Over the next week, I'm going to blog about the Feast of Tabernacles: the theology behind it, my personal memories, etc., etc. I may end up answering some of J's questions in his post, Memories of the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Feast was ancient Israel's pilgrimage festival, in which the Israelites celebrated God's blessing of their crops and their fields. They tithed to God, rejoiced, and remembered to include the poor in their celebrations.
Are my memories of the Feast good or bad? I'm not sure. Probably neutral. Being confined with my family to a hotel room for a whole week could engender a lot of strife, let me tell you! But we had our fun moments. I always liked it when my Grandma made us her delicious bacon pancakes (turkey bacon, of course). And it was fun going out to eat every night, to Pizza Hut or a Mexican restaurant.
It was a good change of pace. Going through the same routine--school, home, work, etc., etc.--can get really boring after a while. So it was nice to go somewhere else for a change. We went to Panama City for many years. Swimming got old after a while, but there was one time when I particularly enjoyed it: my family was taking a boring stroll one night along the beach, and I went into the water with my clothes on. This was our first night in Florida, and I wanted to get wet! But my parents just wanted to relax after a long, hard road-trip.
How many of the sermons do I remember? Oh, maybe five or six. Perhaps I'll share some of them over the coming week. One I particularly recall was Ron Dart's "The Devil's Tracks," in which he excoriated Dungeons and Dragons and "gender feminism." Dart could be a dramatic speaker, let me tell you! He really hit home that the devil was a real being. One of my relatives was not in the church, and that sermon really affected him. He said, "I always thought that Christianity was just about loving your neighbor, but I guess there's more to it than that, isn't there?" Some of the feminist members of my family initially liked Dart's sermon, but later they kind of blew it off as right-wing propaganda.
I'm going to go outside and enjoy this beautiful weather, while it lasts! Later today, I'll blog about Fishbane, my comps readings, and tonight's Presidential debate. Stay tuned!