what Jesus means to me at Christmas time.  She had no idea what a loaded question she was asking.   I don't think my answer would be very typical.  Sometimes people find my beliefs a bit too complicated, but to me it is all really quite simple.  I just like to get in all the facts.  I mean if Jesus went to all the trouble to be born of a virgin, to live in the flesh and to leave the throne of heaven for you and me, then why shouldn’t I want to get the facts right?  After all, Jesus stands for truth and I’ve come to appreciate that very much.  My truth may sound a little different at first, because the world has twisted the truth a great deal.  I’m not telling the exact same word for word canned story as a lot of others that you hear, but I AM telling the story, I’m just telling it the way I feel Jesus has shown it to me; so here is my answer to the loaded question:

My first thought on all of this is that knowing and having a relationship with Jesus actually makes the whole year feel like Christmas.  Every day; all the time!

Of course, to be honest with you, I must tell you that I think Jesus was born in a Sukkah during the Feast of Tabernacles sometime around late Fall, most likely in September.  All evidence from scripture points that way.  But don’t let that make you think I do not celebrate Christmas!  I do indeed!   I see no reason not to celebrate His birth all year long, and to be more specific, I have my reasons for believing that Jesus was CONCEIVED sometime in December.  Just do the math.  It confirms a lot for me.  If Christ was conceived in Mary's womb around the end of December, about nine months later would have put his birth during the time of The Feast of Tabernacles in late September.  So I celebrate the conception of Christ (the Annunciation and Incarnation) in December and the birth of Christ in early fall.

When most people are celebrating the birth of Christ at Christmas in the month of December, I am actually celebrating  The Conception of Christ, which I perceive to be even more of a miracle than His birth into our world.  

It is truly a major miracle that a virgin gave birth to a child/God who came to save the world and become our greatest King of Kings!  What a reason to be celebrating!  

I can surely join in on that.  

I love the time and enjoy contemplating what must have been going on in Mary's heart during those days.  It teaches me so much about how to love Jesus.

When a child is conceived you begin to prepare for the child to come, just as we do when we contemplate and celebrate Advent, therefore; I join in with pure joy in celebrating the season of Advent and I rejoice in the fact that Jesus became our greatest Gift From God.  

So I guess you could say lighting the Advent candles is my first contemplation of Jesus during the Christmas season.   It makes me think of the child Jesus who was coming to earth; and the man Jesus who will one day return to earth.

Then there is Hanukkah, which I have come to know as a shadow of the coming of The Messiah.   It usually falls right in December too.   Everything in the telling of the story of the miracle of the oil and the seven more days of light that we see in Hanukkah is a type of Christ coming as the miracle that becomes the light of the world.   How appropriate to celebrate the fact of the miracle of His coming close to the time of celebrating the Conception of His life on earth.   

This time is yet another glorious reason to discover  more of Jesus inside the times of my year.

You might just make this summary pretty simple by saying:  I love Christmas so much that I celebrate it four times a year;   1) Advent  (anticipating the prophetic birth of Jesus, and anticipating His future return as Messiah and King),  2) Hanukkah (thinking of the prophetic miracle of His coming to be The Light of The World),  3) Christmas Day (celebrating His Conception by The Holy Spirit and recalling the Annunciation of Mary and  The Incarnation and all of the things that happened when Mary first learned the Christ Child was living within her) and  4) The Feast of Tabernacles (celebrating the actual birth of Christ.)   Now that’s a lot of Jesus and a whole year of celebrating Christmas!  That is a lot of celebrating!  Why not?  We have SO MUCH to celebrate!  

I love each part of the season and the way we celebrate His coming to earth in the flesh, and the recognition of  Jesus actually stooping down to be like us in order to save us.   All of these four celebrations during the year just build on top of each other and reinforce my further celebration of his physical birth at The Feast of Tabernacles, also called Sukkot; the fourth and last time of the year when I celebrate his  actual birth.   On top of that - I like to celebrate the Epiphany later!  We can't leave out the coming of the wise men; but that was probably two years after the birth of Christ and not necessarily in December and they may not have met Jesus in a three sided shelter; but possibly a house in Bethlehem, (and that may be yet another blog post.)  

