#023

♫ BIND US TOGETHER, LORD, WITH LOVE ♫

                                                                     graphic by Melvyn
Jews and Christians
Old and New
Hand in Hand to the Promised Land

Do you see what I see?  Does your world seem a little strange now?  Different somehow?  But you are not quite sure what the difference is or how it handle it?
          Is something going on so powerful that our eyes and hearts are being drawn toward Israel, our own roots in the Old testament and our gratitude for the New?  Are we wondering where we fit in with all of this?
          Did we plan this, or did it just seem to happen?  That is, the interest many are having in Israel at this time?  Was this our idea, or is it Gods?

BIND US TOGETHER LORD,
WITH LOVE

          For years, I sang that chorus.  Perhaps you did too, as something in our hearts wanted everyone to love each other.  Maybe you were a child wanting your parents and family to love each other.  Later, you may have prayed that song as a prayer that you and your spouse would be bound together in love.  At times, you prayed that the members of your local church would be bound together in Love.

♫ Bind us together, Lord,
Bind us together,
With hearts that cannot be broken.
Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together,
Bind us together with Love.

There is only one Body,
There is only one King.
There is only one Father,
That is why we can sing.

Bind us together with Love. ♫

SO
Is that what God is doing
TODAY?
 (ha-yom=היום )

          Are the Jews and Christians crossing the gap of the Great Sea, sharing their bread (xala), celebrating Passover…together in their own ways?  Oh, my goodness, we have so much to share with each other.

AMERICA

          While we, as little children, were singing, “Tell me the story of Jesus; write on my heart every word.  Tell me the story of Jesus; sweetest that ever was heard….”, the Jewish children were memorizing great passages of scripture from the Old Testament.

EVERY  CHILD?

          No.  Of course not.  Neither in Israel nor the United States, or other countries.  But, some were…like a remnant.

SO MUCH FLAVOR

          So much flavor has been lost through the years because we know so little of each others’ understanding of Passover.
          But, today (ha-yom) it appears that our Lord Himself…is placing on our plates kosher (good, clean, meaningful) food from the Old Testament.  And, on their plates refreshing celebrations of freedom food from what our Lord has taught us in the New Covenant.
          Yes, He seems to be connecting the Old with the New…Binding us together in Love.

THE HAGGADA
Of
PASSOVER

Hebrew haggdâ, narration, telling,

So, it means to tell a story.
And boy, do we have a great one to tell!

          The story of the Exodus from Egypt.  We know today that this story was a real natural event and continues to have special meaning for us today…since we received Jesus and He delivered us out of our bondage to sin.
          Yesterday, I received a most precious gift from my dear neighbor and sister in the Lord, Deene Felder.  Of course it was God through her loving, giving hands.  She will be going to Israel next month and is aware of how our Lord has peaked our interest in Israel.
          The gift is a most unique children’s book (about my speed in Hebrew…ha), from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.  It has pop-up pictures, if you remember them.  It has large Hebrew letters and explains things in English.

Their word HAGGADA means to Tell A Story.
הגדד

THE  BANQUET

  
          Oh my, the aroma and beauty of such a combined banquet is almost overwhelming.  It’s obvious we cannot eat it all at one sitting.  Nor, do I presume that we ever will until we get to Heaven.
          But, oh, taste and see that our Lord is good. (Psalms 34:8). for his mercy [endureth] for ever.  (I Chronicles 16:34).
          We pray, Lord, that when our Jewish neighbors visit at the table You have placed before us, they will SEE and become so excited about the Good News that You, our Messiah, have already come and prepared a way for them into their promised land.
GREAT  REJOICING
          Then, as they celebrate the end of their Feast of the Passover, they will sing and dance as David did…with greater JOY than they ever have before.
THANK YOU, LORD
          For Binding Us Together with Love…
                   the OLD and the NEW _
                             the ETERNAL _
Promised and fulfilled by Your son Jesus Christ – Our Mesiah.

If I could, I would draw two little people walking across the center of this cross…hand in hand…bound together with Love.

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