Tuesday, November 22, 2011

11/22 : Passover and the Fifth Cup (Elijah's Cup)

Video today: "The Fifth Cup".

short excerpt:

Look for:

What is a gethsemane?
What is Leyl Shimmurim?
What is the Fifth Cup?

Class discussion on "loaded words":
"watch": watch this word when it shows us on Scripture ; link it to Exodus Watch Night, Jesus and disciples "watching: in the garden...and :watching for Jesus return (even in Scriptures like Col 4:2)

"cup": When you see this word, think of all you learned in the video and readings about the cup of judgement/damnation

"It is finished": one early tradition about what Jesus meant by these words are "The cup is finished (I drank it all, all the wrath and judgement of God". Bit since the line comes from Psalm 22, and since Jesus clearly quoted the first line of Psalm 22 on the cross ("My God, why have you forsaken me?," He could have been quoting this line from the Psalm as well.

Rom 9:1-3: Paul says he'd go to hell (take the cup) for his Jewish brothers and sisters if he could..

But he knows he doesn't have to, because he knows who did.

-Study guide on today's video, p. 225ff here

Some thoughts on today's video from Jay Guin

Faith Lessons by Ray Vander Laan: The Fifth Cup
Posted by Jay Guin
The Lord’s Supper was instituted as part of a Passover meal. The Passover, of course, celebrates God’s deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage.
By the time of Jesus, the meal was celebrated with four cups of wine, each reflecting a promise of God made to Moses and Israel at the beginning of their delverance –

(Exo 6:5-8) “Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.’”
RVL finds that at least three of the cups were recorded in the Gospels’ account of the Last Supper.

Imagine Jesus presiding over the Last Supper, a traditional Passover meal that gives new significance to each cup. In the traditional Passover meal, the head of the household would recite each promise from God with each cup.
The first cup, preceding the meal, is the Cup of Sanctification – based on God’s statement, “I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians”
The second cup, preceding the first course, is the Cup of Judgment or Deliverance — based on God’s statement, “I will deliver you from slavery to them”

(Luke 22:17) After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you.”
Drink!
The family would then take the meal together, followed by the third cup, the Cup of Redemption – based on God’s statement, “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm”

(Luke 22:20) In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”
Drink!
The fourth cup is the Cup of Protection – based on God’s statement, “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God.” In fact, pesach, translated Passover, most literally means “protection.”
Drink!
Jesus did not take this cup, forfeiting the Passover, God’s protection against the death angel. Instead, he said,

(Mat 26:29) I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Although Jesus drank no more wine, he did drink from another cup. You see, the traditional Passover has a fifth cup, taken from Jeremiah –

(Jer 25:15-17) This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.” 17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it:
This is the cup of God’s wrath, also known as Elijah’s cup. Malachi prophesied that Elijah would return shortly before the coming of the Messiah and day of God’s wrath against all wickedness.

(Mal 4:5) “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.”
At this part of the Passover ceremony, the door is opened, and the head of household says, “Pour out your wrath on the world!”
In the traditional ceremony, this cup is filled but not drunk — not until the coming of Elijah. But Jesus drank the cup.

(Mat 26:39-42) Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” … 42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath against the nations. -Jay Guinn, link

-------
More:
A rabbi's perspective here

Elijah's cup (Judaism)

www.wholetthejewsout.com

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Path, Journey, Desert, Lifewalk, Wilderness, Timeline..or Destination?

Great conversation today, gang!

We started by talking about several movies that all share a theme of "our lives are more cinnected/interconnected than we think/realize." We mentioned

Crash
13 Conversations About One thing
"Magnolia"
Can you name a few others? ("Girl Walks into a Bar" and Short Cuts and (one of my favories, "Grand Canyon")

We noticed that several of these had Bible references, even Exodus references.
There are some obvious Exodus reference in Magnolia...sometimes someone even holds up as a sign with Exodus chapter and verse:

Even a plague of frogs:

So..question: why, in our generation,. so many films like this?

So.. wuestion. what's the connection between Exodus themes and the "our lives are more cinnected/interconnected than we think/realize" theme?

How might that theme be present, or latent/embedded/between the lines in Exodus?
Think about 1000s of people travelling/wondering together for 40 years..Surely there were days where one traveller met someone new, etc and discovered commonality (besides the obvious, the liminal journey that they were sharing? Maybe the fact that theyy were all on a liminal journey together made them more open to sahring their personal journey/life story along the way. (Microcosm and microcosm)

We played a new clip ("They Were Not Wandering"from Ray Van Der Laan from "The Desert series" (previews)
One thing that is strilinbg about this new serties is Van Der Laan shares far more pesonal stories about hismelf (like his mon dating in a carcarsh whiile they were filming, and his bypoass surgery. Thjs series also emphasizes "deserts" that people on the tour (and people in general go through."

