Main news for 1 October 2025

Why must the fire on the altar burn continually? It is so much trouble: wood is used up, a rotating staff is needed to keep the fire going, then there is cleaning off the soot and the like. It would be much more economical to set certain "office hours" when the altar is available for sacrifices. Perhaps similar considerations lead to what we so often see: locked church doors with signs attached to them listing the hours of services...

What, then, did this constant burning of the fire on the altar mean? Surely one very important thought: God is always ready to receive us, He is open to communion with us, and therefore service to Him cannot, and has no right to, be limited only to certain special hours or days. Continuing this thought in New Testament times, the apostle Paul will say: "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17).