When a person is awakened to a pursuit of Biblical Faith (inevitably resulting in the desire to express that faith in its original Jewish context), there is at once a great sense of clarity and a feeling of loss: clarity in the understanding that one of those elusive missing pieces central to the puzzle of life has finally been revealed to them and lowered in place, allowing one to have an exponentially expanded view of the intended landscape; loss in the realization that many of those around them aren’t seeing the same picture they are, and that they can’t go where their friends and family may be anymore because the experiences they once had no longer have the same meaning—so there’s an automatic feeling of disconnectedness.

At the same time, particularly for Gentile believers, there is a natural hesitancy resulting from hiking in unfamiliar territory. We understand that we can’t go back where we came from, but what do we do? Many of the experiences and practices of Biblical Faith are uniquely Jewish; and it is very common to feel alien when exploring Jewish traditions and practices to glean Biblical meaning. For many of us, this is the first time we have felt like an immigrant.

A great example of this is the celebration of winter holidays. Personally, I always loved Christmas: the sights, the music, the food, and most importanly, the celebration of Jesus’ birth. When I came to understand that Christmas is a holiday of mixed Christian and pagan practices, however, Christmas began to lose its appeal for me. Instead, I looked at celebrating Hanukkah—a historical and Biblical holiday (though not one of the Levitical ‘appointed times’) that Jesus Himself celebrated (see John 10). The awkwardness of this, however, is that in Judaism, Hanukkah is viewed to a degree as Israel’s Independence Day—and while I certainly can rejoice with my Jewish brothers and sisters that the Jewish people were once again saved from their enemies, and I am thankful that the actions of the Maccabees were crucial in paving the way for the Messiah to come at the appointed time, the celebration is still somewhat foreign to me—and even more so to my family members who have studied less than I have. (I mean, Shir Soul makes “I Have a Little Dreidel” as cool as it can be, but still...)

So what can we do to ease the difficulty of adapting to this new reality?  

Adjusting to anything new inevitably comes with a period of uncertainty. Be prayerful, patient, and persistent; you will find that living and celebrating Biblically comes with great reward.