Day of Trumpeting.

Today, after sunset on September 11, the two-day celebration of Rosh Hashanah begins.

It marks the beginning of a ten-day season of repentance, prayer, and reflection — a journey that leads us to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

The Lord said to Moses:

“Speak to the children of Israel and say to them:

On the first day of the seventh month, you are to have a day of rest, a sacred day of remembrance, announced with the sound of the shofar.

It is to be a holy gathering. You are not to do your regular work, and you are to bring an offering to the Lord.”

In the Jewish traditional calendar, this is the New Year — or more literally, the head of the year.

Rosh Hashanah is also called Yom HaZikaron, the Day of Remembrance.

Its biblical name is Yom Teruah.

The Hebrew word teruah means to cry out, to raise your voice, to make a loud call.

That is why it is also known as the Day of Trumpeting.

This is one of the most significant and sacred times in the Jewish calendar.

It is a time to stop and take an honest look at our lives.

During these days, we become aware of our sins, we confront our mistakes, and we seek forgiveness from people we may have hurt.

The prophet Isaiah said:

“Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.”Isaiah 55:6

God is everywhere.

He is always present.He is always near.

And yet, there is a problem.

God is always close to us.

But we are not always close to Him.

To reach for infinity in the middle of a finite life…to encounter eternity in the middle of time…to become aware of what lies beyond what our eyes can see and our senses can touch…

That takes a different kind of attention.

It takes us stepping away from the noise of everyday life.

Yeshua taught us:

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen.”Matthew 6:6

Becoming aware of God's presence requires something from us.

Sometimes we need to step into the sacredness of the moment — to allow God to meet us in the deepest and most private place within us.

Yeshua taught us to pray in a way that makes gratitude a conscious and real part of our lives.

To remember where we have been.

And to remember where God has brought us.

This sacred season looks back at the past, but it also reminds us that our lives are part of a story much bigger than ourselves.

We are part of something greater.

We are on a journey toward something greater.

And an encounter with God — alone, face to face — can change your life.

It makes us ask some of the most important questions we can ever ask:

Who am I?

Why am I here?

How have I lived my life up to this point?

How have I used God's greatest gift — my time?

Who have I hurt, and how can I make it right?

What have I failed at, and how can I overcome those failures?

What is broken in my life that needs to be repaired?

What chapter am I going to write in the Book of Life?

No one who truly experiences Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur can walk away without taking an honest look at their life.

The apostle Paul taught us, in the context of the Lord's Supper, that:

“Each person should examine themselves.”

Interestingly, the Hebrew verb lehitpalel, which means “to pray,” also carries the idea of examining or judging oneself.

And so, on Rosh Hashanah, we stand before judgment.

We come face to face with the truth about ourselves.

We discover things we need to see.

And sometimes, what we discover isn't pretty.

We see our failures.

Our mistakes.

Our sins.

But when we open ourselves to God, He gives us the strength to become who we were truly created to be.

This sacred season is a time for reflection and introspection.

It is a time to consciously stand in the presence of the Infinite — remembering how short and fragile life really is, and how little time we have here on earth.

Today, our Lord is inviting us to slow down and take an honest look within.

He is calling us to reflect.

And, when necessary, to repent.

To turn around.

To change the way we think.

To change the direction of our lives.

May our names be written in “the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain.”Revelation 13:8