This spring, on a rather grumpy day at the end of a busy week, my children and I picked newly grown garden tea and gave it to a friend. Then we stopped at a roadside ditch to pick bouquets of lavender phlox — I for a friend battling cancer, my 5-year-old daughter for her favorite playmate. 

At suppertime that evening, we talked about how God gave the Law at Sinai and the Spirit at Pentecost, and shared a special dessert. 

Even though at the time I didn’t want to be bothered with anything but our regular routine, now I feel satisfaction. Our efforts marked a day — the Feast of First Fruits — and my family’s attempt to celebrate it. 

This year for the first time, we are observing, in our own simple and sometimes original way, the festivals Moses laid out for the children of Israel. This sometimes feels overwhelming as I try to learn about traditions deeply layered in significance and completely foreign to me. But it also feels meaningful for reasons I am still sorting out. 

At the core of those reasons lie my doubts as a young person and all the angst I experienced wondering whether the Bible was really God’s Word and whether there even was a God. 

My faith stabilized over the years, partly due to a growing understanding of the Bible, its breadth and story, its symbolism, the way all the ­pieces, though written across thousands of years by a diverse cast of writers, fit together as a literary masterpiece.

I want to share that depth with my children. I want to strengthen their developing faith by helping them understand the cohesiveness of the biblical story — how the rituals of the Mosaic covenant play into the later story of Christ and how those early ideas are still being brought to completion. 

Second, as a young mother, I have been reflecting on the kinds of traditions I want to build for our family. I am hungry to create not just moments of fun and family togetherness but moments that are spiritually meaningful and bolster my children’s connection to God. 

I have wondered why Christians celebrate Thanksgiving, Lent and Christmas and ignore the biblical feasts. Why not celebrate the festivals God ordained? Especially since each festival connects with and leads into the story of Christ. 

However, after carefully reading the instructions for the first few festivals with an eye to celebrating them myself, I understand why we no longer keep them: Large portions of each festival are concerned with offering animal sacrifices. Since those sacrifices are no longer relevant for us, it is not possible to keep the feasts in any way close to their original iteration. 

Still, can I find what elements in each feast are still relevant? Claiming Christ as my sacrifice, can I keep the festivals in a way that honors and builds upon their original intent?  Could these festivals help my family understand the fullness of the gospel story? Could they help us understand God’s heart and the way he relates to his created ones? 

I believe the answer to each of these questions is yes. 

I cannot explore in one short article the depth of meaning and the details of each festival’s gospel connections. But here, in brief, is a list of each feast and its New Testament correlate, as presented in the book Celebrating Biblical Feasts by Martha Zimmerman. 

Passover: As the blood of a slain lamb protected the children of Israel from death, so the blood of the slain Messiah protects us from eternal death. Historically, Christ was crucified the day Passover lambs were slaughtered. 

Feast of Unleavened Bread: Leaven represents sin, and the Torah commands removing every trace of it during this weeklong feast. Christ, who is without sin, became our unleavened bread.

Feast of First Fruits of barley harvest: Jesus rose from the dead on this day, and Paul calls him the first fruits — or first resurrected — of the dead. 

Feast of First Fruits of wheat harvest: During this feast, also called the Feast of Pentecost, Jews commemorate the giving of the Law at Sinai. On this day, God poured out his Holy Spirit, the new law written on our hearts.

Feast of Trumpets: This feast marks the Jewish new year, a time of spiritual renewal, and points forward to Christ’s Second Coming. 

Day of Atonement: A day of fasting, repentance and prayer, it points ­toward the great day of judgment. 

Feast of Booths: Celebrated in temporary huts, this feast commemorates the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness and points forward to heaven.