This week provides a great opportunity to do that.
For some time I have found a verse in Ezra really highlighted and so will share the findings for anyone who would like to ponder it further.
Ezra 3:6 (and you will need to read the surrounding chapters to get the full context of this) "On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord's temple had not yet been laid."
The people of Israel were doing what they could, with what they had, where they were, in that moment in time. We can do exactly the same - too often we are held back by some idea that we can't move until everything is perfect and in place - this means that much actually never comes to pass!
In terms of the Hebrew calendar, the first day of the seventh month (1 Tishri) is the first day of a new sacred year. This takes place on Thursday 29 September 2011. It is marked by the blowing of the ram's horn and known as the Feast of Trumpets. This is a call to prepare for the Day of Atonement which comes 10 days later - a solemn period of cleansing and preparation. Five days after Yom Kippur begins the Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth) - a time of remembrance of the tent dwelling during the Exodus, and a celebration of the fruit harvest.
These were feasts ordained by God to bring His people together before Him in repentance, remembrance, and rejoicing.
As many of us find ourselves in a time of change, it is good to remember that there are patterns and experiences set out for us in God's Word.
Perhaps the most useful thing we can remember in this season is that God's endings are also new beginnings. He closes off the old to bring us into the new. He Himself is the 'first and last, the beginning and the end' and the 'finisher of our faith'.
He has shown us a process He works through with all of us that will be like a lamp to our path to show us the way through this current time.
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