Lisa J. Camp

 December 13 - Day 7 Ebenezer shown here in the bottom right  of the picture. BACKGROUND : The third blessing of Hanukkah recited only on the first night of the holiday starts "blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, Who has kept us alive, sustained us ..."  Can we just stop for a moment to thank God for His sustaining grace today?  I don't know what you've been through since we lit the last Hanukkah light in 2022, but if we rehearsed it to one another I believe our mutual responses would be, "God brought you through a lot!"  Losses would be overwhelming, sicknesses and surgeries would be countless, worries and frets innumerable.  But God - God sustained us through them all.   In our lawn as I was growing up, we had this oddly shaped stone - it went everywhere with us and sits in mom's yard to this day.  We call it Ebenezer.  My parents wanted to remember a time in their life when God really came through for them.  There was a time in our

December 12 - Day 6   BACKGROUND : The third blessing of Hanukkah said only on the first night begins with this, "Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who has kept us alive ..."  There was a day when praising God for keeping us alive had less weight.  That day was before Covid, I think.  I was recently lamenting to a friend the number of people in my life who have passed recently, and how people who by normal expectations shouldn't die, but they are.  I'm outliving far too many people of my own age, and I'm not that old.  (Not THAT old.)  It's becoming more and more astounding that God has kept us alive.   My SIL Laura.   So thankful I'll see her again in Heaven. I've become more thankful for waking up every day because of my auto-immune disorder.  One of its complications can be aneurysm.  Last scanned, I'm good, but it's always a possibility.  I'm also more thankful these past few years because I've outlived my sist

 December 11 - Day 5 BACKGROUND : I hope this doesn't come as a shock to anyone, but I'm about to state what I hope is obvious.  As a Christian, Jewish History is your history.  There is no part of the Christian faith that has not passed first through the nation of Israel.  The Scriptures (painfully preserved and copied), the system of sacrifices, the Messiah Himself - Christianity cannot stand alone without Judaism.  We both serve and love the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob still to this very day.   The second blessing over the Hanukkah lights which you know by now on day 5 is "Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, Who performed wondrous deeds for our ancestors in those ancient days at this season."  Israel's history has blessed us in countless ways and the miracle of Hanukkah is just one of them.   Ponder for a moment your own ancestors' spiritual history and what God has done for them and for you through them.  When my Dad was 4 years o

 December 10 – Day 4 BACKGROUND : Now that we have a basic understanding of the Festival of Lights, we can delve into the blessings of Hanukkah.  Recited every night is the first blessing - blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, Who makes us holy with Your commandments, commanding us to kindle the Hanukkah lights.  Is it the American in us or just the humanity in us that just thoroughly dislikes rules?  When it comes to the commands of God, Christians in particular (of whom I am one) seem to have this "loophole mentality".  How can I justify doing my own thing in my own way?  Honestly, Jesus and the New Testament are our biggest loopholes - Jesus fulfilled the law, we have a new covenant, etc., etc., etc. What I'm wrestling with about that personally is this - in the first and greatest sermon He ever gave, Jesus said this - "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law of the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them...Therefo

December 9 – Day 3 BACKGROUND :  The oil to light the lampstand in the Temple was only enough for one day, and yet for eight days straight the light shone brightly in the Temple of God.  That the oil lasted eight days is attributed to either the amount of time it would take to produce more pure oil - a four-day journey both directions or to the first celebration in the newly dedicated Temple - a observance of the Feast of Tabernacles that had passed during their oppression.   This was not the first miracle of oil the people of Israel would have known.  Elisha encountered a widow who was broke and the creditors were on their way to take her sons as slaves.  She had one meager jar of oil left.  Elisha told her to go borrow jars from all her neighbors - "not a few".  And when they'd gathered all they could, they came home and shut the door behind them.  Elisha then took the jar of oil and filled every jar they'd gathered.  When they ran out of jars, the oil stopped flowi

 December 8 – Day 2 Photo Cred: Project Menorah BACKGROUND : The account of the Maccabean revolt is found in the books of 1 & 2 Maccabees (found in the Catholic Bible which is on YouVersion Bible app, if you'd like to read it.)  Judah Maccabeus (for whom the Maccabees are name) led the revolt against the oppression of the Jewish people and in the early days of this guerrilla war, they were able to reclaim Jerusalem, cleanse the Temple, and rededicate the altar.  In lighting the Temple menorah, they could only find enough pure, uncontaminated oil for one day.  Miraculously, it lasted for eight days until more oil could be procured. This is why we celebrate the Festival of Lights for eight days.   REFLECTION : Eight - the number of new beginnings.  How have you experienced a new beginning this year?  Did you find the grace to start over at something?  Or are you needing a fresh start?  Take this time to thank God for the cycles of beginnings - every new day has new mercies, every