Ministry Adventures with Cathy

OCTOBER 2016 Ask your Jewish friends about their recently observed holy days: Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), Sukkot* (Feast of Tabernacles).   Ask them how they honored these three feasts in the seventh month on their religious calendar.   Show them that you are interested in them.   And, aren’t we?   As I write, my Jewish friends are celebrating the joyous holiday of Sukkot, which is the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:33-43).  The festivities began this year, 2016, at sundown on Oct. 16 th and will continue until sundown on Oct. 23 rd .  Sukkot occurs five days following Yom Kippur.  Sukkot is the final ingathering of the harvest.  What a joyous gala…and one that is hugely significant, Biblically speaking!  The eternal message: once again, God Who dwells with us, has provided!  Do your Jewish friends know this truth? I love to talk about Sukkot with Jewish people.  Of course I do…...

SEPTEMBER 2016 As I was saying. . .I love Autumn!!  Yes, I know, at the time of this writing, we continue in the season of summer.  But, Autumn’s a’comin’!!  I say that rather confidently.  And I smile at the thought of cooler temps, the one street in Phoenix with golden leaves on the trees, and pumpkins on display in grocery stores.  I can, however, PROCLAIM with utmost confidence and certainty that JESUS is coming!  And my heart is ablaze with HOPE and JOY!  And , it is Elul!!??   REALLY?  What’s an “Elul?”  Elul is a month on the Jewish calendar which began on Sept. 4 th this year and will end on Oct. 2 nd when Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) begins and Jewish people observe what they label as the “10 Days of Awe” – between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  Well, you’re most likely thinking, “It’s all Greek to me.”  My response, “No, it’s Hebrew!”  But, bottom line: what’s the big deal?  Answer: ...

I LOVE August!  Don’t you?  Each year I feel a sense of excitement when I turn the calendar page to August.  I’m serious!  Why am I so jazzed when August hits?  I know that autumn is just around the corner.  I truly LOVE autumn.  I so enjoy the fall landscape with the plethora of color, the briskness in the air, and the smell of fireplaces.  Well…I’m remembering years past…in NY!  In Arizona…southern Arizona specifically…we don’t have a bevy of colored leaves adorning the trees.  Actually, we have one street in Phoenix that you can travel going south, in and around December, and marvel at the golden leaves on the trees!  And then you can turn around and travel north on that same street and continue to gaze!  It’s worth it!   I wouldn’t describe our temperatures in the Phoenix metro area in the fall as brisk.  The mercury during the day in September/October continues to hover around the triple digits.  B...

“A MONTH?”  I couldn’t believe it.  “We’re going to be gone a MONTH?”  When I realized the dates of the ministry schedule in NJ with speaking engagements at Bible studies and churches… following the Chosen People Ministries conference in the latter part of June in Virginia, I was ON EDGE!!  What does ON EDGE mean?  I didn’t put too much thought into what ON EDGE means.  At least I didn’t feel as if I was OVER THE EDGE.  At the time, pre-trip, I was focused on the fact that there’s no lull within the Jewish ministry during the summer in AZ.  Yet, it was almost clear that God was leading us to travel back East, by car, to attend the conference and to engage in Jewish ministry activities in NJ and possibly in NY.  “Almost clear”?  The timeframe was throwing me into the wondering mode.  OK, another vague expression… wondering mode .  Wondering about what?  About God’s wisdom in His leading?  Hold the presses !!!...

Upon hearing that I’m a missionary and that I share Jesus with Jewish people, an acquaintance of mine commented, “Oh, you must not have that much to do”!!!!???? Jewish ministry is NOT “ho-hum.”  Come travel with me during a typical “on the road” day.  Our festivities begin at a central Phoenix retirement center with a large Jewish population.  We gather with Sadie, the Jewish Activities Director, and 60 plus Jewish people.  During our time together, we enjoy skits, singing, dancing, and a teaching from the word of God.  Jesus is shared! Because Esther, my Russian Jewish Jehovah’s Witness friend, lives near the central Phoenix retirement community, I drive to her home and knock on her door.  We bond in the midst of going round and round about Jesus! Leaving Esther’s house with a royal headache, I travel to Essie’s nail salon.  A friend of mine had given me a gift certificate for a manicure with Essie for the express purpose of speaking ...

God gave the children of Israel the Feasts of the Lord to point them to the Messiah Jesus.  Seven weeks from, or on the 50 th day following Jesus’ resurrection, Jewish people celebrate the Feast of Shavuot.  Shavuot means “weeks” in Hebrew.  Thus, this holiday is also called the Feast of Weeks.  Believers in Jesus know this day, 50 days following Jesus’ resurrection, as Pentecost.  Pentecost in Greek means “50.”  This year the Church celebrated Pentecost on May 15 th .  Pentecost, the birth of the Church, is connected to a Jewish feast?  Really? Acts 2:5 tells us that there were in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, Jews - devout men from every nation under heaven.  They gathered to celebrate the Feast of Weeks.  According to Jewish tradition, the Feast of Weeks commemorates the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Jesus had told the disciples directly before He ascended into heaven that they were not to depart ...

PASSOVER IS WHEN? Guess what?  Passover is this week – beginning at sundown on Friday, April 22 nd .  How does that work?  “Resurrection Sunday” was celebrated on March 27 th !!! Didn’t Jesus and His disciples gather for their last PASSOVER Seder on earth the night before Jesus was crucified?  Shouldn’t Easter – “Resurrection Sunday” - be celebrated after Passover?  Yes!  In fact, Scripture teaches that Jesus was crucified ON the day of Passover.  Matt. 26:2 – You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.  He rose three days later.             So – what happened this year?  Have we celebrated Jesus’ resurrection prior to observing His crucifixion? The Jewish religious calendar is lunar with several leap years incorporated seven times over the course of a 19-year cycle.  The leap years allow for Chanukah alway...