"Prayer in schools"? and a cool story

"NO PRAYER IN SCHOOLS!"

"SEPERATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!!!"

"THERE SHOULD BE NO TEN COMMANDMENTS!!"

"NO RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES...DURING LEARNING HOURS!!"

I am sure I could list a lot more things that people scream when it comes to religious stuff in schools.

i think about who is yelling for such religious boundaries.

Is it parents? teachers? politicians :)? very high paid people in the educational system?

or the students? - who really should have a say in their religous beliefs and whose freedoms we are determing and taking away. right? Wasn't our country founded on relgious freedom and freedom of speech? Wasn't England trying to do the same thing to us?

I find it kind of funny. I am taking a class on diversity...finding out how the country/state desires for us to teach diversity, be accepting, integrate different cultures and people into the classroom and yet our teaching is in words and not actions. the one thing we are telling our students to do in words, we as adults can't model in actions. So, what are we really teaching our students?

I don't know...all I have to say is that I don't think there will ever be a seperation of church and state...I mean look at our history and what socities and civilizations were built on. A belief in something spiritual...a higher being. I don't think there will ever be an elimination of prayer in schools either.

and it is passioante people who live out what they believe in, that will cause my preditions to be true!!

I saw one of the coolest things the other day. i was walking into a school to substitute teach a class. OGTs were going on this week...tests that need to be passed in order to graduate. It was a class of Seniors and some of them still needed to pass some of there OGT tests. If they didn't pass...they would not graduate.
It was freakin awesome!! Some of the other students gathered these seniors (that needed to pass the tests) and gathered some of the teachers together to pray for these students/seniors that needed to pass the OGT. the students that prayed...didn't just pray an empty prayer, but a passionate, loving, heart felt prayer to a G-D you could tell they believed in and for people they really cared about.

sounds like prayer in schools...isn't a bad things. in fact maybe even makes our world a better place?

Purim is a great reason to party

We have so many holidays now days, but so many of our holidays don't have any meaning or miss the heart as to why we celebrate them. They become boring, meaningless, and are empty. But, it has been fun to revisit the heart of holidays that we celebrate or to begin to celebrate holidays that have powerful meaning and heart behind why they are celebrated. Recently, Sarah and I have been really getting into the Jewish roots of our faith. As disciples of Jesus, we desire to celebrate some of their meaningful holidays with the Jesus twist to them (which really is not a twist because he fits in just perfectly - i mean...Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies that the Jewish people were looking for.)

anyway, Sarah and I recently saw the movie "A night with a King" in the theatre, which is the story of Esther in movie form (pretty good movie) and so we began to read the book of Esther in the Bible. We came across a holiday that the Jewish people would celebrate and so we began to look into the heart of this holiday or custom called Purim. We liked it: the heart was to celebrate G-Ds faithfulness and protection.

So, we decided to celebrate Purim and invited a ton of people to join us for this celebration. All I have to say is that this holiday has been a ton of fun. Here is what we found out behind the heart of Purim and some of the traditions/customs we decided to follow:

Purim is a time for us to rejoice, worship, and celebrate G-D’s protection and faithfulness for his people.

What is Purim?

Quick Heart: In the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on its thirteenth day…on the day that the enemies of the Jews were expected to prevail over them, it was turned about: the Jews prevailed over their adversaries. (Esther 9:1)

And they gained relief on the fourteenth, making it a day of feasting and gladness. – Esther 9:17

[Mordecai instructed them] to observe them as day of feasting and gladness, and sending delicacies to one another, and gifts to the poor. – Esther 9:22

Purim is a time when Jews gather together to fast and celebrate in remembrance of G-Ds faithfulness and protection. It is a time where Jews would give gifts to the poor, deliver baskets of food to friends, read the book of Esther (hiss, boo and use noise makers when the name of Haman is mentioned), dress up in costume, fast, “drink until one cannot tell the difference between “cursed be Haman” and “Blessed be Mordecai” (ancient Rabbi’ have said), Feast and Rejoice.

How we celebrate Purim

Fasting

In Esther 4, Mordecai finds out that Haman has put out a decree to have the Jews annihilated. Mordecai then urges Esther to go into the king's presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people. Esther knows that anyone that goes before the king without being summoned, runs the risk of being put to death. So, Esther sends a message to Mordecai saying, “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." (Esther 4:16).

The day before Purim, the Jews observe a fast day in memory of Esther who asked the Jews to fast for three days before she risked approaching the king. A fast day usually begins at dawn and ends at nightfall. It also consists of no eating, drinking, washing, or engaging in sexual activity (pregnant and nursing women do not have to fast on this day.)

So, we ask that you join us on March 3^rd (the day before Purim) to take a day to fast and remember G-D and his continual faithfulness to His people.

Lookin forward to paryin with all of you…

Oh Yeah…I also forgot last week to talk about why we drink wine on Purim…very quickly…we drink wine on Purim because it was during a wine feast that Haman’s plan was revealed.

