In celebration of Rosh Hashanah we would like to share this video with you. The video was taken at the 8th annual Joy Conference and has over 60,000 hits. Discussion threads are on youtube.com/joyconference and lengthy. Apparently some hate it and some love it. Well, we love God and we love Israel and we love to worship God. This is a valid expression of adoration to Adonai. After all the talk, I wrote my final thoughts down and published it to our blog http://duncanwendy.blogspot.com - This is what I posted: There is a blessing when brothers dwell together in unity. Some have unrighteously critisized us for worshiping together in Messianic dance. We are in fact Jews and Chritians who have found our common ground and believe in Y'shua (Jesus) as the Messiah (Christ.) This is my heartfelt response to the YouTube blog on the video posted above. Let me paint a picture for you. There is a girl holding a bowl of fruit. This fruit is precious and contains the blessings of Shabbat, the warmth of Sukkot, the joy of Pesach, the healing of Yom Kippur, the light of Hanukkah, the beauty of Purim, the redemption of Passover, and the song of Rosh Hashanah. The girl relished these fruits. They are her very heart and soul. These are the works of God which she can eat and digest and become fulfilled in Adonai. Then comes along a Jew who thinks they are superior. This pious child calls her a "goyim" and rips her very spiritual sustenance away. The fruit falls to the ground and the Jew curses her as undeserving and wretched. The girl lay crying in the dust rejected and abused. Then she sees one piece of fruit left in the bowl, but it is the sourness of Tish B'Av. She picks herself up and wipes her tear stained face picking up the bitter fruit. Though unedible she wraps her hands around the fruit and puts it close to her heart. She understands that she should never treat anyone with such contempt as was done to her. The name of the girl with the fruit is "Ruth-through-the-ages." She lives within every one of us redeemed kinsmen who say, "I will go where you go and your God will be my God." Truly, it would have been better for the Jew to welcome her sister than to rot away with jealousy. To those who would try to crush the journey of God's children is lost in their own darkness. The Rabbi, Y'shua Ha Mashiac said that whoever causes one of these little ones to stumble, it is better for him that a heavey millstone be hung around his nec, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea." Of course, He is figuratively speaking to get His point across. The fact is that those who are grafted into the root of Jesse are no less a part of God that the original natural branches. Neither branch should be arrogant against the other. Each branch is being drawn to the root, to the truth, to love, and to understanding. There are many people in this world who are Jewish and never know it. Others find out about their family later in life having never set a foot in a synagogue. Others are Jewish and find that in fact Y'shua is the Messiah and realize to believe in Him does not mean conversion or leaving their faith. Then there are people of different cultures who through Y'shua and the law of God being writen upon their hearts observe Torah. There are many kinds from many backgrounds and that doesn't really matter. It's not where we've been that counts, but where we are going. What matters is if we have become a new creation in Him and our sins are forgiven. Have some of the branches (on both sides) gone far away from the root? The answer is, "Yes," and many are trainted by the pagan rituals of the world and have not kept what is holy, pure. Still, the Lord is calling us out of those things and drawing us into more of Him. Let us love without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil and cling to what is good.
There is a blessing when brothers dwell together in unity. Some have unrighteously critisized us for worshiping together in Messianic dance. We are in fact Jews and Chritians who have found our common ground and believe in Y'shua (Jesus) as the Messiah (Christ.) This is my heartfelt response to the YouTube blog on the video posted above.
Let me paint a picture for you. There is a girl holding a bowl of fruit. This fruit is precious and contains the blessings of Shabbat, the warmth of Sukkot, the joy of Pesach, the healing of Yom Kippur, the light of Hanukkah, the beauty of Purim, the redemption of Passover, and the song of Rosh Hashanah. The girl relished these fruits. They are her very heart and soul. These are the works of God which she can eat and digest and become fulfilled in Adonai.
Then comes along a Jew who thinks they are superior. This pious child calls her a "goyim" and rips her very spiritual sustenance away. The fruit falls to the ground and the Jew curses her as undeserving and wretched. The girl lay crying in the dust rejected and abused. Then she sees one piece of fruit left in the bowl, but it is the sourness of Tish B'Av. She picks herself up and wipes her tear stained face picking up the bitter fruit. Though unedible she wraps her hands around the fruit and puts it close to her heart. She understands that she should never treat anyone with such contempt as was done to her.
The name of the girl with the fruit is "Ruth-through-the-ages." She lives within every one of us redeemed kinsmen who say, "I will go where you go and your God will be my God." Truly, it would have been better for the Jew to welcome her sister than to rot away with jealousy.
To those who would try to crush the journey of God's children is lost in their own darkness. The Rabbi, Y'shua Ha Mashiac said that whoever causes one of these little ones to stumble, it is better for him that a heavey millstone be hung around his nec, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea." Of course, He is figuratively speaking to get His point across.
The fact is that those who are grafted into the root of Jesse are no less a part of God that the original natural branches. Neither branch should be arrogant against the other. Each branch is being drawn to the root, to the truth, to love, and to understanding.
There are many people in this world who are Jewish and never know it. Others find out about their family later in life having never set a foot in a synagogue. Others are Jewish and find that in fact Y'shua is the Messiah and realize to believe in Him does not mean conversion or leaving their faith. Then there are people of different cultures who through Y'shua and the law of God being writen upon their hearts observe Torah. There are many kinds from many backgrounds and that doesn't really matter. It's not where we've been that counts, but where we are going. What matters is if we have become a new creation in Him and our sins are forgiven.
Have some of the branches (on both sides) gone far away from the root? The answer is, "Yes," and many are trainted by the pagan rituals of the world and have not kept what is holy, pure. Still, the Lord is calling us out of those things and drawing us into more of Him. Let us love without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil and cling to what is good.