Dear New Hope,
In 1st century Israel when followers of the Lord would enter the synagogue for worship, the “hazzan” (or overseer) would begin the service by bringing in a scroll of God’s Scripture. He would walk through the synagogue as people celebrated God’s Word coming into the worship assembly. People would sing and then touch the scroll with a finger and then kiss their fingers in honor of the Word.
The hazzan would then hand the scroll to the person assigned to read God’s Word that day. The reader would stand on a platform (known as the bimah) which was centrally located in the front of the synagogue where he would stand to read the assigned text. He would read out of the Torah (first 5 books) and then a section from the prophets (known as the Haftarah). When he was done reading the scroll, the reader would hand it back to the hazzan, and then the reader would sit down to give his sermon (known as the derashah).
Here’s the point to all this background. The reading of the Scripture was the longest part of the service while by comparison the sermon (orderashah) was frequently quite short. In other words, people gathered primarily to hear the Scripture speak, not primarily to hear man speak!
This Sunday we have a unique opportunity to gather for the public proclamation of the Scripture. Our guest Jason Nightingale will give a theatrical presentation of the gospel of Mark in a way that is powerful and life changing. In other words, we gather Sunday to hear the Scripture speak.
I hope you’ll be there. May I recommend that you show up on time this Sunday, find a seat, and come with heart prepared to see Jesus exalted in the Scripture.
You are loved,
Craig Trierweiler
