Day of Prayer and Fasting 2

Today is the second of our days of Prayer and Fasting at CBC - as we seek God’s guidance on our vision as a church. We are going to pray and think about who it is that God calls us to be and what it is that he wants us to do. And over the next three weeks we’re going to reflect on Jesus’ final words to his disciples - which we know today as The Great Commission - which we find in Matthew 28:19-20.

The risen Lord Jesus began by telling his disciples, “all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me … therefore you go”. The baton was being passed. And the call was to go into all the world, with the promise "and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age".

Our God is a sending God and He has called us to go into the world. When the New Testament talks about the church it is always talking about a group of people and not a building. But often when we think about ‘the church’ those thoughts are accompanied by an image of a building. And there is nothing wrong with a building - unless we start to see it as somewhere safe to retreat to; a place where we are protected from the world.

As we think and pray about God’s vision for CBC, as we think about who we are and what we should be doing, we need to remember that we are called to engage with our community, to be a part of our community, to be looking out rather than looking in. The church is not a place where you go to escape from the world, it is the place you go to to be encouraged and equipped through an encounter with God, and are then sent back out into the world. As William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury (1942-1944) famously said, "The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members."

A walk through: the Day of Atonement

If you've been reading recent posts about the Day of Atonement and are still struggling to make sense of exactly what happened in Leviticus 16 here's a walk through. It helps to know that verses 1-2 are an introduction, and then verses 3-10 give an overview of the whole ritual and then verses 11-28 return to the beginning of the whole ritual with more detail.

[For details on sin and burnt offerings see this post.]


The Day of Atonement - Leviticus 16

Definition of atonement: Atonement means ‘a making at one’ and points to a process of bringing those who are estranged into a unity. In theology it is used to describe the work of Jesus on the cross, dealing with the problem of sin and bringing sinners into a right relationship with God.

When: 10th day of 7th month

Where: The Tabernacle. You can find a diagram of the Tabernacle here.

Who: Most of the instructions for the High Priest (Aaron), but he is supported by a couple of other individuals who deal with the action outside of the camp.

The supporting cast involves a young bull, 2 male goats, and a couple of rams. Most of these characters don’t make it to the end of the story.

What:

Scene 1 - Preparation

Aaron prepares himself by washing and putting on his sacred white robes and turban. On this day Aaron would not wear his blue robes etc that he would normally wear whilst serving in the Tabernacle.

Scene 2 - Atonement for the Priest

Aaron now sacrifices the bull in order to make atonement for his sin and the sin of his family. He does this alongside the Altar of Burnt Offerings which is located in the courtyard of the Tabernacle. He takes some of the bull’s blood into the Holy Place where he takes a censer of burning coals and incense from the Altar of Incense there and then enters the Most Holy Place. He puts the incense on the coals filling the Most Holy Place with smoke, obscuring the Ark of the Covenant. He then sprinkles some of the blood on the front of the atonement cover and then seven times before the atonement cover. [The Atonement Cover is the lid of the Ark of the Covenant.]

Scene 3 - Atonement for the Tabernacle

Aaron then goes back out into the courtyard and takes the two goats, casts lots - one is sacrificed as a sin offering, the other becomes the scapegoat. He then sacrifices the first goat - a sin offering for the people. He then does with the goat’s blood as he did with the bull’s blood, hence making atonement for the Most Holy Place - which is made unclean by its presence in the camp surrounded by the people. He repeats this in the Holy Place, making atonement for it. He then comes out into the courtyard and makes atonement for the Altar of Burnt Offerings by putting some of the bull’s and goat’s blood on the horns of the altar, and then sprinkling it seven times to cleanse and consecrate it.

Scene 4 - The scapegoat carries sin into the wilderness

He brings forward the live goat (the scapegoat). He places his hand on the head of the live goat and confesses over it all the sins of the people. This goat is then sent away into the wilderness, led by someone appointed for the task. This goat carries the sins to a remote place away from the camp.

Scene 5 - Atonement made for the priest and all the people

Aaron goes into the Holy Place, takes off his robes, washes and then puts on his ordinary garments. He then goes into the courtyard and sacrifices the two burnt offerings - two rams - one for himself and one for the people - making atonement for himself and the people. He also takes the fat of the sin offering (bull and goat) and burns that.

