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.