"Judaism"

Scripture: Genesis 12:1-3; 15:5-6

It is appropriate that we talked about Judaism on the Sunday we celebrated Holy Communion. The central feature of Judaism is the notion of covenant – the mutual promises that God shares with his chosen people. In our communion liturgy, we recite the words that Jesus spoke at the Last Supper, “This is my blood of the new covenant which is poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.” This covenant that God first had with the Jewish people, through Jesus Christ, has been opened up to all who choose. And when we consider that Jesus lived and died a Jew, we must consider what this covenant means to us in our lives. It is one thing to say that covenant is important in our faith. But, how specifically does notion of covenant translate to Christianity? What does it mean that Christians are also a part of a “covenant community?” Those are very good questions. We will talk more about that next week. For a preview, follow this link to view John Wesley's Covenant Prayer.