10 Tips For Celebrating Biblical Holidays as a Family
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really excited to introduce mark and michelle team tiderman. We have known uh, mark and michelle for as long as we've been married. It's like right after we got married, we joined a small group with you guys and um, we are so honored to know you and we're excited to hear how these annual holidays have been a blessing to your family.
So they're going to give a quick introduction and and then we're going to do it's our top 10 list for our top 10 tips for these holidays. Thank you. It's hard to follow the most attractive couple in the world.
No, we love you. It's it was such an honor when you called, uh, you know, it's been such a cool journey of learning these feasts knowing even 18 years ago, uh, being [00:02:00] in small group over at North Star and just having so many parallel journeys and how God weaves together stories, you know, the way Jeremy and April have influenced our life and you guys.
So it's such a cool thing. So, all right, this is our team. Just to introduce you. I'm Michelle and this is Mark and we have four kids, Marcos, Isaac, Selah and Mercy. And just to kind of share our journey. Um, this is all like Relative dates, you know, kind of remember, but in the very beginning of our church community, people started celebrating Passover, and we hopped on to that pretty quickly and have been doing it.
about since 2012, maybe a little earlier and it became just a staple of our, um, year. And it wasn't until much later that we went to the priors for a Sikhote and we got the vision for that. And I think actually we maybe went to their house on a Thursday and came home and said, I think we could pull this off on Saturday and invited some people [00:03:00] and just kind of dove into our first version of hosting a Sikhote gathering.
Um, so that's been, uh, Cornerstone of our year for the last few years, and then this last year we added in the Feast of Trumpets for the first time. So we're kind of have eased our way into celebrating these festivals. Uh, not yet. We're kind of like a, I should say I'm kind of like. Kind of person that kind of misses a lot of the fundamental things but goes all in and gets a little crazy So it's kind of we're gonna I think our story will be a bit Maybe the complement the opposite of what these guys we actually have not adopted all the feasts, you know We have we started like we said with Passover And then we kind of went to the other end of the bookend of Sukkot and, you know, as we were, I remember going to one of the, or to the Sukkot gathering and I remember talking with April and Jeremy on their porch and she was talking about the magic, how there's, I was telling her that it felt like Christmas, just felt like all my like childhood desires, like [00:04:00] wrapped up into this festival and she was like, well, Some say that Sukkot feels like Christmas.
Well, we say that Christmas feels like Sukkot, you know, and I was like, what the heck does that mean? Like, and I started to like really desire for more. And I went home and I remember reading and I started pressing into Leviticus 23. I ended up reading a book by Booker called Celebrating Jesus in the Feasts.
In the biblical feast and it opened up my eyes and you know, I had year after year, we would do this Seder meal, this Passover meal, and it felt like the culmination of my faith. It felt like this annual rhythm of me, like getting like. Formed into a son of the father and into like a follower of Jesus.
Like I, like, I felt like solidarity with him and I remember like when I got introduced to Sukkot, it was like, it was almost like the Jesus was seen as his [00:05:00] sacrifice in the Passover, but then his like whole life, all of life that's available to you was meant to be like kind of seen in, in, uh, Sukkot. And so I can't, I came up with this, uh, or I, I, This is a visual that came from that book.
And I just want you guys to kind of see this. This kind of changed my life and my perspective where he said that there's essentially three, um, journeys over the course of the year. And Brenton Katie talked about that the spring festivals essentially were Passover, um, unleavened bread and first fruits and then Pentecost.
And he framed it in this book as you get peace. In the first three, you get peace over the Passover season. You get peace with God. And so that ultimately is what the sacrifice was for on Pentecost. You get the power of God. And then on Sukkot, you get the rest of God [00:06:00] and he framed it. And he said, this is actually the journey of the Christian.
If you think of someone when they are actually progressing, they meet Christ, they encounter him, they get peace with him, and then they, over time, they experience and get the Holy Spirit, and now they have power available to them, and then ultimately, over the course of your life, you learn how to rest in God, to the culmination of being one with Him.
And so, and then it's also this, like, redemptive narrative. And so, What's fascinating is these seven feasts, they essentially unlock an annual rhythm of forming this into us, into our year. And I don't know about you, but like, I have formative, we were talking earlier, formative memories, core memories, that come from the annual rhythms of growing up.
If you think about your holidays, as we shared earlier, and so these, I think these have tremendous power and for someone, I actually have ADHD, and so it's easy for me to forget, like, what are we doing here? What the heck are we doing [00:07:00] here? Why are we, like, the same week after week, kind of feel like you're on a treadmill?
And then this annual rhythm kind of activates for me that like, oh, it's the Feast of Trumpets coming up. Jesus is actually coming back someday. In the midst of all of this, the King is coming. Oh, it's the Day of Atonement coming. Like, this sin will ultimately be ridden from my life and from the world someday.