Scene 6 - Clearing up afterwards

The man who has released the scapegoat returns, washes his clothes, bathes himself - he is then able to come into the camp.


Someone else takes the hide, flesh, intestines of the sin offerings are burns them outside the camp. After that he must wash his clothes, bathe himself - he is then able to come into the camp.

Don't stay outside in the courtyard

Yesterday I wrote a post about the Day of Atonement - which in some respects was a very visual representation of God's forgiveness of the people. Their sins were transferred to the Scape Goat which then carried them off never to be seen again. The price of their sin and atonement was made through the death of the sin and burnt offerings. 

But most of what happened would not have been visible to most of the people - who were outside of the courtyard of the Tabernacle. Most of what went on involved only Aaron the High Priest, and took place within the tent of the Tabernacle - out of view.

And so even though the people received forgiveness for their sin they were still not free to enter into the Tabernacle. Even Aaron was not free to enter into the Holy of Holies for another year...Aaron and the people were only too aware of what would happen to someone who tried to enter into God's presence in their own way (see Leviticus 16:1 & 10:1-3).

Yesterday I mentioned that this whole ritual was pointing forward to a greater sacrifice, once and for all. When Jesus died on the cross he both paid our penalty (one death substituting for the death of another) and carried our sins away (as the scape goat). And if that wasn't amazing enough he also destroyed the barriers between the people and God, between us and God.

This means that we are now free to come close to God with confidence - we no longer have to stay outside the tent, we don't even have to wait for one day in the year, but we can come with confidence into the presence of the living God.

So - as the writer of Hebrews in the New Testament says - since we can...let's.

The Day of Atonement

This time last week I was busy rummaging around in boxes of soft toys under my daughters' beds - trying to find a range of farmyard animals. Specifically I was looking for a goat and two sheep. I already had the promise of one goat and one bull.

No doubt the priests of Israel that were living in the time of Moses spent a lot longer, and were much more careful about the five animals that they choose. God had been very specific. A bull, two rams and two goats all a year old and without defect - rummaging around at the last minute simply would not do.

The Day of Atonement was (and still is) the holiest day within the Jewish calendar. The Book of Leviticus is arranged with chapter 16, the Day of Atonement, at its centre. It was the one day in the year when the whole community confessed their sin before God and received forgiveness.

Atonement means 'a making at one' - the work of reconciliation between two separated parties. In this case it means the restoration of the relationship between God and his people.

There are lots of different elements to the ritual. First of all the High Priest needs to make a sacrifice to deal with his own sin - so that he can safely come before God and represent the people. Then the Tabernacle itself, and the altars and other 'furniture' need to be cleansed - they have been made impure by their presence among the people. Then the sins of the people are placed on the Scape Goat and it is sent off into the wilderness carrying the sins of the people with it (see here for yesterday's Scape Goat post). Then burnt offerings are made to bring about atonement for the sin of the High Priest and the people.

God takes the people's sin seriously - it separates him from them - but he also loves them and wants to live with them. And therefore he makes it possible, through the substitution of one life in the place of another, for that sin to be dealt with.

Of course, as we read on from Leviticus, through the Old Testament, and into the New Testament, we discover that the ritual of the Day of Atonement was pointing forward to another, greater, sacrifice, one life in the place of another...

One of our scape goats is missing

On Sunday I needed to borrow a selection of soft toys - a bull, a couple of goats, and two sheep for our morning service. One of the sheep came from home, the bull came a from a church member and one sheep and two goats came out of the cupboard of toys belonging to our toddler group.

It wasn't an all age service on Sunday - but we were looking at the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16).

The drama of the Day of Atonement involves the sacrifice of 5 of these animals - but one goat, the 'Scape Goat' gets to live another day (possibly - depending on wolves, lions, bears etc).

The role of the Scape Goat in this drama is that the High Priest lays his hands on its head, confesses the sin of the people over it, and then it is led off and released into the wilderness. It goes off, with the sins of the people, never to be seen again - symbolising how God removes our sin from us.

As the drama unfolded before us on Sunday the Scape Goat was led out into the wilderness - and left on the bookcase at the back of the church. Unfortunately (for the toddler group) by the time the service ended and I came to collect all my resources the Scape Goat had indeed - disappeared into the wilderness - it was no where to be seen.

