Yahweh's Temple

    As I get closer and closer to the end of this journey I am starting to plan and prepare for the final days. I plan to shave my beard as soon after the new year as possible. I am at a stage now where that concept is such a wonderful dream and I can't wait till it is a reality. Its not so much having a beard that is bothering me, but the length. I really just want to give it a nice little trim to clean it up a bit.
    According to the tradition of the Israelites the Nazarite would grow out his hair as well as his beard for the length of the vow. I decided that it would be too difficult socially while taking care of our finances since my job is in childcare and I might be able to get away with a beard, but a year's worth of uncut balding hair? I don't think so. The point of this exercise is not ostracization, but public sacrifice and commitment to my God.
    In the tradition of ancient Israel the Nazarite would come to the Temple at the end of the designated period and the high priest would shave his beard and cut his hair in the courtyard of the Temple in Jerusalem and then the Nazarite would sacrifice a lamb, a sheep, and a ram for their burnt, sin and peace offering. The cut hair would then be placed along with the offerings on the altar. In modern times the Vow of the Nazarite can not be fully realized and not simply because of socially complicated reasons.
     The main fulfillment of the Vow can not be actualized in modern times because there is no longer a Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem to have the priest cut the hair or burn the sacrifices. I have been praying on this for the last few months to try and figure out a modern way to still keep the ritual of this procedure as Holy as possible. I am planning to shave my beard and keep the shaved whiskers. Then I am going to buy three lamb chops (if I can find ewe and ram chops somewhere even better) and build a little stone altar of my own and burn the chops and clippings on that. It sounds silly, but I love the ritual of things and especially the idea of connecting with an ancient practice of one of the first monotheistic religions. However, I have been a little bummed that there is no modern temple to do it in, even though I'm not Jewish, nor could I conceivably travel to Israel currently.
    And then last night I was doing my Journey Through the Book and I read something in 1 Kings that really hit me. It really hit me as a Christian, let me just say. I'm reading the Bible and currently in 1 Kings I'm at the part where Solomon constructs the very first Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem. I was reading the dedication that Solomon gives over the Temple and it struck me that as a Christian I do have access to the modern Temple.
   I remembered that Jesus told the Pharisees that the Temple would be torn down, but that He would raise it up again in three days. The Temple was not destroyed till half a century after his final days on earth and a new one has never been rebuilt. However, I have heard many Christians link Jesus's words there as the indication that He is the new Temple of the new Covenant. It all hit me last night while reading 1 Kings 8:41-51 when Solomon talks about the foreigner who hears of their God, Yahweh, and prays towards the Temple.

⁴¹ “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name— ⁴² for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple,⁴³ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

⁴⁴ “When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the Lord toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, ⁴⁵ then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

⁴⁶ “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near; ⁴⁷ and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; ⁴⁸ and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; ⁴⁹ then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. ⁵⁰ And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy; ⁵¹ for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.

All this to say that now I know that when I pray in the name of Jesus just how powerful that is. Not the selfish prayer of control over the circumstances, but the prayer of love and reconciliation that I try to do on a continuous basis.

I don't mean to get preachy, but it is on my mind and I'm glad I got it written down.




Off to work!!!

The Final Leg

     So, tomorrow is the last day of summer. The equinox is on Saturday and that marks the end of just about three quarters of my journey of the Vow of the Nazarite. Except for the hellish month of August the months have seemed to fly by. It was good to be involved in so many productions with the Maverick. I really love those folks and I feel like I've made some really good friends there. Despite the drunken debauchery that rages in that bohemian temple of Theatre I found one of the best foundations of support for my choice to take this journey. The encouragement has been enormous wherever I go. Even Monday night football, which is centered around the holy liquid of that amber coloured beverage Beer, has been understanding and accommodating to my own self imposed abstinence. Even during the draft, when I should have rightly taken at least three penalty shots of some of the foulest cheap whiskey you ever laid nostrils on, someone stepped up to take that shot for me. ::sniff:: Those brave souls. The Drunken Bums stand by their principles. 
     The Journey has been a good one. Health wise I have lost a lot of weight and I feel a lot more energetic than I did a year ago. The beard is really getting long now, and I really want to cut it. In fact, Amber has had to talk me out of shaving it at least twice in the last two weeks. I'm down to the last three months and I'm really starting to look forward to the day after the New Year.
     I've been so busy that I haven't had a lot of time for light reading, but I have managed to make it up to 1 Kings in the Bible, which is only 25% of the way through the whole book, but I'll blaze through the psalms and proverbs most likely and 1&2 Chronicles is mostly just a refresher of 1&2 Kings anyway. I've also been trying to broaden my intake from the spiritual to the non spiritual by reading some books by some prominent atheists. As usual I'm also trying to read a little bit about Islam in order to stay abreast of the world situation, but I haven't tried to read their holy book in years. I remember it was tough to get into and its non linear compilation made it hard to follow. Also, I read in the preface of the book that the translation itself removes the context of the power of it. It may be my project after the Bible, but right now I am more interested in the history of the religion and its beginnings and evolution over time than diving into the writings of their prophet.
      The political situation is reaching its climax, thank Goodness, and its really unnerving to see the state of our country. There is still no sign of a compromise between either side of the political spectrum. I would even say that President Obama has become more divisive than President Bush was at his four year mark. It seems that a lot of the things that Bush did Obama has done as far as foreign policy goes. He has gone after terrorists using drones, sometimes without the permission of the foreign countries that some people swear he wants to see succeed above America. On the domestic front it seems that the blame lies with the congress and not the president. The majority of the House and Senate are the ones that set the tone for the parties. Not the president, if it's a good one, because that person needs to be as neutral as possible.
    Well, that's just my observations anyway. I'll step off my soap box. I know we don't live in a perfect world. Its going to get a lot messier after the elections though. I can feel it. Like a volcano that has been smoking for a couple weeks, or a fault line inching towards a massive shift. The world is a powder keg waiting for a match and these days you don't need to have a high political position to have your finger on the Button. Even a whisper could set the world on fire....