2026 Happy Pentecost and Chag Shavuot Sameach

Happy Pentecost - Shavuot

Restoring the Ancient Paths: "I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts." — Jeremiah 31:32. Celebrating the true count of the Omer.

The air is filled with anticipation as we approach the fiftieth day. For many, it is known as Pentecost; for others, Shavuot. Regardless of the name, this "Feast of Weeks" stands as a monumental milestone in the walk of a believer. It marks the intersection of the giving of the Torah at Sinai and the pouring out of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) in Jerusalem.

However, beneath the surface of the celebration lies a profound restoration. Messianic believers today are returning to the ancient paths, reviving a scriptural counting method that was obscured for centuries by human tradition.

Who: The Called-Out Assembly

Who are “The Called Out Assembly?” Shavuot is for all who follow the Creator. We often refer to this group as the "Called-Out Assembly." This isn't meant to sound exclusive or elitist; it is a literal translation of the Greek word "Ekklēsia" (often translated as "church") and the Hebrew "Qahal." It simply describes those who have been "called out" from the world's systems to gather as one body under the Creator's instructions.

Historically, this was the assembly of Israel standing at the foot of Mount Sinai. In the Brit Hadashah (New Covenant), it was the disciples waiting in the Upper Room. Today, Messianic believers—those who recognize Yeshua as the Messiah—are leading the charge in celebrating this feast according to the Word rather than the decrees of men.

What: The Feast of Harvest and Revelation

Shavuot literally means "Weeks." It is the culmination of a fifty-day countdown known as the Counting of the Omer. It celebrates two major events: the physical harvest of the firstfruits of the wheat and the spiritual harvest of souls. It is the day the Word was written on stone, and later, written on human hearts.

Where: From the Fields to the Heart

Originally, the "where" was the Temple in Jerusalem, where two loaves of leavened bread were waved before the Father. Today, the celebration happens wherever believers gather to honour the Appointed Times (Moedim). It is a move from a physical location to a spiritual reality.

"‘For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra’el after those days,’ says Adonai: ‘I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people’" (Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 31:32 CJB).

When: The Great Counting Debate

This is where the restoration becomes vital. The Torah is very clear on when Shavuot is celebrated:

"From the day after the Shabbat—the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering—count seven full weeks. Count fifty days up to the day after the seventh Shabbat, and then present an offering of new grain to Adonai" (Vayikra/Leviticus 23:15-16 CJB).

For centuries, mainstream tradition followed a calendar where "Shabbat" was interpreted as the first day of Passover. This caused the holiday to float across the calendar. But Scripture is precise. When man decided it was better to "tweak" the instructions to fit a fixed religious calendar, the beauty of the rhythm was lost. Messianic believers are reviving the literal count: starting the clock on the Sunday during the week of Unleavened Bread. This ensures that Shavuot always lands on a Sunday—the first day of the week—just as it did when the Spirit fell: "The festival of Shavu’ot arrived, and the believers all gathered together in one place" (Acts 2:1 CJB).

Why: Obedience Over Tradition

Why does the count matter? Because the details belong to the Creator, not to us. When we follow the "letter" of the instructions, we see the patterns of Heaven more clearly. Counting correctly reveals the perfect timing of Yeshua’s resurrection (as the Firstfruits) and the arrival of the Comforter. We do it because we love the Father, and those who love Him keep His commandments.

How: How to Celebrate Today

Before delving nto the traditional Shavuot celebrations enjoy this blessing from my YouTube channel.

We celebrate by "counting the days" with intentionality. We gather to feast, sing, and study.

• Scripture Readings: We focus on Exodus 19-20 (the Ten Words) and the Book of Ruth, which reminds us of the harvest and the inclusion of the Gentiles into the commonwealth of Israel. We also read Acts 2 to see the fire of the Spirit.
• Special Foods: It is traditional to eat dairy foods like blintzes and cheesecake. This reminds us that the Word is like "milk and honey" to our souls. We also bake two large loaves of leavened challah, representing the two loaves waved by the priest—symbolizing the Jew and Gentile brought together as one in Messiah.
• Songs of Joy: We lift our voices with songs like "Baruch Haba B'Shem Adonai" (Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord) and "Roni Roni Bat Zion" (Rejoice, Rejoice, Daughter of Zion).

