Living That Out
Living out one ’ s calling as a One New Man congregation is in fact messy – as both visualized and demonstrated through two groups of people , both coming in with their different cultural identities and choosing to worship the Jewish Messiah together . For most of Church history , this was expressed in a unified Christian identity , be it Catholic , Protestant , Orthodox and other expressions . From that standpoint , there was no Jewish understanding – where the Jew was simply told , you are now a “ Christian .”
However , in Messianic Judaism , where we acknowledge the unity with distinctions and mutual blessing , each group needs to have space for their own individual identities to flourish within the same congregation , while not diminishing the importance of a Messianic call . Maybe it is a Bar or Bat Mitzvah for a Jewish young adult , and Confirmation for a Gentile child ? Maybe it could be an encouragement that it is okay to celebrate Christmas with non-Messianic Gentile family members , as well as being comfortable in keeping the traditional Jewish Christmas of Chinese food and a movie ? Maybe it is even both a Passover and Easter service at the congregation , wherein both Jews and Gentiles are ministered to , and where Messianic Jewish expression is not diminished or weakened ?
Members can be free to celebrate each other ’ s holidays , with the encouragement to both groups to be led by the Spirit as well as given
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