The irony of searching for the Scape Goat after the events of the Day of Atonement shouldn't be lost on us. God has removed our sins - why would we go looking for them again? But in reality how often do our Scape Goats return? We confess our sin and receive God's forgiveness - but then a day, a week, a month, a year later we hear that accusing voice, 'did God really forgive you that...?' And we begin to doubt our freedom. We continue to live defined by our past sin - never able to escape.

Those of you who are involved in the toddler group will be pleased to know that this particular scape goat did return - I found him on top of the TV in the foyer during the week - and it is now safely back in the toy cupboard.

But when it comes to God's forgiveness - God has promised that he will forgive and he will forget.

Once our Scape Goats have gone, don't let's go looking for them again.

At the Cross

On Sunday we're going to be thinking about The Day of Atonement as we continue our journey with Israel from Sinai to the Promised Land.

If you've followed my blog for a while you will know that I'm a Chris Tomlin fan, and here's a great song from his last album Love Ran Red.

Life on Mars

Does the phrase 'Life on Mars' conjure up memories of a great BBC television series involving the 1970s policing of Manchester, a bit of time travel and a golden Ford Cortina belonging to Gene Hunt? If so you need read no further.

But if on the other hand you've been listening to the news over the last few weeks and have wondered what the implications of the potential discovery of water on mars means for faith - then you might find the following of interest.

Harvest

This morning at CBC we celebrated our Harvest Thanksgiving. Thanking God for all his provision for us - not just the food we have to eat, but also - amongst other things - our beds, friends and family, love, Jesus...

During our service we made a collection of dried foods for Cambridge City Foodbank.

Over recent weeks we've been reading Exodus and Leviticus. Last week thinking about the festivals within the Jewish calendar. And within the instructions of the three harvest festivals there is provision for the care of those less fortunate.

‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God' - Leviticus 23:22.

We also learnt about the work that BMS World Mission is doing in Nepal, providing and training occupational therapists to work with victims of spinal injuries. Bringing hope to those who had been told they should simply go home and wait to die.

Here is a poem, 'Backbone' that poet Lucy Berry wrote to help us reflect on this work.

Harvest preview...

Tomorrow, as well as our local foodbank (see yesterday) we're also going to be looking at the work of BMS World Mission in Nepal. Here's a short video to whet your appetite.

Harvest Collection

This Sunday we will be celebrating our harvest thanksgiving and we will be having a collection of dried goods for the Cambridge City Foodbank.



The needs of the Foodbank are constantly changing. If you want to know the sort of things that are most needed here's a copy of their up to date shopping list.

 Tinned Rice Pudding
 Tinned fruit
 Tinned Potatoes
 Instant Potato Powder
 Soup
 Yellow Pasta (e.g. spaghetti in tomato sauce)
 Tinned pulses
 Instant coffee - small jars
 Sweets - childrens & adults
 Snacks
 Pasta ‘n’ Sauce mix
 Pasta Sauce - jars
 Dried Milk Powder
 Sponge Puddings (Longlife)
 Granulated sugar - 500grm bags
 Cooking Oil - 500ml
 Tea bags 40’s or 80’s
 Biscuits

 Small salt & pepper

On Sunday we'll also be looking at the work of BMS World Mission in Nepal - but more of that tomorrow.

Happy Harvest

Last week we looked at some of the festivals that make up the Jewish calendar. For those of you who have been looking at some of this material as a part of home group or for general interest, this coming Sunday we're going to very briefly mention the Festival of Tabernacles or Booths.

Tabernacles is the harvest celebration that comes at the end of the agricultural year - as opposed to Firstfruits that comes at the beginning of the barley harvest (March/April) or Weeks that comes at the beginning of the wheat harvest (May/June). [See Leviticus 23 for more detail.]

This year Tabernacles is being celebrated from 27 September - 5 October - remembering that the celebration begins at twilight. So our church harvest service falls within this week of celebration.

The Festival of Tabernacles is a joyous occasion.

In the OT the festival was accompanied with numerous animal sacrifices for each day of the festival - as you'll see from the detail below, which comes from Numbers 29.

