
The Barbados Beach Club
Though this may come as a surprise to some people even yet, New Testament Christians didn’t observe Sunday, Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, “saints’ days” or any of the syncretic celebrations that accreted from the second century of our era onward. They observed the Sabbath, Festivals and Holy Days – “the appointed times of the LORD (מועדי יהוה)” – that Israel (when obedient to God) had always kept (Leviticus 23). The first Christians (who were Jewish by descent) taught the Gentiles who joined with them to do likewise (cf. Matthew 5:17-20; 28:18-20).
Colossians 2:16-17 (a most misunderstood passage) shows that the first Christians kept these days in a new spirit, as “shadows of the things to come”: of what Jesus Christ had done, continued to do and would yet do to save His Church, His nation Israel and ultimately the whole world. They were not limited by all the strictures of the Law of Moses (let alone of later Judaic halakhah or Gnostic philosophy) in their observance, however (same passage, rightly rendered from the Received Text: “but [let the Church,] the Body of the Christ, [judge these matters]“). Nor were they limited to Jerusalem as their place of observance (cf. John 4:19-26). These realities became all the more pertinent when Second Temple Jerusalem fell in 70 AD and it was no longer possible to carry out the ceremonies associated with the Law of Moses.
The Living Church of God, being an organization with congregations all over the world, has sites where it observes the Feast of Tabernacles in many different countries. This year I had the opportunity to keep the Feast outside my native United States for the first time, and I chose to go to the island of Barbados. I already had a pen pal there (what does one call a “pen pal” or “pen friend” in this age of the Internet?) and wanted to meet him; but I also wanted to “stretch myself” by encountering a cultural and ethnic mix different from what one can find in the U.S., or what I had found even in Israel or London, England. As it happens, the LCG kept the Feast of Tabernacles this year at the Barbados Beach Club.
Part of my pre-trip research was in that ever-handy starting point, Wikipedia. Interestingly, this source claims: ”Barbados’s Human Development Index ranking is consistently among the top 75 countries in the world. In report published on October 5 2009, it was ranked 37th in the world, and third in the Americas, behind Canada and the United States.” On arrival I found that true to Wikipedia’s hints, Barbados has a fascinating blend (even in its often-flagrantly-unzoned architecture) of old and new, rich, middle-class and poor, African, European, and Asian. Economically (I was told) it is much better off than most of the Caribbean, although I suspect that could change quickly if world finances seriously impact its chief source of income, tourism.
The one obstacle I feared on my trip – tropical heat and humidity – was there as expected. Mercifully, Barbados has and uses air conditioning, although perhaps not as much as Houston, TX. Also the weather was unusually rain-free for that time of year. I found that even the insects were rather laid-back. Mosquitos that would lunge for the capillaries in desperate hunger in Houston seemed surprisingly few and lazy in Barbados, as if to say, “There’s no hurry, really. The human has to go to sleep sometime.” And that was the only time I got bitten by anything: while I was asleep (twice). Maybe I was just specially blessed, or maybe the bugs are worse in the interior. But on a bus trip there, I wasn’t bothered at all. Nor did I get more than a touch of sunburn (one application of sunscreen, on the day in question, did the trick).
And as for the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles itself, plus the eighth day – what the Jews call (based on biblical Hebrew texts such as Nehemiah 8:18) Sheminit Atseret, and what we (based on John 7:37) call the Last Great Day? The focus of this period is on the services: hymns, sermonette, sermon, and Special Music (not necessarily in that order). Between the featured local elders and the visiting speakers, we had outstanding spiritual nourishment, just as I hear was true elsewhere this year. The Special Music was good to outstanding, and I was kept busy playing hymns most of the Feast. And meeting the brethren – sometimes-challenging local accent and all – was a blessing. It took me some time to break the ice with some of the older people, but my own turn at Special Music did the trick at last (thank God, my musical performances usually do). There were also abundant opportunities for fellowship on trips (island tour, caravan cruise, submarine cruise) and over meals.
Oh yes…let’s raise a glass of local rum punch to that fine local delicacy, flying fish!
This is the official national fish of Barbados. Unhappily (as you will read), the flying fish is encountering serious problems in that part of the world.
I have on Photobucket two slideshows of photos from Barbados: all that turned out. This slideshow (250 photos) and this slideshow (40 photos) will give you a good taste of my experiences in Barbados. (No, the young man in the first slideshow isn’t dancing; he’s demonstrating kung fu moves for me. I have a video of another demonstration he did for me – maybe, with his permission, it will show up on YouTube.)
Best wishes in Jesus Christ (שלום בישוע המשיח),
John Wheeler (יוחנן רכב)







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