I LOVE stretching out the significance of God's grace, and remembering some phase of this miracle of Christ all four times each year.  When you think of all the little details; there are actually two times to look back AND forward and realize much of the symbolism in some days was given as a shadow of what was to come, and a telling of what IS to come.  We see these things with Advent and Hanukkah; then on Christmas Day we enjoy celebrating His conception at Christmas time; and then in the next Fall (nine months later) we will be celebrating His actual physical birth at The Feast of Tabernacles.   What fun it was to me when I first learned that the manger was actually a sukkah, and the Christ Child was God's festival gift to us!  When Mary and Joseph could not find a place in the inn, they found a sukkah that had been used to shelter the animals.  It was next to a cave.  If you want to read how I've told that story to my grandchildren, look at this link: http://dancinginseason.blogspot.com/2016_10_12_archive.html.

So the time after Christmas for me is comparable to waiting on a baby in real life!  It is nine months of anticipiating Jesus and the Festival of The Feast of Tabernacles.  All year long I'm anticipating the coming of Christ into the world and celebrating it with my family inside our little sukkah.   All four celebrations are spread out time-wise, but all are very timely and significant.

Another amazing fact I find in these seasons of time is that the longer I walk with Christ through these different aspects of Christmas, the more He teaches me about how to live a more glorious life every other day of the year.   

I have come to cherish so many traditions that remind me of Who Jesus Is, and what He has done for this world.  I feel grateful for each reason that comes in each season.  This keeps a healthy balance in our home of  more Jesus and less of the world.  

So this year, and every year:  the first reminder of Jesus for me is seen in lighting of the Advent candles around the Advent Wreath, then the Menorah at Hanukkah.  

One thing I remember during Hanukkah is that even though I was not born of a Jewish nationality, I have been adopted and made a blood relative through the blood of Christ.  So, you might say I’m basically an adopted member of a Jewish family; but loved just as much as if I were born Jewish.  So I feel no guilt at all about celebrating the Hanukkah story along with my adopted brothers and sisters.  The same Father loves us all.   The beautiful story of Hannukah tells us about how God always sends miracles right on time, just the way they need to be delivered, in just the right packaging, and they always come just when they are most needed.  You know, that was what happened when He sent the package of Jesus into the world in the simple form of little child.  The miracle of Hannukah expresses the prophecy of Jesus.

I’ve read the Gospel of John, and I know Jesus celebrated Hanukkah; so why wouldn’t I?

It happened long before His birth, but He kept the Family Traditions going.  So why shouldn't I?  

I read in John of Jesus walking on Solomon's porch at the Temple during the Festival of Lights.  This was a Hanukkah being celebrated long after that first one when the oil lasted for eight days.  At the time that John wrote, Jesus was about to bring an even more significant oil into the world, and an even more significant miracle of light.   

That first Hanukkah when the Jews were able to finally return to the restored temple to worship God; God made one day's worth of oil last for eight days.  Now I look at the candles of the Menorah as we light them during Hanukah, and I think about the oil.  I note how the oil of the Holy Spirit fills me up and makes me shine as a reflection of the love of Christ.  

I only have enough love in me to last possibly for one day, but with the oil of the Holy Spirit and the Light of Christ, I can keep my light shinning long enough to last for many more days!  By some great miracle, it is actually enough to last until Christ returns again in the Second Advent.  And I can always go back and get more of this miraculous oil!  It is never used up! Jesus made it all possible. That same Jesus, who was the little child that grew into the Savior of The World. 

As I keep looking at the candles, and I keep thinking of how Christ is the light of the world, I can see Him shinning in all of our faces as we gather together to celebrate whether it is to light the candles at a special dinner table, or the candles of the Menorah, or the Advent Wreath, or even to light the Christmas Tree.  He is the true light that shines out, no matter where we chose to seek Him or look for Him, we can always find Him if we just keep on searching with all our hearts.



