A Guide to the Christian Observance of the Biblical Sabbath, Feasts, and Holy Days
Many people who accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, whether they refer to themselves as Christian or Messianic, observe the biblical Feasts and Holy Days, including the weekly Sabbath, as times of worship, fellowship, and celebration. They believe that these Feasts and Holy Days are shadows pointing to the reality of Jesus. And they believe that there are valuable spiritual lessons to be learned week by week and year by year through actually physically setting aside these times as “appointments with God.”
See The 3 Rs Introduction article for an overview of the three biblical principles of Refreshment, Rejoicing, and Remembering as they apply to the observance of the biblical Feasts and Holy Days. The rest of the articles in this series on The 3 Rs provide specific, practical suggestions for building those 3 Rs into these observances.
Refreshment
Preparations
Like all other annual biblical Holy Days, the Day of Trumpets is a type of Sabbath, a day on which no regular work is done. There are no typical extra preparations that are done for this day, since it doesn’t have any unusual characteristics such as special foods connected with it.
But if you’d like to have special activities in your home related to the theme of “sounding an alarm” on this day, you might want to plan ahead to gather up appropriate noise makers, including perhaps a genuine shofar.
Shofars can be purchased online for as little as $25 for a simple one made from a short ram’s horn, to large spiral “Yemenite” ones made from African antelope or kudu horns that can run hundreds of dollars, depending on size and beauty. Just type in “shofar” at Google to find stores that sell them.
Environment
Many families find that changing their home environment on the Feasts and Holy Days adds to the feeling of celebration and refreshment. This can include:
Special tableware and centerpieces for one or more of the meals for the day.
Special lighting such as candles or a fireplace.
Special background mood music that is themed to the observance.
Special decorations around one or more rooms.
Special background mood music that is themed to the observance.
Special decorations around one or more rooms.
See some of the suggestions below for decorations and music for the Feast of Trumpets for group settings, and adapt them to home use. It is particularly important to involve the children in planning and creating these elements, as that gives them an “investment” of their own in the celebration
Children’s Activities
Most of the suggestions in the Crafts, Games, and Other Special Activities for Children section below on group projects for children for the festival period can be adapted to home use with just a little creative adaptation.
Devotional
A ten-
Rejoicing
Among those Christians or Messianics who observe the Day of Trumpets, there are several distinct styles of observance. Below are three typical ways that Christian or Messianic congregations choose to celebrate. See the Introductory article to this 3 Rs series for an overview of each of these three types.
Varieties of Contemporary Observances
Traditional Jewish Celebrations
Some groups, particularly among those which label themselves as Messianic or Hebrew Roots congregations, model their Day of Trumpets (Hebrew: YomTeruah) celebrations closely on the traditional modern Orthodox or Conservative Jewish customs for this Holy Day. They will, however, often interpret these customs in ways that emphasize Jesus (whom they may refer to by a Hebrew version of His name such as Yashua or Y’shua) and the Gospel of salvation.
There are not very many specific “official” religious rites connected to the observance of the Day of Trumpets in Judaism, in contrast to, for instance, the Feast of Tabernacles, and Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Synagogue services are different from the weekly Sabbath primarily in just the addition of extra prayers and extra scripture readings, as well as a prescribed ritual of certain ceremonial blowing of a shofar. Most Messianic and Hebrew Roots groups do likewise.
And they also typically embrace the more informal customs that take place outside the synagogue service. This includes eating special foods: pomegranates, and apples dipped in honey.
It also includes a custom called in Hebrew tashlikh, which means “casting off.” Families and sometimes whole congregations take a walk to a nearby stream or river, into which they toss bread crumbs, symbolizing the willing casting off of their sins. A Messianic emphasis of this custom might include reference to baptism symbolically washing away sin, and to Jesus/Yashua taking our sins and removing them as far as the east is from the west, through His own sacrifice.
(For a description and details about these and related Jewish customs, see the Times of Refreshing articles Jewish Feast and Holy Day Customs: Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur. )
Non-
Some Christian groups which observe the Day of Trumpets pay little attention to Jewish customs and instead create their own style of celebration. Such groups seldom actually play trumpets on this day, let alone shofars. Although perhaps a piece of special music, such as “God of Our Fathers,” might be deliberately included because it has a trumpet solo.
It is quite typical among such groups (as it is among Messianic and Hebrew Roots groups as well) that this day is believed to be the exact day that Christ will return some year to usher in the Earthly Millennium. So the primary special feature of the day might well be a rousing sermon about the Second Coming, complete with speculation on how soon that might be, and what people need to do to be “ready” for it.
Hymns on the theme of the Second Coming, or including mention of trumpets, would be typically included in the worship service. And the service would usually be followed by fellowship and feasting, with a pot luck or catered meal.
Hymns on the theme of the Second Coming, or including mention of trumpets, would be typically included in the worship service. And the service would usually be followed by fellowship and feasting, with a pot luck or catered meal.
Hybrid Celebrations
Some groups, while borrowing some of the customs, rituals, and symbolism of Judaism, are more experimental in their inclusion of these. Rather than try to imitate the whole package of the standard Jewish Day of Trumpets celebration, they will pick and choose those aspects which appeal to them, perhaps sometimes for spiritual reasons because they seem to be deeply meaningful, and at other times just because they are aesthetically attractive or seem fun.
One of the most “fun” things about Jewish traditions of the Day of Trumpets, particularly for children, is the blowing of shofars. So a typical hybrid celebration might well include making sure to have at least one shofar and someone to play it at the beginning of the main worship gathering of the day, and perhaps throughout the day. Since these groups feel no obligation to follow any rigid ritual, this shofar playing might well be extemporaneous and enthusiastic rather than formal and somber.
