Yom Kippur:   Yom Kippur is the Hebrew day of atonement - the most solemn festival in the Jewish religious year.   In Leviticus 16:30, the Lord commanded "on that day the Lord will make atonement for you to purify you from all your sins."

The ceremony was performed by the High Priest at the Temple in Jerusalem.   Only at Yom Kippur could the High Priest enter the most sacred part of the Temple - the Holy of Holies.   In there, the Ark of the Covenant was kept.   The High Priest carried sweet smelling incense: representing God's forgiveness.

Two goats were selected and both must have been nervous as the day approached.   To them it must have been like a version of Schwarzenegger's classic sci-fi film "The Running Goat" a gameshow where only one of them would survive.   One of them (chosen by random lot) was slaughtered as a sin offering to the Lord.   The other, Aaron placed his hands on, confessing the people's sins - and sent it into the wilderness.   The people's sins were conferred to this "scapegoat" and removed from the nation.

A Christian's sins are atoned for by the slaughter of Jesus, the Lamb of God.   We have, however, to continue to strive to bid good riddance to sin, and banish it from our lives to the wilderness.