God's News Ticker

Join in Landover’s Kaparot festival.

As a church that stands with Israel, we at Landover Baptist have become enamored with a charming Jewish tradition. It is called Kaparot pronounced Kapporois.

yom kippurWe know the Jews have fun rituals that bring their community together to kill something. A perfect example of this is the Yom Kippur ritual from the Bible that comes from Leviticus 16. This is where they take two goats and draw which one gets to die for God to cleanse the temple and which one gets to escape as the scapegoat or as some translations render literally it as Azazel.

The high priest lays his hands on the goat for Azazel and then transfers all of the sins of the people onto it. He literally takes the sins of the people away and puts them on the goat.

And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord‘s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.

10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

21 And Aaron the (priest) shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:

22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

Another prime example of choosing one to die to cleanse the temple and another to be released, is the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But instead of drawing lots, Pilate asks which should be released. From Matthew 27:

jesus cross16 And they had then a notable prisoner, called Jesus Barabbas (literally son of God).

17 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?

And in the penultimate sacrifice of a lamb for our sins, Jesus temporarily died to take away our sins. Though there are still 67 damnable sins, according to the New Testament you can commit.

Hebrews 10:14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Much of Hebrews 10 is about how Jesus fulfills the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament. It even uses some of the verses from the Old Testament that appear to run counter to the other verses that require the sacrifice of animals. Being perfect Bible believing Christians, we cannot sacrifice animals for the transference of sins, but we can in the spirit of Kapporot.

Prepare an item to be donated to the poor for consumption at the pre-Yom Kippur meal, we are to recite two biblical passages of Psalms 107:17-20 and Job 33:23-24.
And that’s just about all.

 

Just one more thing..

We are requesting all of our members to bring one of two things to perform the Kapporot ritual.
You can either bring a bag full of money. It should be the size of a pillowcase full of bills.
Or you can bring a live chicken.
To perform the ritual you need to swing the object over your head three times.
chik1
I am not saying what we would prefer here. After all, the staff of Landover Baptist already know what our members can afford.
money bags
But we understand that God has only seen fit to bless some of you with earthly riches. And the Obama economy has affected a disproportionate number of our members. That damnable gap between the wealthy and the poor. It is almost enough to want to reduce the number of planes in our pastoral fleet, we feel so badly about it.
That is why we will accept a live chicken. If you don’t know where to obtain a live chicken, one will be provided by Landover Farms for a modest fee. You can even use your Pastor Zeke holy dollars to buy them.
Only Z20!

Only 20 Zeke Dollars

Don’t you worry about your donation going to waste. It will be going to the poorer members of our congregation, which is most of you.
Kapparot-300x231
But should we be celebrating Jewish holidays and rituals?
I don’t see why not. Paul tells us we can celebrate or hold in esteem whatever days we desire to.
Romans 14:One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

Colossians 2: 16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

And let’s not forget that Jesus celebrated all the Jewish festivals as well. I am sure if Jesus was alive today, he would celebrate Kaparot with us.

kaparot_woman
The official Landover Kaparot mascot Chickorot will be on hand to greet the kids!

kapparot chicken

So bring the kids, the contents of your savings, a chicken or your stash of Pastor Zeke Dollars we pay much of our staff with. It is going to be an experience that is sure to bring us all closer to Jesus. Save the date!

May 4th


Replies:
Pastor Ezekiel (30-10-2015 03:31 AM): I would prefer that they bring a bagfull of money. I'll swing the chicken.... ...
Joanna Lytton-Vasey (30-10-2015 12:48 PM): But should we be celebrating Jewish holidays and rituals? I don't see why not. Nor does my husband. He says as long as we carry out these celebrations on different days, i.e. not at yom kipper, so ...
Pastor Ezekiel (31-10-2015 03:22 AM): (Off-topic: Pastor Zeke, if you're around - my husband says he's "long" Swissish franks and would it be okay to tithe offshore next month?) Tell him I prefer it that way. Praise Jesus. 😀 ...
WWJDnow (19-12-2015 09:50 AM): Are you supposed to choke the chicken before you swing it? I'd ask one of my Jewish friends, but I don't know any Jews. ...
Show all 4 replies.