Such groups tend to agree with the Messianic and other Sabbatarian groups on the possible prophetic symbolism of the Day of Trumpets. And thus sermons, hymns, and special music would typically have themes related to the Return of Christ.
Such groups tend to agree with the Messianic and other Sabbatarian groups on the possible prophetic symbolism of the Day of Trumpets. And thus sermons, hymns, and special music would typically have themes related to the Return of Christ.
Festive Food
There is nothing in the Bible “commanding” any sort of food in particular for this Feast day. But it is fun sometimes to develop group traditions linking certain foods to certain celebrations. Why not brainstorm with your group on what might be suitable traditions for this time of year?
One suggestion to get you started: The Day of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Teruah in Hebrew) in Israel—as in most of the Northern hemisphere—comes at the end of the early fall harvest of fruits and vegetables. Jews do follow the biblical command that the “sacred year” of the cycle of Holy Days begins in the spring with the month
Nisan, in which Passover falls. But, just as we have a number of different kinds of “years” including “fiscal years,” they consider the day of Trumpets to be the end of one agricultural year, and the “new year’s day” that begins the next one. Thus one of the popular food traditions for the day is to eat apples dipped in honey, as a symbolic wish for a “sweet year” to come.
Taking this even further, why not try a banquet particularly featuring a wide variety of the freshest of the new produce from your part of the world, including fruits and vegetables. Include in particular any regional specialties for recipes, such as pumpkin pies or candied yams. Most group potlucks are long on casserole dishes like franks and beans and lasagna, and and short on veggies and fruits. So that would set apart this menu from the average!
Remembering
Message ideas
Here are a few suggestions for thematic topics specifically related to the Day of Trumpets:
“Time to wake up and smell the coffee!”
“Are you ready for the spiritual battles that may come in your life?”
“Be all you can be, in the Army of the Lord!”
“Don’t get caught up in setting dates for the return of Christ... because Jesus will be coming for you whenever you die. So it doesn’t make any difference if it is next week or next century. Be always ready.”
“Are you ready for the spiritual battles that may come in your life?”
“Be all you can be, in the Army of the Lord!”
“Don’t get caught up in setting dates for the return of Christ... because Jesus will be coming for you whenever you die. So it doesn’t make any difference if it is next week or next century. Be always ready.”
Ideas for Bible Studies and Discussion Sessions
Adults
What are you looking forward to the most when Jesus comes again?
If you’ve felt spiritually drowsy lately, what can you do to wake up?
What can you do to help build better camaraderie with your fellow “Army of the Lord” soldiers?
What would you tell a friend who was disillusioned about religion because he was taken in by a false prophetic teacher whose dogmatic pronouncements about the End coming soon failed miserably?
If you’ve felt spiritually drowsy lately, what can you do to wake up?
What can you do to help build better camaraderie with your fellow “Army of the Lord” soldiers?
What would you tell a friend who was disillusioned about religion because he was taken in by a false prophetic teacher whose dogmatic pronouncements about the End coming soon failed miserably?
Teens
If you hate alarm clocks, you may also find you resent “wake up calls” from God. What can you do to have a better attitude about them?
The Internet is a powerful tool of communication, in the same way ancient societies used shofars. A lot of teens use blogs and personal home pages just for airing their petty gripes or gossiping. But there are so many ways those could be used to accomplish positive projects that will uplift and help others, and “wake them up” to a better way of life. Brainstorm ideas for starting an online outreach to other teens that would be attractive, fun, exciting, and creative.
Children
What could you do to “wake up” a friend who is doing bad things that are going to hurt himself and others?
What kinds of situations did people in Bible times use shofars and trumpets for?
What communication methods do we use today instead?
What kinds of situations did people in Bible times use shofars and trumpets for?
What communication methods do we use today instead?
Crafts, Games, and Other
Special Activities for Children
Crafts
Have children create posters or collages, drawing or painting their own illustrations or using photos cut from magazines, of all sorts of warning or “wake up call” instruments: Examples: Sirens, trumpets, alarm clocks, train whistles.
Have each child make their own paper shofar using the directions at
www.highlightskids.com/Express/Crafts/Holidays/C1097_shofar.asp
Other Activities
Buy or make Bible character and modern character puppets and accessories: Muppet-style puppets, finger puppets, shadow puppets on sticks, sock puppets, paper bag puppets. And then brainstorm with children of different ages how these can be used in plays to portray Bible stories or modern stories that will help bring to life Bible principles.
For the Day of Trumpets, this could include role playing stories in which an Old Testament puppet character discusses with a group of puppet friends what he experienced at the battle of Jericho.
Buy enough plastic shofars for all the kids to blow to start and end your Day of Trumpets service. Inexpensive ones are available from online dealers such as www.israelbookshop.com, which has them for $1.50 apiece.
For the Day of Trumpets, this could include role playing stories in which an Old Testament puppet character discusses with a group of puppet friends what he experienced at the battle of Jericho.
Buy enough plastic shofars for all the kids to blow to start and end your Day of Trumpets service. Inexpensive ones are available from online dealers such as www.israelbookshop.com, which has them for $1.50 apiece.
Easy Printing Information
All of the articles on this website are available in simple and convenient pdf format files that you can print out and share with friends. Go to the Easy Printing Page for details.
All of the articles on this website are available in simple and convenient pdf format files that you can print out and share with friends. Go to the Easy Printing Page for details.
The 3 Rs of the
Feast of Trumpets