There will be complete cleansing of the earth. Oh, Sukkot is coming. Like, I feel exhausted right now, but there is hope. Like, he is actually coming. There's a wedding coming. Where the groom is coming for the bride. And so this beautiful reminder annual was not just an annual rhythm for us, but it actually got to form in us.
What does it mean to ultimately be a Christian? So that kind of awakened this discovery. And so I started studying and searching and really getting, um, just every guy I could, every guy around town that I would sit and talk with Jeremy for hours and hours and read and study. [00:08:00] And we ended up coming up with this festival.
We kind of framed this, we called it signposts. And so, because, um, have you ever been on the Appalachian Trail? And so, Appalachian Trail, I hiked it when I was in college. Not the whole thing. Um, but, uh, you get to a point where you're just like, I can't go any further. Remember a couple years ago, Jeremy and I were like, we were on a hike.
And it's like, you hit these moments where you're like, I can't go any further. I'm exhausted. I don't know where I'm going. What the heck. And then, you reach a signpost. And a signpost isn't the end. It isn't the finish. But it's saying, Hey, there's water coming. Hey, your destination, your camp is coming.
Don't give up. It's right up the road. Keep coming. It's another half mile, quarter mile. And so signpost was ultimately this culminating party that we felt like God was calling us to create, essentially is the last day of the great feast. And so we tried to adopt, um, we did, over each year we got [00:09:00] a little bit more advanced.
The first year we built a sukkah. build a Suica, we just literally had a party. Second year, we, as you can kind of see here, uh, we built this just simple little, it's not Rick Meyer, Meyer brothers build level, but it's like, it's up here. It's like, it's just really simple, but you'll notice a lot of the, the imagery, what we found is it actually looked like a Suica.
Like we even had this arch, we installed, we built this archway, um, last year because we wanted to really, we really, we were captured by the symbolism of a wedding. And to me, it's fascinating that there's the holidays, like you said, they're holidays of, that we're celebrating that haven't happened yet. In one way they have, the Feast of Tabernacles in particular, it points back to when God dwelled with his people in the wilderness.
But it's pointing to a day that hasn't happened yet, which is kind of mind blowing. So this is our community. We're up in North and Fairfield. We've got red door community that we've really [00:10:00] pulled in is a church that we're a part of, and we've brought a lot of people in, but it's pretty neat too.
We brought a lot of high schoolers in one night. Um, I don't know if you can see this. This is my favorite thing to house. The code is kind of for everybody. This kid's got an eye heart, hot mom shirt on hanging out at the Sakote festival. So it's like, It's definitely, it's, it's for everybody. It's really, if you read the scriptures, you know, this is actually one of our favorite kids, his name's Gabe.
And anything else I need to say? I think we'll get into more. All right, I need to, okay. And here's a couple more pictures you can kind of see of our, our kids here. Their favorite night of the year is on the Feast of Trumpets and Sukkot because they get to get on the roof. This is our daughter with our chauffeur, chauffeur.
Daughter Selah, um, and so she's getting, she's blowing the trumpet last year, and to me, the Feast of Trumpets was the one I came to last year, we kind of revealed and studied deeply last year, it blew my mind, like, I'm a man, my name means [00:11:00] war, Mark means war, warrior, like, I'm a intense individual, and so like, knowing that actually, um, that the king is actually coming back is really important to me, like, there's a day of war coming.
You know, and it's like that activates. It's just every year I forget that and then it's so awesome to have a holiday, a holy day that reminds me of that. This is our kids helping us build our Suka. And so Michelle has this big, like, um, white, like paper, big sign that she has the kids color out that says this is not our home.
All right, you're rushing me along because I'm not, we're not as Pinteresty as go ahead. Please share. Well, I think we'll share more later, but these are just pictures we won't share more later. So talk, talk about our, you have two more minutes. Um, the way that we, I feel like have embodied this is just inviting our [00:12:00] community into it, as Mark has said.
And so we cook steak and chicken for like a hundred people and then people bring sides and it's like a wedding feast in our backyard. Actually, I was looking through our Google photos and clicked in wedding and it brought up pictures of our Sakote gathering. So. It's been a really, um, just huge blessing to us and to our community and hopefully multiplying the vision of what this looks like and, um, hopefully encouraging others to kind of grab onto it as well.
Yeah, I think that wedding concept should not be lost on us. Like, this 7th, like if you look in Leviticus 23 and you search for the word 7, it shows up 18 times. Leviticus 23, it's all seven. It's like the seventh day of the week. The seventh day, you know, seven weeks, the seventh day. And then over, it's these seven festivals.
And so Sukkot is like the culmination of culmination. Seven is completion. And so it's pointing to the day when [00:13:00] everything, all your deepest desires, all your longings, are completely fulfilled. Because he actually, the king is coming, and there will be a day where he's actually come, gone to war, rid the world of sin, and now is dwelling with his bride.