So; as I have already mentioned, the second tradition I usually see Jesus in on the way to Christmas is the lighting of the Advent Candles.  There is one candle for faith, hope, and joy, and the white one in the center that we light on Christmas Eve that means LOVE and stands for Christ.  These candles remind me that Jesus once came to live among us, to be like us, and that He will one day return again to save us from ourselves, and to help us learn to be more like Him.  

He is coming for us, the true Church to be His Bride; and we will live with Him forever!

The Advent candles always remind me of this, and every year they help me to renew my strong belief in Jesus as Messiah of the world.  So it is that sometimes when I light the candles, I'm actually thinking of weddings, remembering The Marriage Supper of The Lamb when my Beloved will come for me.  I pray that it will not be a long wait.

I know He is coming again, and I think of it every time I look up into a black velvet sky and see a star.  It makes me remember that star that shone over Bethlehem so long ago and pointed men in the right direction.

I think of Jesus as I put the lights on my tree, and many of the ornaments help to tell the shinning story.  I like to share a Jesse tree that tells not only His story, but also the stories of all those before and after Him that have passed all the stories on to us. 

I love remembering the way there was no place for Mary and Joseph, and the miracle of how God provided a place for them to stay, a type of "temporary dwelling" so very  similar to our earthly bodies as we think of our souls.  Also so very similar to the three-sided temporary dewellings (sukkahs) which we build at The Feast of Tabernacles.


I enjoy thinking of the humbleness of that little place and how it was changed in an instant when the child was born.  It became all lit up with the voices of the angels and the stars of heaven and suddenly became glorious with the precious gift of life that came down among so much humbleness and turned all the humble into the holy.   

I love thinking of how the shepherds heard the good news, and came to see the baby that would save the world.

I love remembering how the wise men followed the bright shinny star to Bethlehem. 
  
I love all of these stories because they have one common thread.  Every single story is about people searching for Jesus.  They kept seeking Him until they found Him, those shepherds and wise men and many, many others.  That is what I like to do most of all at Christmas time; seek Jesus with all of my heart until I find Him.  No amount of wrapping paper and tinsel can keep Him out of this day for me.  He is always there, just quietly waiting to teach us more of His story, always bringing light into the darkness, always making all things new.

I love that God made all of these things so perfect, so delightful, so right and so wonderful; with no contradictions and no complications, just a flood of pure genuine joy and love that arrives in perfect timing.

I cherish every Christmas thought about Jesus, and these thoughts bring me comfort as we move on through the year.  The stories stay in my heart way beyond Christmas Day.  Their light carries over into the ordinary days and makes them shine too.

I love Jesus! 

I love that we celebrate so much about Him at Christmas!

I love the story so beautiful that only God could have written it.  

His coming to earth is truly the greatest miracle of all, and the greatest gift ever given to mankind.   

SEASONS - DID THANKSGIVING COME FROM SUKKOT?

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

The Hebraic harvest celebration of Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles) is close to the time that Americans call Thanksgiving.   The two feasts have similar qualities.  We always hear the details of why we celebrate Thanksgiving in America, but why would anyone celebrate The Feast of Tabernacles, or as the Jewish people call it:  Sukkot?

There are many good reasons that compel both Christians and Jews to celebrate these Holy Days.  Part of the reasons pertain to the future and part of the reasons pertain to the past. 

                                  

 Jesus was very bold in going to The Feast of Tabernacles to teach.  There came a time when this actually meant risking His life to do so.  Most of the religious rulers of the day were not at all happy when He showed up.  He distracted from their personal glory, politics and profit margin.  The common people admired Jesus for His boldness, and His assurance of the ways of The Kingdom.  They drank in His every word.  His enemies, the rulers of the day, were not prepared for his boldness, his courage, or his lack of fear.  