				Burnt Offering			Sin Offering
Day	OT Date	2015		Bulls	Rams	Lambs	Goat
1	15 day of 7th month (Tisri)	27-28 Sept**	Sacred Assembly - do no work	13*	2*	14*	1
2	16 Tisri	28-29 Sept		12*	2*	14*	1
3	17 Tisri	29-30 Sept		11*	2*	14*	1
4	18 Tisri	30-1 Sept/Oct		10*	2*	14*	1
5	19 Tisri	1-2 Oct		9*	2*	14*	1
6	20 Tisri	2-3 Oct		8*	2*	14*	1
7	21 Tisri	3-4 Oct		7*	2*	14*	1
8	22 Tisri	4-5 Oct	Sacred Assembly - do no work	1*	1*	7*	1
Totals				71 bulls	15 rams	105 lambs	8 goats
				225kg of flour***	32kg of flour***	111kg of flour***

*With each of the burnt offerings the following grain offering is to be made:

With each bull - 3/10 of an ephah of fine flour mixed with olive oil

With each ram - 1/5 of an ephah of fine flour mixed with olive oil

With each lamb - 1/10 of an ephah of fine flour mixed with olive oil

These offerings are in addition to the normal daily regular burnt offering and any freewill offering the people wish to make.

** In 2015 the celebration starts at twilight on 27 September. Final day ends on 5 October.

*** These values are given purely to provide an indication of the quantities we are talking about. The calculation of the amount of flour is based on 1 ephah = 22 litres; 1 litre = 4 cups; 1 cup = 120g of flour. Depending on the type of flour, humidity etc etc there could be a wide margin of error with these values - they are simply an indication of the quantity spoken of.

Watch Again

If you were at cafe church on Sunday you will know that we watched a few videos. Here's the spoken word piece that Adrian ended the service with - if you want to watch the clip of the food fight in Hook you'll need to go and find the DVD from somewhere...




An original poem by David Bowden
Artwork by Tim and Chelsi Krause 

I write to you
Poets and Martyrs 
Disciples and Daughters
Elders and Brothers
Christians and Lovers
Pastors and Teachers
Prophets and Preachers
I write to you
Leaders
That you might gather the weapons from your armories 
Grab your pulpits and mics
Your stages and lights
Your buildings and pews
Your resources be used
For the wife has been bruised 
Her body beaten and bludgeoned
She’s cheated on the man she once pursued  
For the bride has now forgotten her husband
I write to you for you have been summoned 
That you might sacrifice your church services and functions
Your evening worship and your luncheons
Bring your members by the dozens
No matter your short-comings or dysfunctions
You have been summoned to bear this insistence 
God wants to use every part of your existence 
And none of you are any different 
If your church is slowing or resurgent 
Older or but an infant
You are part of the resistance  
To stand your ground at the armies of apathy that are rising against us

I write to you because
I see Christians, but I don’t see Christ
I see people living, but not surrendering life
I see large buildings that cannot see strife
I see free salvation that is way under priced
I see a body called to poverty by wealth be enticed 
And I know you see it too, our allegiance has been spliced
Unsatisfied with the riches of the world, when God’s kingdom should have sufficed

So I write to you
Who are soon to be 
Revolutionaries
To encourage you in the cause
You will be influencing

I write to you to tell you that
You have all that you need
And that’s not another book, facility, conference, or degree
For Christ conquered death with only a tree
And if you have more than that
How much more will he want to see
You see
You have all that you need
For you have 
Breath, feet
Blood, tears
Pulse, hands
Eyes, ears
You have
Brothers, sisters
Resources, givers
A world full of sin
And a God that is bigger
You have all that you need, and 
You will need all that you have
For the life influence by Christ, cannot be given in halves
It will not spare a drop
It will not scare or stop
But will sell all it’s got for that treasure in the empty lot
You will need all you have
For you know the cost
The cause may cause you to toss away
Your money, your house
Your car, your clothes
The cause may cause you to lose all of those

You will need all you have
For you have all you need
And all you have is all he needs
For all you need is all he has

With great urgency I write this muse
For the one thing we do not have
Is an excuse 

We have Mighty God who became poor and bruised
What we do not have is an excuse
We have the Holy Spirit inhabited for God’s own use
What we do not have is an excuse
We have a sure resurrection the power of death diffused
What we do not have is an excuse
We have the words of life the greatest of news
What we do not have is an excuse

That is why I write to you this insisting issuance 
That you might lead with great prudence
To a world of darkness may we be a holy nuisance 
As we lead the cause of Christ through the power of His influence