It is unusual for Hannukkah to begin on Thanksgiving, but that is going to be the case this year.
So here is my
"Happy Thanksgivingnnukkah"
note card!
This year our family will be celebrating Hannukkah as always.
It is a little unusual for Christians to do that, but then again Christ himself made a point of attending the Feast of Dedication:
"And it was at Jerusalem the Feast of The Dedication (Hanukkah), and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch" John 10:22-23 (KJV).
Can't really come up with a good reason not to celebrate something HE celebrated!
Even our cats enjoy Hannukkah!
We originally began lighting candles because Bernie had gone to Israel before we were married and returned home with this Hannakkiah, or Hannukkah candle holder.
Once we were married, and had kids, I thought we might as well use it.
Cultural, Biblical exposure for the kids, if you know what I mean.
Candles, some chocolate coins, some spinning tops...how hard could it be to do Hannunkkah?
Later we studied some more and came to a deeper appreciation of the Feast.
You might know the back ground story:
The Greeks, and more specifically, the Greeks who were inhabiting Syria, began to persecute the Jewish population in Israel.
The persecution culminated in the Syrian Greeks entered the Jewish temple and desecrated it with pigs blood and placing a statue of the Greek god Zeus on the Temple alter for worship.
This was the final insult.
An old priest and his sons decided to fight against the Greeks.
They rallied the Jewish people.
The Syrian Greek army was the top army of the day while the Jewish people were a small population untrained in warfare.
It took more than 20 years but eventually the Jews won.
The first thing they did after defeating the Syrian Greeks was to re-enter the Temple, cleanse it, and light the Glory lamp that shone day and night.
They only had a sparse amount of the kind of refined oil needed for that lamp and it would take eight days to make more pure oil.
The sparse amount miraculously burned eight days.
Sometimes I wonder what it would take for us to finally fight back when our Holy places are desecrated.
I think we Christians are a very small band now and our spiritual warfare skills are weak.
Hannukkah reminds me to trust in God.
As we light the lights, we remember...
"And God said: Let there be Light"
"There was a pillar of Light by night"
"I am the Light of the World"
"You are the Light of the World"
The scriptures are full of phrases about Light.
Each night as we light our candles, we mediated on Light, from the Creation of Light in Genesis, until the Light that replaces the Sun and the Moon in Revelation.
The Battle against Evil has been won.
And yet we are still in the midst of the battle.
I am already getting excited about our Hannukkah celebration this year!
Maybe this year you will want to enjoy Light along with your Thanksgiving!
I am linking to Vee's Note Card Party, do drop by her blog and enjoy seeing what other "note card" photos folks are sharing this month!
5 comments:
If I can I choose to go through the line where the Jewish checker is at our neighborhood grocery store. We were discussing the fact that Hannukkah falls on Thanksgiving this year. She said she refuses to make latkes on Thanksgiving...
Love your Hannukkah note cards!
Well hello! I spent a lot of time rummaging about in your archives this evening. I thought somehow that your post would be about that. Perhaps it will be after all. My post tomorrow is titled Land of Light. I don't celebrate Hanukkah as a member of The Body of Christ, though I am sure that you find much significance in your observations. Love the term you coined!
Trying to see if my comment reply function works.
I find the Jewish holy days fascinating. We don't celebrate them, but I like reading about them and how they relate to the Christian faith.
Regarding holy places - I don't want them desecrated, but I think that one of the hallmarks of Christianity is that the holiest place is within the human heart where Christ resides.
Great Hannukkah notecard pic's!
Post a Comment