And that's you. And so we literally get to rehearse this every single year. So the symbolism of the wedding, I think, is something that we've really tried to embrace. So thanks. I get a little fired up. All right. So now, uh, yeah, we're going to do, uh, Top ten tips for celebrating biblical holidays. So like Joe said, he might have, you might feel a little overwhelmed and this is meant to make it a little bit easier.
Um, so we'll go through these. All right. Okay. So this one is start of two fold one. Um, it's like I cannot add seven h that that feels crazy. [00:14:00] Um fine. Like we said, multi not to ever add all seven or whatever. But if you e A good idea to just start with one a year and go kind of slowly into it, that feels a lot less overwhelming.
And then the second part of this is it doesn't have to be elaborate. Like when you start a new holiday, don't feel like I need to have the entire plan and it's gonna be a full day. If you decide to do to coat first and you're. Our only goal is to just be outside and have fun, food and drinks. Like that's okay.
Like you can start with baby steps like that and add to it. In addition to adding to it, you can expect to modify it. And this is something that we have definitely experienced over the years. There's some things we've tried and we're like, that totally did not connect. That did not work. And we're scrapping that.
Or. I think we could tweak this the next year, like kind of at the end of each year, we have a little debrief after the holiday and it's like, what, what worked, what didn't, what should we remember for next year? Um, and [00:15:00] also as your kids grow, there's going to be some things that they think are really fun when they're five that they're going to totally rule their eyes at when they're 15.
And so keep that in mind, like it may modify as your kids, um, understand more or as they get Okay.
Our tip two is defend the rhythm and this just means It's to do whatever you can to keep the rhythm. no matter what. So even if it's scaling back one year, if you have a busy season, even if it's having one meal outside and not every night that week, we just really believe that whatever we do to defend the rhythm keeps this going in our family.
So lowering our expectations, increasing our anticipation, um, not trying to do it perfectly and Just continuing to have that long vision of the, what we keep repeating to whatever scale it can be that year will impact the generations to come and will form us and form our kids in this story. Yeah, [00:16:00] playing the long game is huge.
Is that you guys were, I love that you talked about like ABCs for a few years and then it's literally like the essence of the holiday coming out. And that's like, if you've ever read the book Atomic Habits or there's this concept of like, it's these slow gains. And it's like over time, you don't even see the progress that you make if you stay the course.
We underestimate, overestimate what we can do in a week and underestimate what we can do in a year or ten years. And what's happening is these rhythms, the weekly rhythm and the annual rhythm, they form us. And so it's like when you don't pay attention to it, you don't realize it. It's actually permanating some of these things, yeah, um, so, Joe, you, you mentioned something about, uh, what do you do when you have crying kids. And, um, that is a real struggle. Yeah, you hold them, right, apparently. Um, and so, expect distractions. Like, that's going to happen, especially because we don't do these alone. So we don't have just our kids, we've got a lot of other families kids with us.
And so, I [00:17:00] think the, the biggest key is to just talk loud, keep, stay on task, even if all chaos is breaking loose around you. Don't expect to get everybody's attention. That's right. And just hope, okay, next year, we're gonna do this again. And so if you get, you know, 30 percent of it this year and another 10 percent next year, whatever, like, this is a long game.
We're gonna build on this each year. And so, um, you know, some tips are just really be animated. Try to, Try to, you know, get on the kid's level, uh, try to engage the kids, ask them questions, do whatever you can to keep their attention. Because it is a mix of, we're gonna do some games, we're gonna do some activities that are fun, and you're gonna get some energy out, and then there's gonna be some times where you have to sit and listen for ten minutes, you know?
And so during those times, there will be just times where you've gotta just kinda try as best as you can to keep their attention, but don't expect perfection. I should have included some pictures. I had some where it's like Brent standing up there like preaching and nobody's looking at him. That happened.
They celebrate with others [00:18:00] and we've touched on this by just inviting other families into this and that could be one family that you want to link arms with. Everything feels easier when you have someone else to do it with. Um, it could be inviting your whole community in, it could be inviting a couple families, but um, we just find that The energy of having people around it, sharing the stories together, hearing people's hearts, it all just makes it such a rich experience.
Environment. Um, so again, we use these to tell the story of the kingdom, and that can be to our neighbors who don't know Jesus, we've had neighbors over. Um, it could be to remind our Christian community of the stories and of the reality to come. Um, and then just really praying about who God wants there.
With Sukkot, we have like a hundred people and we have a huge invitation. But for our Passover meal every year, we do it, um, invite a different group of people. So we pray, God, who do you want at our Passover table this year? And we've had neighbors and family and different friend groups, but we choose a different group of people each year, depending on who God [00:19:00] puts on our hearts.
