Reflections on Hanukkah

Since my post "A Woman Without a Religion" I've been attending both the Messianic synagogue, and a Christian church.  This December we Celebrated both Christmas and Hanukkah, and I have to say our celebrations of Hanukkah were beautiful and brought me closer to Christ and my Messianic community.  I enjoyed Christmas and it was rather more low key and centered on Christ more than gifts and Santa, though there were gifts from relatives we are grateful for.  Hanukkah was centered on Christ as well.  It is the feast of dedication and the festival of lights.  We celebrated by dedicating our synagogue and grounds to God, our city, ourselves, and our community.  Each were separate events taking place over the course of the week of Hanukkah. 

We spent Christmas Eve at Havdalah and lighting the first candle of Hanukkah.  At Havdalah we read the story of Hanukkah to the children, about the miraculous military victory of the Maccabees over their oppressors who would not let them worship God and had desecrated their temple.  All through the story was the message, "Sometimes it only takes a few, who know what's right and do it too!"  After their victory they cleaned and rededicated the temple for eight days, and that was the first Hanukkah.  Then we drove home singing Christ centered Christmas carols and looking at Christmas lights.  It was an evening full of joyful anticipation of the coming week.

Christmas Day we opened presents and played, then headed over to rededicate the synagogue.  We marched around the perimeter of the property once then the synagogue six times while praying over it, each praying whatever God put in our hearts to pray. When we finished our march we all shouted together, "The Lord is our strength!" after playing the Shofar.  We went inside and the Rabbi invited a couple people to bare testimony, then we split into two groups and anointed each doorway with oil and prayed dedicating the room to it's purpose and praying for God to fill it with teachers and children ready to be taught, and for whatever difficulties the particular age that met in that room would face.  We gathered as a group again and the Rabbi anointed the adults present and prayed over us.  It was the most thorough dedication I'd ever experienced, the Rabbi had anointed every pew and doorway and the box that holds the Torah scroll, and other things used in the synagogue, the building as well as everything in it, was dedicated to God's service.  And while praying over each room with these other followers of Yeshua I felt more than ever that this was a community of believers God wanted me to be a part of.

Wednesday we drove around the city praying over it to cast out bad spirits relating to bad things that have happened here and inviting in the spirits of love, light, forgiveness, and life to fill the city so that the work of God could be free to move forward here.  The Rabbi taught us of the reality of spiritual warfare and the necessity it is to engage in it through prayer.  It was again a powerful, Spirit filled, meeting and event.

From Wednesday through Friday the Mikvah was open for any who wanted to privately rededicate themselves to God, and at the Friday evening service Rabbi explained the Mikvah and six of us, myself included publicly rededicated ourselves to Yeshua.  During Rabbi's sermon he talked about the change that we should expect when we go through the Mikvah, and the changes he'd seen in others as they go through immersion.  He talked about asking people questions before immersing them, and it made me a little nervous. I wondered if I could answer them honestly, I loved this community but my ultimate loyalty is to Christ.   I went through the Mikvah to rededicate myself to Yeshua, and the only questions the Rabbi asked was if I accept Yeshua as my Savior, and whether I desire to serve Him, and never turn back.  He asked nothing of my willingness to eat kosher, or pay tithes to his church, or whether I thought he was called of God to be my Rabbi.  My immersion in the waters of Mikvah only had to do with my personal commitment to Yeshua and whatever serving Him looks like for me, that I'm willing to do it.  I came out of the water filled with joy and healed of an ailment of a personal nature that had bothered me off and on for several months with every remedy I tried only bringing temporary relief.  I was then given the opportunity to bare testimony of why I'd chosen to go through the waters of Mikvah that day.  I shared my story of coming to Christ, and the things I've learned over the last year and recommitting myself to say to God that I've learned much and I'm still committed to you and I'm committed to acting on the new knowledge I've gained.  The meeting was long, but it was a meeting so filled with God that I didn't notice till getting into the car to leave, "Oh my goodness, it's late!"  It started at 7pm and went till after 10 but no one was falling asleep.  No one minded except maybe a child or two.  All were sustained by God's Spirit there in abundance.

The last night of Hanukkah was a party at Rabbi's house where we had Havdalah and also the lighting of all eight Hanukkah candles.  After dinner we also had a dedicating of us together collectively as a community to Christ by taking communion.  Rabbi Talked about building community being the purpose not just a passive congregation that sits in pews each week but doesn't actually do anything about what we are taught.  We covenanted to be a community of believers who are each in pursuit of building and contributing to that community as we are each directed by Christ.  I still don't know my role within this community God has led me to, but I know I am meant to be part of this community for my experience and learning.

My first Hanukkah was a week of holidays that brought me closer to Christ and my community of fellow believers than any holiday I had ever had before.  This week of dedications and rededications wasn't what all synagogues do, and we might not do all the same things next year even at this same synagogue, but it sure made for an amazing Christ centered Hanukkah that was just the experience I needed.