Vigil of Michaelmas & Sukkot III (Feast of Tabernacles)

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Vigil of St James and St John
"The Vigil" (Sir Gawine of the round Table keeping Vigil) by John Pettie (1884)

"Pettie, The Vigil" Original uploader was Cactus.man at en.wikipedia - Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Tomorrow is Michaelmas, where we honour Michael and all the Angels. Today we pray and mediate, in preparation of a Major Holy day.

The Dictionary has two definitions for the word Vigil:-

  1. A period of keeping awake during the time usually spent asleep, especially to keep watch or pray.
  2. (In the Christian Church) - The eve of a festival or holy day as an occasion of religious observance.

The intention is prayerful preparation for the coming important Religious Holiday. Vigils are only kept for major religious holidays and apostles, they are I believe, a tradition leftover from the Roman-Catholic belief that different saints, especially the apostles can intercede for us with God. Anglican's while honouring the memory of the Saints, believe only Christ's intercession matters and having claimed his Salvation, through faith, we can go direct to the Father in the name of the Son, with confession, fear, and trembling remembering whom we are approaching.

That being stated, it is a good thing, to reassess yourself spiritually on a regular basis and see where you stand in your walk with God. The vigils in preparation for a Saint's Day/Religious Holiday are a good time to do this, whether spending a little extra time with the Father at the end of the day, or focusing on a full Vigil for the day or even just saying the special Vigil prayers, in fact it should be a joy to us who love God. Today we follow the Vigil prayers, collects and readings throughout the day. Tomorrow we celebrate Michael and All Angels.


Sukkot - The Feast of Tabernacles - Day 3

While the first 2 days are the most important during Sukkot and are the ones most observed outside of Israel, Sukkot has not finished and today has an important note for Christians. The Jewish Torah readings for this day of Sukkot are prophetic, and speak of the War between Gog and Magog. According to tradition this war will begin during the month of Tishrei. This is spoken of in more than one place in the Old Testament.

The prophet describes Gog's war against Israel and Elohim's furious response. Elohim (God) will send an earthquake, pestilence, great floods and hailstones and fire — utterly destroying Gog's armies. (Zachariah 14), concludes by saying that the Gentile survivors of this war will be required to go to Jerusalem every year on the holiday of Sukkot to pay homage to Elohim (God).


28 September 2026 = Happy Sukkot = 17th of Tishrei, 5787
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