Reading Leviticus 4:15-18, you will see a close parallel with earlier: 4:4-7 (also in Forgiveness is not ‘cheap’, what is its cost?). In this later section on the unintended sins of the congregation (verse 15-18), the elder began the sacrificial ritual, which was then continued by the Priest. The language of “atonement” is likely a little strange, it’s something we don’t say in that way. It’s a word used far less in New Testament than in the Old. In Leviticus 4:19-21, the word “atonement” acts as a hinge from the ritual of the offering through to the burning the rest […]
Reading Leviticus 4:15-18, you will see a close parallel with earlier: 4:4-7 (also in Forgiveness is not ‘cheap’, what is its cost?). In this later section on the unintended sins of the congregation (verse 15-18), the elder began the sacrificial ritual, which was then continued by the Priest. The killing of the bull by the elders was about the congregation (of which the elders are representatives) taking active, and central, part in seeking forgiveness. In any case, the elders, or the leaders of our congregation, have this role to seek forgiveness from God for the congregation. It cannot be a […]
In Leviticus 4:13-14, we read of the young bull as a sin-offering for the unintended sins of the assembly / congregation. The bull was the sin-offering for the unintended sins of the priest (Lev 4:3-12, covered earlier in Forgiveness is not ‘cheap’, what is its cost?, and All, all of it). Is there significance in using the bull as offering for unintended sins of the congregation? We might say the sins of both are of equal proportion: whether we are the congregation, and it is the priest, the magnitude of sins is of the same degree. However, I don’t think […]
We were all in the same position during stay-at-home / lockdown periods: no one went to church, not a bit, not for weeks. Not just church, any church-related activities. Whether you are regulars or only attend at special or rare occasions, it was the same. We stopped going to church. Wasn’t this funny. There would be moments we felt we need a kind of spiritual spoken-to; we remembered we got that kind of speech and those phrases with God and blessings and all that. While they looked at you wishing you to attend more regularly, now they even didn’t attend […]
The speed with which many churches started to use social media and online meeting tools is phenomenal. The common technical annoyance across all these tools is that are not suitable for church use. They are designed more for ‘fun’ use – chatting and taking photos etc. Problems begin when a few of us start down the screen for a long stretch of time – it seems for visual participating we need a prominent ‘presence’ within the screen so that others see us, and we see all of them. This ‘wall of webcams’ phenomenon is a new way of doing church, […]
Proceeding to Leviticus 4:11-12 we see a description that speaks of completeness – all, the all of it; a bit like ‘from top to bottom’, or ‘from east to west’. It’s like you stretch out your hands wide, and stretch it as long as possible – you can’t stretch your hands any further. That’s the totality of it – you are trying to say something as ‘all’. Fullness, completeness, totality. All. The remains of the bull in the sacrifice in the preceding 10 verses have no further purpose there. It should not remain there, either planned or kind of ‘careless […]
The paper is one of the most commonest things around us. It has many sizes, depending on how it is manufactured. You can cut it to fit the size you want. Round, Square, or any unusual shape. You can even shape in into some structure. It can float; but a pile of it can have some weight. Think of the last time you use a piece of paper. Well, that’s a silly question to ask. You probably have used a piece of paper so frequently. There might be some pieces of paper in front of you now. Shopping list. To […]
Many hymns and songs we sing together in church are about our praising to God – we praise God for who he is and how much we have been blessed. O Worship the King, How Glorious Above, is such. A tune usually used for this hymn is Lyons. Together it gives a tremendously strong start to a worship service. It declares who God is. It sets us on the right agenda. This hymn recalls Psalm 104. Interestingly, this is a hymn that has so little about “I” or “we”. Whether singing the hymn, or reading the Psalm, the feeling is […]
We all know about making decision when actually it’s near impossible make that decision. Might be however you choose, that decision will affect somebody you love. You might even think it’s slightly better that you hold off making the decision, because any decision will have negative impact. But holding off making decision is painful. You might be assured that making a certain choice will have far more better outcome, or in fact any of the available choices will be likewise. You keep asking yourselves and those around you, am I being selfish. Or just because something is what I like, […]
To the question “What to do with best thing in life?”, answer could well be “Enjoy it, certainly!” Even in Leviticus, there is some words to guide us on this matter. In our relatively modern day eyes, to know what Leviticus means is arduous since it was written for a society and religious community that is so different to ours. Rather than wading through lot of materials that helps us with interpreting the text, let’s look at only a few things as we move to Leviticus 4:8-10. I’d suggest you read this section through several times, as before, noting words […]
How many songs or hymns in English that you know that begin with ‘N’? Many hymns and songs begin with ‘I’. No other story is one – obviously, it starts with ‘N’, and it reminds us two very important words about Jesus: grace and glory. That’s the 3 words. To today’s ears, the original tune for the hymn has a positive feel, almost triumphant. It might even feel nationalistic, because songs of patriotism tends to bear that kind of spirit. So, as you hear the tune / music, you might feel that the feeling it projects has gone overboard in […]
God is all-knowing and all-presence – omniscience and omnipresent. Words fail to describe who God is. But these attributes are a way for us to know God. In the busy-ness of our lives, a lot of us struggle about the relevance of God. God is reaching out to us. In our silence, our boredom. When we are all alone, not watching a screen or talking, that’s probably when we are in the bath / shower. Do not fear, God is listening to you. He is waiting for you to respond. The stillness of the walls around. This might be so […]
A broken relationship may have various impact, and it might ‘cost’ both parties to restore that relationship. We continue on this instruction, Leviticus 4:5-7, for the High Priests to seek forgiveness for sin they committed without prior knowledge. As has been said again and again, this is from the Old Testament, which Jesus has fulfilled in his work of salvation as recorded in the New Testament. Looking at Leviticus is important for us because this is God’s law, for which Jesus fulfilled for us. This law is about we as God’s people and how we live a life worthy of […]
Use of video might be one thing people have been reluctant to try using online tools for church services. In a ‘normal’ church services where we meet physically, playing video is such a great headache. Getting something played on the computer is already a tough thing to achieve, then getting it projected on the screen, that is a completely different thing only a professional or the very experienced ones know what to do. For those we have tried, getting video to play using online tools might be far easier than you think. This centres around a method probably called ‘shared […]
Using online church, we have managed to ‘see’ some of the people we usually meet as church family, showing concern and care, sharing in sorrow and joy. It’s beginning to feel like it is easier to talk to each other online. We have done that a few times. We know a bit how to get started. Using online ways of communication just does not work in the way normal conversation and mixing with people work. It’s impossible to talk to somebody just between two of you without having everyone ‘listening in’ or even ‘looking in’. Well, there’s the breakout room […]