Giving Gifts to the Poor

In the book of Ester, Haman (the king’s right hand man), sent out a decree that on a certain day, all the Jews should be destroyed (Ester 3:8-15). Through prayer, fasting, and faith, Ester, along with Mordecai and other faithful Jews, pleaded for G-D to intercede on behalf of his people so that the Jews (G-D’s people) would be saved. God demonstrated his faithfulness to His people as he used Ester and Mordecai to offer the protection that was needed as they triumphed over there enemies.

-- At the end of the book of Ester, Mordecai commands the Jews “to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor. (Ester 9:22b)”. Since the time of Ester, the Jews (G-D’s people) have traditionally given gifts to the poor in order to honor this command and as an example of how G-D continues to remain faithful and take care of their needs. So, we continue to honor this command by taking time to give to the poor and remembering that G-D continues to remain faithful and take care of our needs.

Action: So, for the next couple of weeks lets take time as a community (G-D’s people) to think about how we can continue this tradition as we celebrate Purim. Lets aim for taking a collection on the day we celebrate Purim (march 4^th) and then think of ways that we can use that money to give it radically to people who need it.

Examples:

- take the money we would save on food, during the day we fast and give it to the poor

- take the money and do a soup kitchen thing and donate it to them for the food

- send it to Africa to help an orphanage

- find a begger on the street and give it to them

- take someone who is poor shopping

Pray about what G-D wants us to do with that money and then lets give it away!!!!!!!!!!!!

As we continue our journey into the heart of why we are celebrating Purim, we are going to take a look at two traditions that are usually a part of the Purim celebration; the reading of the Megilah along with Feasting and Rejoicing.

The reading of the Megilah

It is Jewish custom for G-D’s people to gather during Purim and read the Megilah. The book of Esther is commonly known as the Megilah, which means scroll. Although there are five books of Jewish scripture that are properly referred to as Megilahs, this is the one people usually mean when they speak of the Megilah. Traditionally, G-D’s people will read the Megilah the night before and on the morning of Purim. It is customary to boo, hiss, stamp, and rattle gragers (noisemakers – in Hebrew they are called Ra’ashanim meaning “to make a lot of noise) whenever the name of Haman is mentioned. The purpose of this custom is to “blot out the name of Haman”

We are going to continue this tradition as we gather on the evening of Purim (march 4^th @ 5:30) and take time to read the Megilah together before we feast and party.

Feasting and Rejoicing (Esther 9:17, Esther 9:21-22)

It is also Jewish custom for G-D’s people to eat, drink, and be merry. According to the Talmud, a person is required to drink until he cannot tell the difference between “cursed be Haman” and “blessed be Mordecai” (Although this is true, a person should not become so drunk that he might violate other commandments or get seriously ill). There is no special food (except for Hamantashen- will explain later) or special rules behind the feasting or rejoicing… Just to have fun being together and to celebrate G-D’s faithfulness and protection.

We are also going to continue this custom as we gather together to feast and rejoice as we celebrate G-D’s protection and faithfulness in our own lives. We are using the heart of Purim to remind us that G-D has continually remained faithful to His people throughout time. As we celebrate we plan on hanging out, reflecting on G-D faithfulness, playing games, and just having a ton of fun celebrating together as G-D’s people. We encourage you to bring food and drink to share and if you have any games to add to the fun we encourage you to bring those as well.

Why do we drink wine? Esther invited Haman to a wine banquet to bring Haman down.

Giving Gifts to one another:

In the book of Esther, Mordecai declared the holiday of Purim as a time of “feasting and gladness and of sending food to one another, as well as gifts to the poor”

Because of this, it is custom for the Jewish people to send food packages or food baskets to friends and relatives on Purim. The only requirement is that the baskets contain at least two different foods that require two separate blessings (something edible and drinkable) with no further preparation, and that you send them to at least two different people. If at all possible the gifts should be sent by messengers, rather than delivered personally because the Megilah uses the word Mishloach (sending)….these baskets are usually sent on the day of Purim

In order to continue this Purim custom we ask that everyone choose at least two people whom they can send baskets of food to on Purim or the day before Purim. Why? Mostly because it just seems like a fun custom that continues with the heart of Purim and will make for a lot of very cool stories. Kind of like a ding-dong-ditch with food J all in the name of G-D.

Masks

It is customary to hold carnival-like celebrations on Purim, to perform plays and parodies, to dress up like characters in the Esther story, and to hold beauty contests. Because of this, we thought that it would be fun to wear masks to the celebration to remind us that Esther hid her true identity, but that there was no need for her to. Why? Because of G-Ds amazing faithfulness and protection. Maybe during the celebration we can have a mask unveiling and a time of prayer!

So we ask that you bring and or wear your mask to the Purim celebration on Sunday night.

that is the heart behind purim and the adventure we took with other people that passionatly love Jesus!!

IT WAS SOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOW......I CAN'T WAIT FOR PASSOVER