Where Is Our Sense Of Belonging?

Fall is my favorite season of the year. I love the colors of the trees, the crisp nights with extra blankets and wearing my fuzzy sweaters again. We can learn a great deal about what Fall can mean by looking at the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. If you participated in our Book Club, you will remember that Jacobs built a booth in his living room and lived in for seven days. He was observing this Feast. The Book of Leviticus commanded the Jewish people to build booths made of palm branches and dwell in them for seven days. It was meant to remind them of God’s protection of them during their forty years wandering in the desert.

You may be thinking, “Great, Ellen, thanks for the ancient Religion lesson, but what does it have to do with me? I think this Feast can teach us three important lessons. The first is to use the cycles of nature to bring us closer to God. Secondly, it can teach us to look forward while we look back . Finally, it can help us renew our sense of belonging. Admit it, that is way deeper than a fuzzy sweater.

This Feast used the cycle of nature to bring people closer to God. At the end of their agricultural year, the Jews would gather the grapes. As a wine lover, this excites me. It is also called the Feast of Ingathering. To ingather is to bring together, to pick. Our culture does not ingather well. We like it on Facebook or tweet it and forget about it. This feast calls for us to intentionally pick what we choose to spend our time on. This week I’d like you to think about who you ingather and why? What changes could you make to let people know that you intentionally choose them?

The feast taught the Jews to look forward while looking back. At the “turn” of the year, or in our case when the leaves “turn” they were called to build tents and pause. The modest tents were to remind them of their humble past. They set aside a week to remember. They took the time to thank God for the harvest He provided. This was a reason for hope. As they examined God’s faithfulness in their lives, they remembered that He would continue to act on their behalf. Sometimes we need to look back to see where we are headed. This week pause and examine the ways God has moved in your life. It is in looking back that we see where we are headed.

This feast was communal. Everyone gathered the grapes. Entire neighborhoods were filled with these tents in yards and gardens and even on roofs. Water was poured down the Temple steps to symbolize the Jewish faith reaching out to the world. They took care of the poor among them, helping to make tents for them. They shared meals, prayer, singing and dancing. This renewed their sense of belonging.

We live in a world in desperate need of belonging. The more we connect digitally, the less we are ingathered. Fall and the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles gives us a reason to pause and reconnect. Choose some or all of the following suggestions and try to put them into practice during the Autumn season. If you do, I promise you will feel more connected to God, to yourself and those you pick.

1-Use nature to bring you closer to God
2-Gather in those you love and are most thankful for
3-Take a humble look at your past and God’s faithfulness in it
4-Define your hopes for what the next seasons will bring
5-Help the needy around you

Any or all of these will renew your sense of belonging as it did for the Israelites many years ago.