Rev. Stephen Eastman has made a lifetime study of the biblical holidays and other Jewish influences on the Christian faith. Below you will find several handouts on the holidays, and a paper on the creating covenant families. He has conducted seminars on this subject and led messianic/Christian seders in a large number of churches and pastoral groups.

"Many Christian families and churches are adding Passover to their annual calendars of events celebrating it as loyally as they do Christmas. More experimentally, Christians are celebrating Sukkot (Festival of Tabernacles), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), Shavuot, Hanukkah and other Jewish holidays. Many are also learning and practicing other customs such as the M’zuzah (Scripture on the door frame of the home) and observing dietary laws.

My family has been celebrating Passover and Sukkot for many years now. For many years--since 1993--the church I pastored hosted large carry-in Passover dinner events that constitute a shortened version of a family Passover. These celebrations were creative worship events, but also trained families how to have their own Passover dinner at home.

The church also regularly celebrated the fall holiday Sukkot – The Festival of Tabernacles. I have a particular affinity with that holiday, because it teaches us how God provides for our needs today as he did with the Children of Israel who had temporary dwellings in the wilderness. The church I pastored burned down in September of 1997 and we have learned that all physical things, like our building, are temporal – temporary dwellings, but people are eternal and our true house of worship awaits us in heaven.

I am often asked to teach on or guide churches and other groups in celebrating these special days. I include an explanation of the Jewish symbols and how they apply to our faith. Some of the traditional foods of the Passover dinner are often made available for sampling after the presentation and recipe cards are made available. This presentation is designed to both teach the truths of Passover and train families for having their own personal family Passovers." [adapted from original]

"The New Testament Through Jewish Eyes"

Recordings of Five Messages at Bay Shore Camp and Family Ministry

 (July 30-August 3, 2007)

Stream All of the Messages (can be heard immediately):     Click here

For the messages below, you can left click on the title to hear it, or right click to save it to your computer.

Message One (Monday)   Downloadable version (26mb)

Message Two (Tuesday)   Downloadable version (34mb)

Message Three (Wednesday)   Downloadable version (32mb)

Message Four (Thursday)   Downloadable version (32mb)

Message Five (Friday)   Downloadable version (33mb)