And this, I would say, just You know, you asked about crying kids. We more, um, say, what do we do with grumpy teenagers? And, um, this actually has been a really big win because we find the more friends that are around, the more people we're including, the more, um, easier it can be to get kids on board who might be a little hesitant otherwise.
Can you talk about how? Yeah, with Sakote too, we have our big party at the end of the week, but throughout the week we have smaller gatherings, and I know people do this differently, um, but we try to invite maybe one family over for each night of the week that we can share a smaller, more intimate dinner with.
Okay, so tip number five is make it magical. We really want these holidays to be like the highlights of the year, like their, their peak joy is associated with these spiritual holidays. So a great way to like start thinking like when you're planning your activities and what you, what you actually wanna do on the day is to borrow concepts from other [00:20:00] holidays.
So. what do our kids love abo popular holidays like bur and Easter. And it was, i short list of like fun fo We only do it this time of year. Like it feels really special or things that it's like we do this every year. It's very nostalgic to them. Another thing is like, they love being with their cousins.
Like those are their favorite people right now. So we always invite over extended families. So you definitely want to, um, incorporate some of these, but just make sure you're tying whatever these fun things are back to the meaning of what the holidays about. Yeah. And, um, you know, I think, uh, there's, there's this.
A passage in Deuteronomy 14 that talks about a tithe related to these biblical holidays that I feel like we would be remiss not to mention. And so this is from Deuteronomy 14. Are you talking about this later? Okay. So Deuteronomy 14, it [00:21:00] says, you may sell the tithe portion of your crops and herds, put the money in a pouch and go to the place your Lord, your God has chosen.
When you arrive, you may use the money to buy any kind of food you want, cattle, sheep, goats, wine, or other alcoholic drinks. Then feast there in the presence of the Lord, your God and Celebr. And so this is a little spoken on, I see surprised faces. This is not a, a passage on tithes that we hear very much, but this is this God of abundance.
Who's saying, Hey, when you go out, like this is what we, what we talk about at Sukkot. We're we want this to be magical and memorable and so we take this verse literally and we're like hey We're gonna tithe to ourself this week. We're gonna spend like you said a bunch of money on Food and drinks and we're gonna celebrate because god is a god of abundance and a god of goodness and specifically with with sakote because um, you know The spring festivals are great, they represent the gospel where, where, um, Jesus came to save us from our sins, but [00:22:00] those are a means to an end, and then we, we talk about Shavuot, um, Pentecost, when we get the Holy Spirit, and that's an important, powerful part of the story, but it's a means to an end, and then there's Jesus returns and the cleansing of the earth, and that's all great, but like, the end is what we celebrate at Sukkot, when we get to dwell with God forever, so this is our biggest party, this is where we make it the most magical, and we just want to really, like, Make it a core memory.
So good. Can I add to that? What you're getting at there is the essence of God's heart. And so many people miss God's heart. We see the rules, and we don't realize that God actually has so much in store. It's that C. S. Lewis quote that says, like, We're like kids settling for mud pies when a holiday at the sea awaits.
God has immeasurably more. than we could ever imagine, but we're so used to models and so it's just these little glimpses. And that's why it's not like every day. He's not saying do this all the time. It was actually most of scripture is saying, don't do this all the time. But that's, [00:23:00] there's this glimpse of his kingdom.
And one specific thing that we found of making it magical is music. And very specific music. So both on our Shabbat and on Sukkot and our Seder meal, our Passover meal, we have a like holy playlist. It's like only allowed in that time. And we found last year was actually, it was kind of funny. We, we didn't do this on purpose last year with Sukkot, but Corey Asbury's album, Pioneer, have you ever heard of this?
Uh, highly recommend it, but my kids started playing it. He came out and we started playing it on over Sukkot. So literally all day, every day for seven days, we played it. We played it. And Kote was over and a kid, one of my kids turned it on and I was like, you can't play that anymore. And they were like, no, like that's our out, like, that's our playlist.
And I was like, it's, it's holy. We're gonna, and I, and what I didn't, I didn't mean holy as in like I meant it's gonna be set apart. And I think that's important. That's what long [00:24:00] creates a bit of a longing is when you actually withhold certain things that are good. And so you build that pattern. So now my kids actually listen.
Our kids listen to Pioneer. On Shabbat nights after, like as they go to bed, and it's like the longing almost. It's cr, it's this couple of songs that just create this longing for the land to come.
All right. Tip six is make it a team effort. Include your kids in the planning, preparation, execution, and leading. So this looks very differently depending on the age, but every age kid can do something to contribute and I love we, um. meal. We all know that that whole day we're working together to clean and cook and set the table and prepare for our guests.
And it's just so fun to give everyone jobs from, you know, two year olds can put hard boiled eggs on the plates or when they get older, when they start helping cook and clean. And it's honestly a highlight is that day that we all come together to make this happen. And same with the coat. I mean, It's actually really hard [00:25:00] to pull off if it's the mom and dad doing the work.