On the last and greatest day of the feast the rabbi’s always held a water ceremony.  It was then that Jesus stood and loudly proclaimed that He was The Fountain of Living Water. (John 7:37-38).  The traditions that the common people had so rotely observed for years came alive when Jesus explained them at the feast.  The Feast of Tabernacles, as well as the other feasts and festivals all prophetically scream of the fact that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Savior of The World.  

As a Christian I celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles because I am following the example of Jesus Christ, The Messiah, and I know the feast speaks of God's people in the past as well as our future with Christ when He returns again.  



 
So what is most important, the past or the future?  Both are equally important when you consider the facts.   We know that the Feast of Tabernacles was a week long harvest festival.  God commanded it to be kept through out the generations of Israel.  This was to be a time to remember how God brought them out of the wilderness into a promised land.  It was much the same for the pilgrims coming to America.  They came from what they considered to be a wilderness of sin and hoped that the new land would be a place where they could worship God as they chose and that God would bless them for doing so.   


The ancient people built temporary dwellings to remind each other of how they dwelt in tents or temporary dwellings for 40 years in the wilderness.  Possibly the American pioneers did the same.  Have you ever examined the part of old log cabins called the "lean-to"?  It was often used as a temporary place to sleep for guests traveling through the area.  It might have been a pilgrim's design of a sukkah.   Most of the pilgrim settlements had these structures on the sides of their houses.  Not to mention the fact that they also had to dwell in "temporary dwellings" until they had the resources to build their permanent homes once they arrived in America; the land of the free.

The Israelites were poor slaves and had nothing, but God brought them to The Promised Land and provided them with great blessings.  The pilgrims had been slaves to their oppressive government and they had come to America to escape this.  They had come hoping to be able to achieve a better life full of blessings.



 
Much like the Jewish people, the pilgrims chose this time to remember that all blessings come from God.  The ancient Hebrews were to remember that God came down and dwelt among them in the tabernacle that He had them to design.   The pilgrims remembered how God led them safely across the ocean to another safe place where they could worship Him in freedom and peace.   

God journeyed with the Israelites through the hard times in the dessert. God journeyed with the pilgrims through the hard times of crossing the ocean and beginning to establish settlements in America.    

God fed the Israelites and clothed them and protected them from their enemies.  God did the same for the pilgrims as they settled in a new land with different customs.

God provided water for the Israelites from a rock.  He also provided water for these pilgrims.   

Both people groups experienced the physical and spiritual blessing of God because they stepped out on faith and obedience and moved in the direction that God was showing them.

On the eighth day of The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)  the Israelites would leave their temporary dwellings and go back to their houses in the promised land.  This would remind them of how God had kept His promises to provide for them and bless them as a nation.   They were told to keep the holiday before God in thankfulness for the year’s blessings and abundance.   In the same spirit of thankfulness the pilgrims offered up their thanks to God who had kept His promises to them and was beginning to bless them as a nation, and for the time and space that our nation honored God and kept His ways, we flourished in the land!


I think of this every year as I sit in my own temporary dwelling (my physical body as well as the physical sukkah we build as a family) and look at the evidence of the abundant blessings in my own home and my beautiful family who sit as a pleasant harvest all around me.  There are no words to properly describe my joy!   One cannot come to Sukkot without being thankful, nor to the American Thanksgiving.  I chose to keep them both and just let one be an extension of the other.  It is thankfulness multiplied by two!  How could that go wrong? 

There have been many wilderness experiences in life, but God has blessed us in every journey.  These two holidays are the time to notice and give thanks for the abundant ways that He always provides for us in every circumstance.    

Christians truly believe they should conform to the image of Christ.  That means doing the same things that Jesus did, and living as much like Him as possible.  Imitating Jesus would mean keeping The Feast of Tabernacles.  Imitating Jesus would mean being thankful such as we are at Thanksgiving.   Perhaps all of this is part of the reason we call The Holy Eucharist The Great Thanksgiving.  God's blessings are so great in our land and they tend to multiply when we take notice of them and thank God for them.  

