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God was in the House,
The House was a Tent.
Also: Elizabeth Fry - Prison Reformer
Sukkot ends today at Nightfall. The 7th and last day of the festival is called Hoshanah Rabba, the “Great Hoshana.” This is a High Shabbat (Sabbath), so is especially important to God.
The hoshanah is a series of 7 liturgical poems calling upon God to rescue, the Jewish people, primarily by sending rain. They parade around the synogogue reciting all 7 today. At the conclusion of the 7 processions, a special ritual is conducted in which the branches of the willow (the lulav) are struck upon the ground. This is a symbolic attempt to rid themselves of any remaining sins (the leaves representing these transgressions) that might influence God’s decision to send the seasonal rains.
We Christians are lucky all we have to do is Confess our sins, and apologise to God for them. The jumping off place for that is the Confession prayer at Terse today. Many have the custom to eat kreplach — ground beef- or chicken-filled dough, folded into triangles —on this day, during a festive lunch meal. Sukkot ends tonight, the 1 day feast of Shemini Atzeret begins.
Elizabeth Fry - Prison Reformer
Prison Reformer
Elizabeth was married with, 11 children, (5 sons, 6 daughters) a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers), she established a girls’ school at Plashet near East Ham in London. In 1811 the Quakers named her a “minister”. Her deep religious faith then found a practical outlet in her lifelong commitment to prison reform. Her daily visits to women prisoners in Newgate goal enabled her to see for herself the degradation they suffered. She began a campaign for reform, she gave evidence on prison conditions before a select committee of the House of Commons. Her submission was influential in shaping subsequent legislation, in the UK,, and Europe, instrumental in bringing about change.
Elizabeth discovered conditions suffered by those in psychiatric hospitals (described as "snake pits", & "hell on earth"). She did a great deal to bring about improvements in the hospital system, in particular the treatment of the insane. She was also involved in the establishment of a “Nightly Shelter for the Homeless”, founding a society for the care and rehabilitation of former offenders, providing a library for lighthouse keepers and coast guard and reporting on poverty in Ireland.
Throughout her life active evangelization was never separate from social action. But the work which most clearly emphasized her convictions was a devotional book called "Texts for Every Day in the Year". 1st published in 1831. More than a thousand people stood in silence during her burial at the Ramsgate memorial.. She was depicted on the Bank of England £5 note from 2001–2016 and a statue of her stands in the Old Bailey Court.
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Prayer 7s Ministry, New Zealand. You may not use the material for commercial purposes.