And I'm sure most people in this room have a heart for integrating our kids. And this is a great opportunity for them to be a part of it, to take ownership. We even try to encourage them to lead parts of it, to really make it not our thing, but our family's mission and celebration.
Okay, tip seven is think of your grandkids. And actually, if you jump to the next slide, there's a little video that I want you guys to watch.
[00:26:00] Okay, so that communicates in 90 seconds, in a few words, in another language, better than what I could have [00:27:00] communicated in English. But it's this idea that when you create these rhythms, it goes through, it has a life of its own where your kids at first were too young for it, you know, they don't really have a concept of And then they start to really embrace it and think it's awesome.
And then they get to maybe the teenage years and they start to think it's a little cool. Too, they're too cool. But then, like, when you can think of your grandkids and, like, this traditions. These are traditions that can be adopted for future generations. And you see that at the end when he's doing it with his, with the next generation.
It's like, oh, I get goosebumps. You know, so I just think that's one of the most exciting things about this holiday for me is thinking about the impact that I have not only on my kids, but generations to come. Keep talking about that. It's like, that's the essence, right? It's like, I think there's a classic leadership quote that says, just when you get tired of saying it, they're just starting to hear it okay, so this is, yeah, you guys, uh, This is actually kind of, it's kind [00:28:00] of a really cool, this picture is really cool for us, by the way, is um, last year at the Feast of Trumpets, they announced that they were having their next child. So that was kind of a cool, like, announcement. So that was beautiful. But this one is tip number eight, choose unity over division.
Um, really because, not, that picture doesn't really fit the title, by the way, uh, but it's just the idea that these holidays and celebrating them can be divisive. And so, I mean, you guys share in your, when you're, you said you start every holiday with that, that versus is brilliant. I'm going to steal that because like, this is actually, we've seen it even in the city with like really strong, incredible fathers.
There's some really good conversations that we have on, on a little WhatsApp chat and like, there's some good, solid back and forth about like, should we, should everybody celebrate these holidays? And should they do it in this way? And I, Michael and I were just saying earlier is like, I feel like the more, as you've, as I've gotten [00:29:00] into these holidays, it's almost like once you see it, you can't unsee it.
And so it's really easy to think, oh, well, this is just the way this is the only way it has to be. And so I just want to encourage you that these are ultimately meant to create unity. I think they're meant to create unity. And what's, what I think is fascinating in Leviticus 23, God doesn't say these are the Jewish feasts.
He says, these are the feasts of the Lord. He said, these are my feasts. And so, uh, it's meant to be a unifying experience. And I would say, I think one of you mentioned this earlier is, uh, if think about it as my kids and there are other kids on our street, they don't have to do the things that I, they don't have to clean up the room.
They don't have to have a team meeting. They don't have to do all the annoying team tighter and things that I make them do. They, my kids, hopefully they get the vision that they don't have to do these things. They get to do these things. And so it's easy to think we have to do these things to become God's people.
And [00:30:00] I think that's, but that's not true. We get to do these things because we are God's people. It is an invitation. And anytime you share about it, as you get, hopefully you start to believe in it. And maybe you don't, but treat it more as a pull instead of a push. If you are sharing it, invite people in kind of when you invite people in, it's happened to us, you experience it.
And you're like, that was different. And potentially it connects with my heart. And the last thing I would say is, and this is a personal preference, but it came from another book that I read, but I think that the feasts themselves will actually be used as a unifying, um, rhythm for God's, all of God's people to come together.
And you're track with me for a second. So for thousands of years, the Jewish people have been celebrating these feasts without the person of Jesus. They've been celebrating the rhythm of the feast without the person of Jesus. And now for thousands of years, Christians have been [00:31:00] celebrating the person of Jesus without the rhythm of the feasts.
And now, I think there's an awakening happening across the Gentiles. Us. And there's, if you're sensing a pull, even tonight, like, I think that the Lord is doing a move, it's a Cairo season on the earth, where he's gathering people, pouring out his spirit, and he's, there's a move of saying, these are special times.
And there is a special anointed rhythm that I've created, and he's inviting us in, and I think as we start to, start to, as the Gentiles start to observe the rhythm, and as the Jews start to see the Messiah in the rhythm, I think there will be a oneness of God's people in preparation for him coming back.
Tip number nine, be a doer. And this is one I want to take delicately because I really don't want this to feel like a burden. Like this shouldn't be, like, if you're going out of this feeling burdened, that's not what this is meant to be, okay? But this is just good practical advice for [00:32:00] any area of your life if you are in a position where you're like I see some Benefit here.
There is as as humans There's a propensity for us to be like I like that, but it requires a lot of effort, you know And that's just hard and so we've gotten the comment a lot like that's really cool that you do that But I just don't know if I like like like I see the vision I see the benefit But I just don't know if I have the effort to do it to be a doer.