We pray for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit, asking for the power to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. Happy Pentecost and Shavuot Sameach! May you be blessed as you walk in the ancient, scriptural truth.

2026 Census Thoughts – Blessings

How interesting that the Canadian census time should so closely coincide with part of this week's Shabbat reading! Thousands of years after Moshe counted the tribes in the desert, I found myself facing a similar kind of numbering.

How remarkable to see our modern Canadian civic duty align so perfectly with this week’s Shabbat reading! While the census in Parashat Bamidbar was specifically focused on those who could be prepared for war and the struggles of the wilderness, it reminds us of the profound transition from a crowd into an organized community.

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B'midbar (Num) 1:1-3 CJB

"Adonai spoke to Moshe in the Sinai Desert, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month of the second year after they had left the land of Egypt. He said, “Take a census of the entire assembly of the people of Isra’el, by clans and families. Record the names of all the men twenty years old and over who are subject to military service in Isra’el. You and Aharon are to enumerate them company by company.”"

Source: The Complete Jewish Bible available on Amazon

In our daily walks of faith, it is all too easy to get caught up in the modern noise and bureaucracy. But this week, a mundane household chore left me pausing to reflect on the **beautiful grace** of the time and place we live in.

I am talking about the **Canadian census**.

A dear friend recently sent me articles detailing all the complex ways people are trying to avoid filling out their forms. If you were led into tossing your census out, there is good news—all is not lost.

The Good News

If you threw your envelope away, **do not panic.** You do not need to embark on a complicated legal crusade. In fact, your civic duty might be incredibly simple this year.

You can fix a lost form in under ten minutes. Go straight to the official portal at census.gc.ca, click "Start questionnaire," and generate a new code using your address. Alternatively, call the Census Help Line at 1-833-852-2026 to request a paper form.

A Quick Ten Minutes

When I finally bit the bullet, I was surprised at how few questions I had to complete! It took only a few short minutes online. No intrusive prying—just a swift, quiet modern convenience.

The Journey to Bethlehem

As I hit the "submit" button, my mind wandered back to the **Census of Quirinius**.

Think of Mary and Joseph. There was no digital portal or friendly Census worker dropping off the form. Mary, heavily pregnant, had to endure a grueling, dusty, **90-mile journey** from Nazareth to Bethlehem. There were no paved highways or rest stops—just the slow pace of a donkey across a rocky landscape.

They travelled through dangerous territory just to be counted by an empire that viewed them as numbers. Yet today, we often feel "under attack" simply by a request for our postal code.

Shifting Our Perspective

How blessed are we? We can fulfill our duties while sitting in a comfortable chair, sipping tea. We don't have to pack up our lives or sleep in stables just to register our households.

When the world encourages resistance and frustration, **let us choose a different path.** Let us look at our modern lives through a lens of historical gratitude. The next time government mail hits your counter, take it as a quiet reminder to thank God for the smooth roads and light burdens we carry today.

What "mundane" task has turned into a moment of worship or gratitude for you this week?

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About the Author

Sister Su is a survivor through her Saviour and has been blessed to see many miracles in her life. Currently digging her way out from under a mountain of debt while battling chronic illness, she dreams of one day earning her doctorate in practical theology.

For more information, visit her Linktree - Sister_Su.

Thomas Shipley: A Voice in the Storm and the Beauty of Creator's Timing

There is a specific kind of silence that happens when the grid fails in a small town. No fridge hum, no furnace rattle—just the wind howling across the Saskatchewan prairie. But the oddest part of the night wasn't the blackout; it was my phone suddenly giving up the ghost at 8% charge. It wouldn't recharge or even flicker, despite being plugged into a backup battery. It just stayed dark.

That’s when I heard the nudge in my heart: "Listen to the radio."

Affiliate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my work! For more information, please see the policies page.

A prairie storm reminds us of the light Thomas Shipley brought to human history and the beauty of the Creator's timing.

I picked up my trusty crank radio and started turning the handle, generating a small beam of light and a crackle of static in the shadows. I tuned in just in time to catch the tail end of an interesting tale on Our American Stories. It was a story about a man named Thomas Shipley.

