Day of Prayer and Fasting 3

Matthew 28:19-20 - Making and Baptising

Today is the third of our days of prayer and fasting - focusing on God's vision for CBC and reflecting on Jesus' words at the end of Matthew's gospel we see that Jesus calls us to go and make disciples.

In Matthew 28 - we see that being a disciple involves making disciples.

Last week we were thinking about being sent out into the world, about existing for the benefit of those who are not a part of the church. Jesus calls us to be people who are characterised by love -people who see a need and who will want to respond, to help - in practical ways.

One of the biggest mistakes we can make in our lives as disciples of Jesus is to separate out the ‘spiritual’ from the ‘practical’ - because this distinction leads us down lots of roads that ultimately prove to be dead-ends. We don’t meet a homeless person’s need for a warm drink in order to earn the right to try and convert them. We love them and therefore meet their need - needs which go deeper than what we can see on the outside.

Human beings are complex - the physical, the spiritual, the mental, the emotional…it’s all tied up together. And our needs are often complex too.

I wonder how often we see a need - let’s keep with the homeless person - and thought “if only I had £100, a £1,000 … if I won the lottery and had £1,000,000 - just think how much I could do”. But what do we have?

We can introduce people to Jesus. Surely one of the things that we believe is that until a person encounters and follows Jesus their ultimate needs are never going to be met. Therefore whatever else we may be able to offer - nothing comes close to a relationship with Jesus.

And that means bringing a person to a place of decision. In terms of the Discipleship Scale it’s about moving from B to C.

And so whatever else we may be doing as a church - where and how are we providing people with that challenge and opportunity to make this step?

Numbers - first Leviticus and now this...

This coming Sunday (as with the past two and next week) we're going to be in the Old Testament book of Numbers. This term we're going on a journey with the people of Israel 'From Sinai to the Promised Land'. A journey that should have taken a few weeks ends up taking 40 years...

If you've never read Numbers, or would struggle to provide a summary of what the book is about - then you're in good company. But here's another helpful video from The Bible Project that gives a short overview of the whole Book and where it fits in the Bible.

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.