And I think I've encountered so many people that are like, that would be great to be a part of somebody else doing it if somebody else were to lead it. But I think, um, it's, it's just important to have people who are willing to be like, all right, we're going to do this for our family. We're going to take this action.
It's not going to be perfect. It's not going to be beautiful. There's going to be some, some yeah. things that we're gonna ha we're going to choose to there's so many people th in. If you're willing to like, that's a gift to a community to,
yeah, we wo [00:33:00] 100 people. We'd love for stuff and take some peopl you guys.
Uh, tip number post and you already hear signpost But imagine your gathering gets to be a glimpse of heaven on earth. You get to be that picture that not only people get to encounter the already kingdom that's here, but you give them hope that the not yet kingdom is actually on the way. And we're close to it.
So, you know, it's not, these feasts are not the end goal. They are meant to point to Jesus. They should stir you to worshiping Jesus. And you should see these feasts in the new Testament all throughout the old Testament. It's fascinating. When you start pulling it back, you see that Solomon dedicated the temple and he had this eight day feast in the old Testament.
Well, it just turns out that he did that on Sukkot, Nehemiah, they lost the book of the word, right? And then they found it. And then they had this big eight day feast. [00:34:00] And did it for another week. What festival do you think that was on? Sukkot! It happened on It literally happens on Sukkot. Zechariah 14 is this huge prophecy of one day, all the Gentiles are gonna observe Sukkot together.
It pro It's pointing to a day when us, Gentiles like us are coming and observing this feast and where there will be no Jew or Gentile in God's family anymore. There won't be holy and unholy, it'll all be the Lord's. And so all, all of scripture, and then last one, last one I want to throw in there, John 7.
When you hear Jesus, he actually gets up and in John 7, he says, I'm living water. He says, anyone who comes to me will, will never thirst. Well, he says it on the last day of the great feast, John 7, he's standing up on Sukkot and he is saying this whole culmination, seven of seven points to me. I'm the completion.
So, and the last thing I want to say here is that. Like, the thing over and over again that really [00:35:00] fired me up with observing the Seder on Passover was this toast. And so there was a toast that was said by the Jews, the people of Israel, when they believed that actually next year there was a chance that they would be back in their homeland, that they would be feasting again, they would be toasting, but they would be in back in Jerusalem.
And so they would end the meal. And this might be a rumor. I don't know how good my research is, but they would raise the final glass, the final toast. And you would say next year, before we say this, pick up a glass. So look, next year, you would literally look around next year and they would say next year in the New Jerusalem.
Alright, and it's a celebration. You're literally saying this same feast, the Passover feast we're celebrating now. There's a chance that we're going to be in our homeland next year. And when I heard that, it gave me goosebumps. It's like, wow, like that's, that's what my brain needs. I just zone out [00:36:00] again.
I'm on this like never ending, like, Treadmill, like none of this is going anywhere, but actually there's a chance that next year this actually might happen in the New Jerusalem. And then when I started the study about Sukkot, they actually used that same quote somehow in Sukkot. And so, this rhythm of starting our year and ending our year with this concept, that actually all the things we're celebrating, that feel, that are faith, That we don't really know if they're real, we know they're real.
But at the same time, we're like, man, I really wish I could see Jesus. And maybe that's going to happen next year. Maybe he's coming back. So raise a glass with me next year in the new Jerusalem. Cheers.
All right. Um, so that's our top 10. That's our 10 tips. Uh, if you guys have any questions, we'd be happy to answer any questions.
Yes. Recommendations on a first piece Yeah, um, I would say that if the, if I'm speaking of annual feasts, I would say probably [00:37:00] Sukkot is the best place to start. Um, that's the place I would recommend. We did, our first was Passover and Passover was good, but Sukkot, I really, like I said, it's kind of like this is the end that we're all aiming for.
It was one day when we will dwell forever with God. It's also, like I said, it's our kids favorite. You can do it with little effort, um, because you can really just be like, Hey, we're just going to be outside, get all those toys out of the garage and just let them be all over the yard for the next week and, um, get some fun drinks and some fun food.
And, and just say like a couple intentional things before dinner. Um, and so I think that is a pretty good place to start. I don't know. This may be
me wanting you to do it for me, but does anybody have any sort of organizational checklist of like, um, This is coming up here, so we need to start planning for it here. And there's these crafts and there's this stuff. Gonna ask this to repeat the question. Is there any sort of the list out there? [00:38:00] Okay. Uh, yeah.
So the question is, um, is there some sort of list out there that, uh, we, that like a resource that allows us to kind of have the calendar and then what to do ahead of time? I would say that list, that resource probably does exist. I don't know, Jeremy, if you have something like that. What we usually do is we just do a quick Google search because it's not on our calendar.