It is a well known fact that Jesus Christ celebrated Sukkot.   Scriptures clearly state that Jesus taught from the Temple on The Feast of Tabernacles.  People looked forward to hearing from Him.  They wanted to know His teachings.  They gathered around him eagerly, especially on feast days.  Some of the pilgrims to Jerusalem had come from miles away, just hoping to get to see Jesus, to touch Him, to hear His words, to be near Him.  He did not disappoint them.  He taught on Solomon’s Porch and in other areas around the Temple. 

So why do the Jewish people celebrate?  They do not yet recognize Christ as the Messiah.

While we Christians are more focused on the future, the Jewish people are more focused on remembering the past and the lessons God showed them through history.  They bring these lessons into the present by remembering and honoring God on the days He has proclaimed.    Sukkot for them is a week long harvest festival.  It is a time for giving thanks to God for his abundant blessings.   They recognize that God commanded these days to be kept through out all their generations. This was to be a time to remember how God brought them out of the wilderness into a promised land. They were told to build sukkahs, or temporary dwellings, to remind each other of how they dwelt in tents or temporary dwellings for 40 years in the wilderness. They were poor and had nothing and God brought them to The Promised Land and provided them with great blessings. 

This is a time to remember that all blessings come from God. 

They remember that God came down and dwelt among them in the tabernacle that He had them to design. 

He journeyed with them through the hard times in the dessert. 

He fed them and clothed them and protected them from their enemies. 

He provided water for them from a rock. 

On the eighth day of the feast they would leave their temporary dwellings and go back to their houses in the promised land. This would remind them of how God had kept His promises to provide for them and bless them as a nation. They were told to keep the holiday before God in thankfulness for the year’s blessings and abundance.

As Christians watching the Jewish people celebrate the past and learning from it, we can clearly see that God was showing them the future by commanding them to remember the past.  God is like that!  He shows up in unexpected ways and speaks without speaking.

All believers of God have much in common on this feast day.   When we study the scriptures with open hearts, the balance comes.  We begin to realize that all of God's people have a lot to learn from each other. 

Israel and America are both great nations with so many of their native people being servants of God.    Long ago the natives of Israel wanted to please God with all their hearts.  They wanted this enough to leave all that they found familiar.  They were willing to cross the sea and go out into a strange and dessert land in order to worship Him in the way that He chose to be worshiped. 

In such a similar way, the pilgrims in coming to America wanted to imitate Christ as much as possible and they loved Him with all their hearts.  They wanted this so much that they were willing to leave all that was familiar to them and cross a sea and go to live in an unknown wilderness-like place.  

Perhaps those early pilgrims who crossed the sea to come to America chose to celebrate the first Thanksgiving because they too had read about a great God who commanded His people to honor Him annually with their harvest. 

 More and more people are beginning to realize that our traditional American Thanksgiving very likely had its origins in this historical fall festival called Sukkot.  

In that first American Thanksgiving the very religious puritan pilgrims came before God to give thanks for helping them to survive their first very hard year in America.  Don’t you know they thanked God for the fact that they had food, had shelter and had been able to survive the very harsh conditions of the pioneer life that they had needed to live when they arrived on those golden shores?  It seems a lot like the children of God remembering their time in the wilderness and giving thanks for the Promised land.  As they were giving thanks for the first year of survival it is quite possible that one pilgrim might have pulled out a bible and read Leviticus 23: 39 and had a lot of heads nodding around the table and thinking they would follow the example of those brave Israelites and give God the glory for bringing them to the day of thanks and for furnishing a harvest from a harsh year in the wilderness that was America.

And so we come to The Season of Joy to begin our Thanksgiving.  We will worship God with all of our hearts and this will carry over to the time of thankfulness that our nation calls Thanksgiving.  It is an American holiday.  It is a good holiday.  It is a time to confirm all that God has shown us at The Feast of Tabernacles.