Who was Thomas Shipley?

I’d never heard the name before, but the timing felt like a clear tap on the shoulder from the Creator. Thomas Shipley was a Christian abolitionist in the 1800s. He wasn't just a man of words; he was a man of radical action.

As a Quaker, Shipley believed with every fibre of his being that every person was created equal, carrying the "Inner Light" of God. While the world around him was filled with the darkness of slavery and kidnapping, Shipley stood his ground. He used his own body as a shield during riots and spent his life in courtrooms fighting for the freedom of those the world tried to ignore.

Light in the Darkness

There I was, in the middle of a literal prairie storm, cranking for a tiny bit of light, hearing about a man who was a beacon of light in a much grimmer storm of human history.

It’s a reminder that the Creator’s timing is always perfect. When my "modern" power cut out at that odd 8%, the Ruach HaKodesh led me to a story about a different kind of power—the power of a person who knows their worth and the worth of their neighbour. Shipley didn't need a power grid; he had a soul-deep connection to the truth.

Sometimes we need the lights to go out so we can finally hear what we’re supposed to. If you’re sitting in the dark tonight, whether it’s a power outage or just a hard season of life, keep cranking. The light is coming, and the message you need to hear is already on the airwaves. We just have to tune in.

"For you light my lamp; ADONAI my God lights up my darkness." — Tehillim (Psalms) 18:29 CJB

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Digging Deeper

If you are curious about the life of this remarkable man, I discovered a book on Amazon by Isaac Parrish that provides a moving portrait of his courage and faith:

Brief Memoirs of Thomas Shipley and Edwin P. Atlee: Read Before the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, &C, Tenth Month, 1837

This classic reprint offers a window into the dangers and daily work of these reformers. It’s a powerful read for anyone interested in how principled activism, grounded in faith, can change the world.

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About the Author

Sister Su is a survivor through her Saviour and has been blessed to see many miracles in her life. Currently digging her way out from under a mountain of debt while battling chronic illness, she dreams of one day earning her doctorate in practical theology.

For more information, visit her Linktree- Sister_Su.

Dream Interpretation Books: Seeking a Messianic Perspective

Which Messianic Dream Book Would You Choose?

For a while now, I have been getting a persistent internal prompting: "Get your dream book published."

Before writing my own, I wanted to see how other authors approach dream interpretation from a Messianic perspective. My search on Amazon led me down a fascinating rabbit hole. Now, I am completely stuck between two highly compelling books.

Affiliate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my work!For more information please see the policies page.

I need your help deciding.Which one would you read and review first?

Let me know which unique perspective you want to explore first by dropping your vote in the comment section below!

Option 1: The Ancient Language of Dreams by Ken Johnson Th.D.

Being Holy But Not "Holier Than Thou:

Today is three weeks and six days of counting the Omer, 27 days! Are you counting the days up towards Shavuot (Pentecost) too? Can you believe we are already 28 days in? Almost four full weeks of preparing our hearts for Shavuot; we are just past the halfway mark. We are also at the midpoint of the month of Iyar—how time flies!

Today is also Pesach Sheni (the Second Passover). It’s such a beautiful reminder of our Creator’s heart for "second chances"—He literally built a day into the calendar for those who missed the first feast because they were away or ritually unclean. If you feel like you’ve "missed the boat" on your spiritual goals this month, today is a wonderful reminder that His grace provides a way back.

I had great plans to create a Pesach Sheni Seder plate because I was quite weak on the first Passover, but the power was off for most of the day. When I tried making the chana flour matzah recipe from memory, it turned out too thin and then too thick—it looks more like pieces of a hard tack map (Australia, Antarctica  China and South America Japan!) than matzah. Frankly, I was plum tuckered out from dragging my cart with drinking water and groceries up the hill yesterday!”

Even my matzah got a bit 'puffed up' with pride! These three pieces—resembling Australia, Japan, and China—remind me that sometimes our best attempts turn into something entirely unexpected.

This Week's Readings: Parashat Emor

• Torah: Vayikra (Leviticus) 21:1–24:23
• Haftarah: Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 44:15–31
• Brit Chadashah: 1 Corinthians 8