grafted in and on the journey

Hello Grafted In Readers, Today is the last day of March in my corner of blog land. Tomorrow we begin April, and according to the book of Exodus, (Shemot) it is also the month of Nisan in which the Festival of Passover occurs. Biblically speaking, Happy New Year! See Exodus chapter 12. Remember, the Hebrew calendar is lunar/solar whose months start with the appearance of the new moon. As we continue our look back at faith heritage, I want to share with you this post, a short commentary from the Website www.torah.org. It is based on the reading for this week from the Torah and in particular, Leviticus 1 through Leviticus chapter 5 verse 26. This will give you a snapshot of what this book is about and the belief of the time. ----- Note from the Director Perfection In this week’s reading, we begin the third of the 5 Books of Moses, Vayikra, or Leviticus. It was undoubtedly dubbed "Leviticus" because much of it concerns the Temple services, done by the Kohanim, the Pr...

Hello Grafted In Readers, Today is March 27, in my corner of blog land. I titled this post, Don't Know Much About History, based on a popular song in the recent past sung by various artists, which espouses romantic love as a certainty even though the lyricist claims not to be an expert in the humanities. Recently, I learned from some discussion with others that history today focuses on the reason for events as opposed to when events occurred. When we read Bible stories, there is a school of thought called Purpose History that encourages a similar approach. It encourages us to ask: Who is the audience? What are they being told? What reaction might they have to what they're being told? What is the ultimate result of this information they have received? How would you or how do you respond to this? This removes the us versus them or minimizes it. You realize human beings were living and responding to something occurring then for some reason. For example, the last three min...

Hello Grafted In Readers, Today is the second day of Spring or Autumn depending on what side of the equator one is on. I am on the side favoring Spring. I love many of you on the Autumnal side though. I appreciate a couple of you who have subscribed to my blog from the UK. A few weeks ago I subscribed to the Weekly Prayer Letter by author and teacher, Joseph Shulam. He is based in Israel, and has an international ministry but this particular newsletter has been of interest. I share the content with you as it fits in our current look at faith heritage. I title this post, Looking At Words, because that is what this reflection by Mr. Shulam is largely about. I hope you enjoy and are also informed. ------- The Jerusalem Prayer List – February 23, 2017 By Joseph Shulam  – From Belo-Horizonte, Brazil We have been in Brazil for a week.  In the city of Vitoria we had the privilege of inaugurating a new congregation.  The name of the new congregation is Hesed V’Emet – Grace and Truth.  ...

Hello Grafted In Readers, Today is March 15 in my corner of blog land, historically known as the Eides of March. On this historic date before the common era, Roman ruler Julius Caesar was put to death as he was deemed to be too dictatorial for what several wanted from Roman rule. They wanted more leniency from Government. Several decades later, during the latter part of the first century when the Messianic believers were both consisting of Jew and non-Jew, customs and culture were being worked out. Most worshipped on the Sabbath, and many observed the "law of Moses" as it defined moral and ethical behavior toward humanity and personal regard and reverence for G-d. According to an online article titled "Understanding Acts 15" by Robert Clanton from www.auburn.edu, he notes there are two types of gentiles, non-Jews, described throughout the Bible. -Proselytes: This person is also called the "sojourner" as he might be regarded as Jewish in religion. The...

Hello Grafted In Readers, Today is Monday in my corner of Blog Land. A taste of winter has returned to my corner or region of blog land, and some parts are anticipated to receive major amounts of snow over the next couple of days. Our previous month had several days of above normal temperatures and now we are being reminded that the season of Spring is yet to arrive. Meantime, we continue looking at faith practice in the light of Jewish heritage. Today our thoughts are courtesy of an article by Messianic Rabbi, Russ Resnik, from The Messianic Times. It is titled, Purim, Passover and the Hidden Messiah "Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Isaiah 53:1 Citing Rabbi Resnik, "The phrase, the arm of the Lord, normally describes the mighty and undeniable acts of God. It reminds us of Passover, when God revealed himself openly to Israel and Egypt by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Isaiah says that "He is one fro...

Hello Grafted In Readers, Today is Friday, and at sunset, the weekly Sabbath will begin in our corners of the world. This has occurred each week since creation for an estimated 5771 years. As mentioned in my last post, we are going to spend a few posts looking at our Jewish heritage as persons who practice faith. It is a vast subject, and one that we can only brush against here. If you are curious and pressed for time, start by perusing Bible History Daily from the Website, Biblical Archaeology Society, or grab a copy of their magazine, Biblical Archaeology Review and read some articles inside. I was given an online membership to the Website by my family, and found a very interesting article at Bible History Daily under the Beginnings of Christianity where I would like to begin our look today. About six years ago, officials in the country of Turkey announced that through ground-penetration radar, a well-preserved large church building had been located. This church is in Laodicea,...