It is a time-honored practice for one religion to “borrow” practices from another in order to make their practice more palatable to practitioners of said religion. This may be for purposes of conversion or interfaith relations or simply because one group thought the other had a good idea. Particularly between Judaism and Christianity, there are many practices shared. In fact, most of Christian worship owes a debt to Jewish liturgical practice.
For example, the Jewish holiday of Shavu’ot celebrates God giving the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. It is also a harvest festival, and its the second of three major festivals with agricultural significance–the other two being Passover and Sukkot. Shavu’ot comes fifty days after Passover.
The Torah is both a theological and a practical teaching. It orders both the people’s life with each other and their life with God as a community, not as individuals, which is largely contradictory to the modern concept of how life works. It was a way for the holy God to teach God’s people what it meant to be holy and set apart. The Torah was also a way for God to be made accessible to everyone. In a way, where Christians have Jesus, Judaism has the Torah.
In the Christian tradition, Pentecost celebrates the birthday of the Church and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Some Christian traditions view Jesus as a kind of Passover sacrifice. The crucifixion of Jesus spares those who believe in him from the wrath of God, just as the lamb did for the people of Israel on Passover. Pentecost comes fifty days after Easter, which is the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. It is similar to the Festival of Shavuot, or the Festival of Weeks, in both timing and theology.
The theology of both of these festivals celebrate the accessibility of God to the people. Christians celebrate it through the Holy Spirit, Jews through the Torah. For Christians, however, the Holy Spirit is God’s holy Wisdom and teaching, taking the place Judaism reserves for the Torah. The word Torah simply means Teaching.
Interfaith ministers of all stripes, and especially of the Universal Life Church, need to understand how these two holy days are related. They are so important to each faith, but they are so similar. Knowing not just these holy days, but showing respect for every religion, is essential for all ministers, but especially ministers in the Universal Life Church, in their ministries. Anyone who seeks to get ordained will need minister training in world religions. However, if anyone is interested in interfaith work, seeking to get ordained and minister training in the Universal Life Church is the best thing he or she could do.