So like Google, when, you know, when is this biblical holiday? And then through the benefit of having done these for a few years, They become a lot easier, you know, so like we don't have to like the pivots are real simple. The getting something established, getting the ball moving is the hard part. So that's why we recommend doing one a year and then, you know, once you decide for your family, what kind of traditions and what kind of games and activities you want for that holiday, then the next time that that comes around.
It really doesn't take a whole lot of advanced prep. So it gets easier as you go. Um, so that's, that's what I would [00:39:00] say. There, there probably is a better resource, um, than, than that. homeroom scripts? Yeah, yeah, we have a Sukkot Starter Kit. It's PDF. The lawyer can remind me. You can send that out, the email, to all you guys.
So, pick quite simply, yeah. Yeah. I've used that, like, every page. And I share it with everybody that comes. It's, like, very simple and breaks it down. So, highly recommend starting with that.
So a lot of the, it seems like a lot of festivals fall around two major dates, right? Like a lot in March and a lot in September. So how do you guys, like, given that it's really clustered, right, if it was like Christmas, Easter, uh, New Year's, Yes. July, we're all in three weeks.
Yeah. So how do you guys do that, and make it fun and keep it entertaining, knowing it's like festival, eight days later, another festival, another festival. Yeah, well, I think, first of all, you have to have buy in that these are, uh, not just worth it, like, it's not just like, oh, we gotta get through this, but like, we find enjoyment out of them.
[00:40:00] So you have to, like, believe that these are fun, you know? And they do take work, but it's work that's worth it, you know? Like, going on vacation, or whatever. Um, it's never Super easy, but like you get there and you're like, okay, this is worth it And so once you have that buy in Then I think that does set you up for like, oh, we're going into the festival season.
But this is this is good We've been looking forward to this. This is the tool that's coming up that we're going to use to train our kids And so once you have that belief then you you just kind of like well We we've got to get we've got to get our act together and get planning and doing this thing but like Like we said, the first three festivals are all combined, that makes that simpler.
Um, then that 50 days leading up to Shavuot is enough to recharge and, and so then really, it's those fall festivals that all fall within like a two week period that are maybe the most work. But we leave Sukkot feeling rested, I would say. Sukkot is one where it is a, it is a kind of a restful holiday.
There's not as much preparation. [00:41:00] Honestly, we don't really have a script or activities or games. It's just, let's be outside and, and, you know, enjoy community with other people that come in. So it is one of those things that when you look at it on paper, you're like, wow, that's a lot of effort. But as you actually get into it, you're like, this isn't, this isn't quite so bad.
And the only thing I would add is totally echoing what Brent said before, where it's like the first year, the setup, um, is like a lot of thinking and planning and it becomes so much easier kind of once you get into this rhythm where it's like, We have a bin called the biblical holidays bin and it's like when one's coming up it's like all right here's the bin and it's got our passover handcuffs in it it's got a bunch of extra colored powder in it and it's got the rolled up banner and so it's like all of our supplies are there and we like look and we're like what do we need to reorder this year um so it's so once you have these things down it becomes a lot like It used to take us like when we were doing a new one, we maybe start a [00:42:00] month before and like, let's study it.
Let's figure out what we want to do. And we give ourselves plenty of leeway. Now it's like the week before I was like, check the bin and let's get our stuff together or we need to grocery shop or whatever. But it's so much easier once you start like really going with it.
Yes. So for your, your feast at Cicco, when you have like a group of people at your house, when that first happened, how do you, did you invite them all? Did they know what they were getting into or do you kind of like. Blindside a little bit. I mean, we don't have a huge group of people in our lives that would be all like, oh, yeah, like, but we have a huge group that would come to a party at our house.
So I just wondered how you got that many people in.
So we actually, this is, this is the invite that we sent out and so this is kind of how we framed it. Thank you.
We could join us for a memorable night of fellowships, music, food, strong drink, fun, fire, and storytelling of the land that is to come.[00:43:00]
And so we, that kind of framed it for us, which we did do. That's a, we did do it like a fire time at the end where we kind of at 9pm, we'll be like, okay, it's official. And then we passed, kind of opened the mic, opened the floor to just talk. About like just celebrating God Looking forward so but it is an interesting thing when people there's last year We I invited a bunch of high schoolers from young life They loved it had like the time of their lives, but at the end they were like I had no idea But I thought I was coming over for a party this is like a party in a whole different level
We start very early in the day. Just talk loud and without the mic, that's true. We start early in the day. We, I think we invite, like, you guys probably remember somewhere we say, like, if you're like our real friends, you'll show up early and help us set it all up.
It's kind of what we frame it as because, but we, people come at five, [00:44:00] five to 11 with the intention that like, And we learned this from the priors, is basically people gather, they hang out, at some point, we'll then kick off, I ask the Sevii questions, which I don't have my script in front of me, but it's basically like, what is, I found a holiday, what is this weird holiday called Sukkot?
