Title: The God of Our Ancestors
Content Title: The God of Our Ancestors
Main text: Exodus 3:15~16, Matthew 3:5~9
Today's Sunday is Seollal, a traditional holiday of our people. In the flow of impermanent history, it was banned because it was called double taxation, and there were also people who had objections to why the New Year's Day was a holiday. The fortress regarded the Lunar New Year as a folk day and made it a public holiday, and if you look at it as a holiday during which a large number of peoples migrate, even the church should be concerned and deal with it.
The ancestor Moses, John the Baptist, and Stephen are talking about in the text is, of course, Abraham. In this way, the Lunar New Year in Korea is an important event to spend the old year and welcome the new year, and when the day is bright, we will find the elders to take our turn, and we will hold a ceremony, and during the day, we will all gather together to play yut, jump, spin the top, and play jegi-chagi. It is a day to strengthen ties with neighbors and enjoy eating rice cake soup and dumpling soup together. Then, how should our children of God understand the Lunar New Year and how should we spend it? Please think about it together.
Who were the first ancestors who gave birth to me?
A granddaughter who entered Grandpa's room with a plate of fruit on the Lunar New Year asked Grandpa. Who is your grandfather's father? Grandpa will answer proudly about what Hamza is, what position he held, and what achievements he made, as even his ancestors knew.
Second, what did our ancestors leave us with?
Just as a tree without roots will soon wither, so an event without the root of true faith will soon lead to emptiness and disappointment. If you spend a happy day wearing new clothes and eating delicious food, the next day will be empty and empty. As the saying goes, "It's the same after good luck", there is nothing left behind the let's eat culture and the play culture. Here it is in contrast to the Israeli feast. The most important holiday in Israel is the Passover. They are not a game of eating, but a place of celebration and education. The food is unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They wear clothes, put on shoes, and eat while standing on a cane. During a meal, when a child asks what day it is today, the father tells the details of the Exodus (Exodus 12).
There are great ancestors such as Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, but rather than that, I am grateful for God's grace and providence who called them and used them, and I am deeply impressed by God's words. Isn't it the task of us as saints who have been saved through God's love and Jesus Christ to sublimate the New Year's Eve into a productive and creative holiday by sublimating it from a physical and emotional holiday to a spiritual and religious one?
Third, what should we do in the future?
Before spending our nation's traditional Lunar New Year holidays happily, I think it's important to establish a posture first in order to spend it meaningfully. In Galatians 3:25-29, the Apostle Paul defines it as an image of us being bound under the law before faith came, and imprisoned until the time of faith that is revealed. We believe that it is our mission to lead the Lunar New Year holiday as a day of worship to God and a day of thanks for God's grace and love, rather than neglecting it as a folk day.
Just as the Jews keep the Passover in a tense and solemn way for the atmosphere of the Exodus, we should develop it into a family worship service on the Lunar New Year holiday. It seems that the best time for religious education about serving God is the first hour of the Lunar New Year holidays to children who say that their eyebrows become white if they sleep on New Year's Day. Amen.