A Dramatic Reading for Atonement Day
Yes, I know Yom Kippur is over. I know it well. In fact, I have a sore lower back from sleeping on a mild slope in our tent last night as we celebrate Sukkot by camping out together here in…
The Four Parts of Atonement, a Yom Kippur Sermon
It’s the night before Sukkot Eve (the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles). For the Leman family, Sukkot starts early. My wife has been packing all day. I’ve spent hours at the stores buying what we need for our Sukkah and…
Two Dwellings: A Story of Epic Proportions
The following story is about the larger story behind all that we see. It is about two dwellings of God with us. It is about the Holy of Holies and the Cross. ………………………….. In the beginning there was just HaShem….
Wicked Manasseh and Repentance
Okay, this is also a sermon . . . WAIT, don’t leave. It’s a busy week for a congregational leader. I promise I will not turn this blog into a forum for my sermons, but I think this one is…
Do We Want Messiah Badly Enough?
Okay, this was my Rosh HaShanah sermon . . . WAIT! Don’t leave just because it’s a sermon. Give it a chance. It might interest you. There
A Graceful Prayer, 3,000 Years Old
Repentance and introspection are the theme as we approach Yom Kippur on Saturday. Today my mind is on an ancient prayer of repentance. Its meaning may be surprising to some, who are of the strange opinion that grace started in…
High Holidays Question: Does Grace Cancel Holiness?
We are in the ten days of awe between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. This is a time of introspection, spiritual inventory, and preparation for great repentance on Yom Kippur (this year it will be Saturday, September 22). Several things…
Some Oldies, but Goodies
Shalom all: I’m having more fun with family this Rosh HaShanah than should be allowed. In an ironic twist, several of our families chose an unusual place to cast our sins on the water yesterday in a Tashlich ceremony: a…
Unholy Habits and High Holidays
Unholy habits. Addictions. Sins that enslave. Sins permitted and overlooked because of familiarity. I once spent several weeks getting to know an addiction support group at one of Atlanta’s mega-churches. I was impressed. The leader of the work was a…
Tobit and the Jewishness of the New Testament
I am developing a series of articles here on Messianic Musings about the writings of Second Temple Judaism that we call the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha. These writings, which date from after the time of the Hebrew Bible and until…
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