The Real Topic "Connecting with God" (A Great Study!)

     Many years ago, while I was still in Seminary, I was asked to help put together a Passover Hagaddah for the Messianic Jewish Community in Louisville, KY. Across the years I have enjoyed sharing the Passover, and recently I have put this Seder into print: A Christian Passover in the Jewish Tradition. And in the process of producing this Hagaddah, God did something wonderful.
     As I tried to put the Hagaddah into presentable form, God spoke to me. This occurred while I was on a trip to see my father. As I drove, the Lord brought ideas and chapters to my mind which I had studied in the past. These realizations came from the time I assembled the first Passover Hagaddah for our group in Louisville.
     In my book Spring: Connecting with God I follow the development of the Seder, from the Garden of Eden (when Adam used to walk with God in the cool of the day); to the Communion of Abram and Melchezedek (Genesis 14:18); to the instructions of the first Passover in Exodus 12 (and its observance in Exodus 13); all the way to it’s history during time of the Kings of Judea. I teach on how the Passover has ties to the Peace offering of Leviticus 3-4 (and 7). I also examine four Passover Seders observed by Jesus in the New Testament (at 12 years of age, and each year of his ministry). I show how the agape feast of the early church is tied to the Passover, and how we will enjoy fellowship meals in heaven.
     I thought I wrote a good book, until God showed me something else. I was asked to share an outline of Spring: Connecting with God in a local Senior Adult group, and put the outline into presentation format. As I shared, I realized the book is more about our relationship with God than it is about the Passover.
     Spring: Connecting with God shows how our love for God goes from passionate to cool; and from churchy to forgotten. The book is a call for us to fan to flame the love which is in our hearts for God, and shows us how to avoid the things which cool us off. I would encourage people to take the book, and use it as a 10 week study (but then as the author I am biased). But I know study groups could be enriched through this study.

Whispers

A Whisper
Coming softly to my ears
Murmuring something
That I cannot understand
Unless I listen
With my whole being

What is it saying?
I wonder
Is it telling me
Something important
That will change
My entire life ...

(Poem © Chelsea Simon) ...
It’s completion & more poems can be found in the book.