We noticed that the path in the desert (much emphasis on the Bible word "path") was in a way more important than the destination. We learned the word "walk" and "life" are the same word in both Bible languages

HMMM..
Unfirtunately, the video froim tiday is not online,
but here an introduction to the new series, suggesting "God is sufficient in the dessert you are going through":

Here is a video VDL made for the hospital where he had his surgery:

It gave us a closer :realtionship with him, after months of watching him a s a more objective teacher.

Re-watch the Trucker Frank story and watch for the "point A to point B" themes:

So toady we were let in on Ray Van Der Laan's timeline/story/path/journey/..

as well as Trucker Frank's..

and them mine
and a class member (Jheanique..it was an honor to hear/see her story:

Click: Knowledge & Innovation: The Journey Is as Valuable as the Destination

Did you know Facebook is being redesigned around the concept of a person;s "TIMELINE"?

Why so you think that is? Because the Facebook founders are addicted to change, and/or because they are picking up on a current in our culture?

Have they been studying Exodus? (:
Info

==

A chart/map of the Hebrews wanderings are almost comica.
Why no straight line/path from A (Egypt) to B (Promised Land).
Why go through X? Sidetrips? Detours?

Compare terms:

Pligrimmage
Journey
Wander/wonder
path
treak
life/walk

What issues, relational and otherwise come up when a community in commuitas wanders together?

Wanderlust?

What issues arise when a people finally arrive at their:
-Destination
-Point B
-Goal

We'll pick up nest week with the loaded Hebrew term:

be' ushim
(hint: click here)

stay tuned..

Sunday, November 13, 2011

11/7 Moses and Leadershift: "By Every Word: Striking the Rock"

Some study guide notes from today's video "By Every Word: Striking the Rock":

Thursday, November 3, 2011

11/3 Test Review

We reviewed for the test; see questions and links to answers here (or at the tab at top of page).

Michael Beaudoin's video will help with question #12c:

To help answer question 11 we watched "He Led Them Like a Shepherd"":

-What are two kinds of leadership?
Two different "sticks": Pharoah's staff (coercive power) or Moses' (compassionate leading, like a shepherd)
--What is God's purpose?
To lead people out of the suffering of chaos and into order/shalom.
--Why the desert for training?
Two reasons
--it's a place of dependence/trust on God
--it's the place of the shepherd. God as Shepherd trained a shepherd (Moses)to lead like Him.
The word "shepherd" and "word" are almost the same word in Hebrew. May imply leadership is by word/instruction (Neh 14, Psalm 77-78)

Here's a short excerpt from another episode, re:
Shepherds/green pastures

11/1 The Tabernacle

trailer for today's video:

edited version of today's video:

"The imagery of Ramses' war camp at the battle of Kadesh at Abu Simbel shows remarkable similarities to the design of the tabernacle. God often communicates his desire to be with his people through familiar images and customs"-Van DerLaan:

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

10/25: Feast of Sukkot/Part 1: Ushpizzin

Of the three key feasts, The Feast of Sukkot (aka Feast of Booths, Tabernacles, Ingathering) is in some ways the most important; as such as it often just called "The Feast."

Read about it in Ex 23:16, 34:22; Leviticus 23:40-43, Deuteronomy 16:13-36
You'll note it is 7-day feast of joy, in which families build a temporary booth/sukkot/tabernacle to remind them of how they lived as nomads in the wilderness. Special emphasis on the harvest and buying the "Four Species" of plants to offer to God:

Lulav (לולב) – a ripe, green, closed frond from a date palm tree
Hadass (הדס) – boughs with leaves from the myrtle tree
Aravah (ערבה) – branches with leaves from the willow tree
Etrog (אתרוג) – the fruit of a citron tree

It was implied that each successive night, an "ushpizzin" (Sukkot guest) would visit and bless your booth. The ushpizzin were the "Seven Shepherds of Izsael": Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, MOSES, Abraham, Joseph and David. You shoild also expect other unexpedted visitors to your booth, whom you would feed and house, especially if they were poor, outcast or nomads. They might be on the shepherds, or even the Messiah, in disguise.

"be kind to the foreigner, as you were once strangers in Egypt"

We watched the first half of the award-winning Israeli movie " Ushpizzin," (about one contemporary family headed by Moshe [Moses], and what happens as they prepare for the feast, how they acquire their etrog/citron ,and the unusual two ushpizzin who show up and will watch the second half next class.

Trailer:

excerpts:

--

Read Exodus 2-40 this week and next
Remember your 2nd "Three Worlds" project due Nov 3. Don;t forget the two required sources.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

10/18 Rabbi Adam/ Women and Liminality in Exodus

The rabbi is scheduled to be with us today..I will post a video here if possible after class.

In the meantime, some good resources on

Women in Exodus: