It's that magical time of year again in COGland—Passover prep season, where the real countdown begins to their ultra-special version of the holy days. Get ready for weeks of thrilling detective work, hunting down those sneaky "hidden sins" (a.k.a. stray bread crumbs) tucked away in suit coat pockets, toy chests, under couch cushions, or—because why not?—the toolbox out in the garage. Truly, what a spiritually profound exercise.
For so many faithful souls, it's an utterly exhausting marathon, mentally and physically draining, as they spend countless hours de-leavening their homes in a frantic, never-quite-complete quest for perfection. Because, obviously, if even one microscopic crumb survives, the whole family is doomed as wretched, unredeemed sinners. How inspiring.
And let's not forget those golden pulpit moments when ministers would regale the congregation with tales of all the leaven they heroically discovered—conveniently stashed by the children, of course. Nothing says "personal accountability" like blaming the kids for your own lingering sins. Classic move.
But the absolute pinnacle of brilliance? Back in Pasadena, they forced custodial employees to crawl on their hands and knees, armed with nothing but a toothbrush, meticulously scrubbing every last crumb from the teakwood floors in the student center. And the ministers and evangelists who had custodial come in and deleaven their homes for them. Because apparently, God's grace just wasn't enough—someone had to perform extreme manual labor to prove their righteousness. Utterly brilliant, and completely essential... except, oops, the New Covenant requires precisely zero of this nonsense. No physical house-purging mandatory, just the spiritual kind. Who knew?
Greetings from Charlotte,
We are now a month away from the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. Let us make sure we are preparing by examining ourselves to find unrepented-of leaven in our lives. Most of us do not have to look too hard to find some significant shortcomings—often ones that we face year after year. What Paul said applies to all of us: “For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do” (Romans 7:15). Nevertheless, with the help of God, we can make real progress at allowing Christ to be formed in us (Galatians 4:19). I sincerely hope that we can all look back over the past year and find spiritual growth in our lives. Either way, we should determine with God’s help to see growth in the year to come. The world makes “New Year’s resolutions” that are almost always quickly broken. Let us strive to do better than that. We will be mailing out a Holy Day letter in the next few days, and I hope you will take time to read and meditate on its content. Until then, have a rewarding Sabbath.
2 comments:
Has Samuel Kitchen figured out that if he buys the Auditorium, he'll be accountable for de-leavening it before every Passover?
I was thinking the exact same thing! Samuel has not engaged his brain to all of the ramifications of owning such a monstrosity. Not only will he need to deleaven the entire builing but he will also need to exorcise it of the "Pentecostal demons" as Armstrongism likes to refer to those people.
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