You know, what does it mean? And you ask these progressive questions that basically form this liturgy in them. And so that kind of starts the evening out, and then we will eat. Then we eat dinner. Then we eat dinner. And it kind of at nine o'clock, or actually it's, it's the past couple of years, we've started it earlier.
Cause we've had a lot of young kids we'll gather. I don't know if we had a picture, but like we gather with this this year, we did this huge fire. It's kind of cool. It's like three fire pits across and just, so this is after dinner when you think seven o'clock, seven 30, and we just, I kind of share, and I have a couple of other fathers that will help us lead [00:45:00] the community that kind of They helped me share just a couple different things.
And so we kind of frame the story of Sukkot this year. We taught on Zechariah and like just mini teaching. And then. Kids go play, have dessert. Sorry, this is why I started. I know, I should have said. Then we open the mic up for anyone to share of what, how they've seen God's faithfulness, what they're looking forward to, and then kingdom to come, just anything around the night.
And it was really cool to hear kids share and adults share and hear all the thoughts. So, and then after that, we just hang out till people want to leave. I think that's one of our, that's something that we've kind of worked on over the years of like, people want to share. People want to talk about the testimonies of where God has shown up, but we don't often, a lot of people don't have the, sometimes it's courage, sometimes it's like, we don't want to be, we don't want to intrude.
And so it's like, by really setting the table to allow for people to kind of settle in and be like, no, the next like 45 minutes, we just want open mic [00:46:00] storytelling. One year we actually had a mic. I don't know if we had a mic last year. We did actually so we passed the actual mic, but it's awesome You see just people they tell these incredible stories of god's faithfulness and it's like You're just this reminder like it's coming.
It's got everything. We've everything we believe in is real everything so Thanks you got success bringing grandparents into these celebrations? And if so, do you have any uh tips or tricks beyond You inviting them in awkwardly meet for a meeting and that's kind of cool.
Part of me has this desire that I would love to see, like, maybe my parents take more of a lead in [00:47:00] it. Um, but I also know that, um, they are allowing us to kind of create this thing for our family. And so, it's like this delicate dance back and forth of who's going to kind of take charge. And so, what I found is I'm like, Hey dad, I would love it if you read this.
You know, so like printing out something on the script and be like, we'll get the grandkids around you, and then if you can read this, that would be really helpful. And so it feels like, like there's a facilitator, but like he can take some parts and lead them. Um, and so that's, that's been helpful for us, as we've, we've kind of embraced the generation, you know, before us in, in these traditions.
Anything you can say?
Yeah, the script has been helpful for us with the Seder meal, especially. We, we cut it out. Yeah. Jordan Stone created this thing, the Sega remakes, a long time ago. And it's like, it's like 12 parts and everybody has like their own. So we pass it out. So we try to set people up with like important or a part to be engaged, but we kind of have the, I'd say we've, we both have loved lost a [00:48:00] parent in the past decade or so.
And so it's like, it has, it's caused, it's hard to do. And I love. I mean, I think this, this challenge of like every one of us has that longing that like the next, that the previous generation would kind of lead in this. But I think at least my mom, especially like, she's just, she gets swept up in it and she thinks she's super supportive of it, but it's having a real simple, actionable, like so simple, like you said, it's, it's, it's, uh, it's great.
What feast got the least traction with our kids? Um, um, yeah, well, I would, I would probably say Passover would be the one that I come to think of. I mean, we still have fun. Um, uh, we, They love the handcuffs. Enough, enough of the handcuffs. It's really one of the highlights of that day for them, that's really.
It like we mentioned a couple times like and it's one that I feel like yeah, let's let's tinker with this Let's see how we can get this more memorable. So that's why we put those Passover Yeah. Baskets together and [00:49:00] like why? I'm like, okay, next year I think I'm gonna make that that banner a little bit more consolidated 'cause it's a long time to sit.
So, you know, I think it is one that it's a lot more like listen and then like do a tiny activity on this plate and um, one that has less. Fun to it and and that's okay too. I mean, you can't go huge on all of these that, that, that could be really overwhelming. And so it's okay to have some that are more subtle, but that's definitely the one that, like when we were asking all of our kids, it was unanimously sako then a lot about chef wo and the color wars.
Nobody mentioned Passover, so I'll just say that, but yeah. And, um, and honestly, like I touched on that we do gyros. Even the menu itself has kind of evolved in order to be like, this is something that they look forward to because the roast lamb wasn't their favorite, but like eating a gyro, they really do enjoy.
And, um, we always end with a celebration. So we, you know, have a good dessert, um, at the end. So that is one of the things that, that they do look forward to. But yeah, that one, that one's taken a little bit more traction just based off of the nature of [00:50:00] it. [00:51:00]
