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Festivals in 2008
Leeds Festival, Reading and Greenbelt are over and although I didn't go, I have been musing over feasts and festivals in the Bible and in our life as a community of faith.
The Old Testament describes a calendar that includes the Passover, Harvest festival, Feast of Tabernacles, The Day of Atonement, Purim and other special events in the spiritual life of the Jewish people. Do we have anything similar today?
The traditional church calendar includes Christmas and Easter a large range of holy-days. Some people have a tradition of using part of their annual holidays to visit one of the national Christian festivals such as Spring Harvest or Greenbelt or a youth conference, worship leaders conference etc.
At Wharfedale also try to create festivals: special times to encounter God in a special way. Six times a year, the Vine is part of that. And of course we celebrate Christmas and Easter too. But I think it is helpful to think of our other conferences, equipping days and residential holidays as festivals too.
Some of the 'festivals' we have planned as Wharfedale this year are:
| 28 Jan - 1 Feb 2008 |
Vineyard National Leaders Conference, Portsmouth |
| 11-15 Feb 08 |
T4:12 at Bassenfell |
| 29 Feb - 2 Mar 08 |
Wharfedale Leaders weekend, Hothorpe Hall |
| 2-4 May 08 |
DTI: Dreaming the Impossible (T4:12) |
| 16-18 May 08 |
Women Rock Weekend, Hebden Bridge (women only) |
| 20-22 June 08 |
Revive: Vineyard Churches in the North, Long Marsden |
| 17-19 Oct 08 |
Bob's residential weekend (men only) |
| 6-9 Nov 08 |
Youthwork conference |
It would be nearly impossible for anyone to attend all of these (at least without a gender change in mid-year :-). But we encourage you choose a few of them, book in, and plan for special time to encounter God in a special way.
If you would like to set up a standing order to help spread the cost of paying for festivals you can download a standing order form here (you will need to be logged into the website).
Response
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Wharfedale Vineyard Office, 02/01/2008 |
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