KINDLE THE SABBATH LIGHTS
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O Yahuwah,
Creator God,
Revelator on Sinai,
God of Israel,
God of all nations,
Lord of the Sabbath!
How we cherish and look forward to the start of your seventh day at sundown, truly the highlight of our week.
How we relish hour after hour from erev to havdalah,
taking pleasure in the thought that we are entering Your Sanctuary in time,
leaving behind a world of cares,
withdrawing into the comforting peace that comes with the blessings derived from obeying Your Fourth Commandment.
How can we not respond Your call for us to cease from our strivings to enter Your Rest?
How can we resist such a gracious invitation from the King of kings and the Lord of lords?
How can we not accept a gift freely bestowed and designed for our benefit and enjoyment?
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How can we ignore the fourth commandment which is the easiest of all commandments to obey, take a day off for oneself in delight and enjoyment of the big difference it truly makes in our week, in our life?
O Yahuwah, Lord of the Sabbath,
How we love You and desire to please You
when we live according to Your Torah.
You are our God, our Lord, our Master, our King!
We choose to serve You and worship You,
for there is no other God but You.
We know Your Name, O Yahuwah,
and we declare it to as many as would listen and believe
that Yahuwah is God, there is no other!
Hear O Israel, hear O nations,
Yahuwah is One, the One True God.
Hear and heed, come and worship,
Yahuwah is His Name!
Psalm 135
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1 Praise YHWH.
Praise the name of YHWH; praise him, you servants of YHWH,
2 you who minister in the house of YHWH, in the courts of the house of our God.
3 Praise YHWH, for He is good; sing praise to His Name, for that is pleasant.
4 For YHWH has chosen Jacob to be His own, Israel to be His treasured possession.
5 I know that YHWH is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods.
6 YHWH does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.
7 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from His storehouses.
8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, the firstborn of people and animals.
9 He sent his signs and wonders into your midst, Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants.
10 He struck down many nations and killed mighty kings—
11 Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan,
and all the kings of Canaan—
12 and He gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to His people Israel.
13 Your name, YHWH, endures forever, your renown, YHWH, through all generations.
14 For YHWH will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants.
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands.
16 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see.
17 They have ears, but cannot hear,nor is there breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.
19 All you Israelites, praise the Lord; house of Aaron, praise the Lord;
20 house of Levi, praise the Lord; you who fear him [Gentiles], praise the Lord.
21 Praise be to the Lord from Zion,to him who dwells in Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord YHWH!
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BLESSINGS
O YHWH, from Whom all blessings flow,
we continually thank You
for all the good that have been part of our lives;
it is only natural to be grateful
for all the good things we have enjoyed and continue to enjoy,
deserved or undeserved.
However, Lord YHWH,
there is also the opposite of blessings
in Your reminder to your people Israel,
that curses automatically come with disobedience to Your Torah.
For experiences in our lives that come in the guise of negatives,
the difficult and painful, accidents and regrettable incidents—
we thank You nonetheless, O YHWH,
for allowing these judgments to fall upon us,
whether in the form of illness from lifestyle abuse or excess,
or rifts in relationships resulting from sinful behavior,
or accidents that could have been avoided had we been more mindful and focused.
We thank You even for these hard lessons in life,
for that is what they are —
lessons to learn from that we might repent and turn around our direction, particularly in habitual sins that we know we should desist from continuing,
and examine ourselves in the areas that matter most —
especially when other people are hurt
because of our carelessness in word and in deed,
and in sins of omission, when we fail to do what we should.
For these ‘curses’ are disguised ‘blessings’
but only if they lead to valuable personal lessons,
positive changes in ourselves and others
and are not wasted —
for these we thank You, Lord YHWH,
Who disciplined Israel for their own good and for Your greater glory.
We, Gentiles, Sinaites, expect no less from Your disciplining Hand,
for we know better and have learned from Your Torah,
just like Israelites did.
As we delight in our Sabbath fellowship,
in being with one another not only every Sabbath
but in our lifetime quest for Truth,
in our lifetime journey of faith, seeking the One True God;
we remember all the Sinaites who were once with us
but have left our company by going to distant lands,
two who have entered their final Sabbath REST.
We lift up to you our loved ones — parents, spouse, children, extended kin, special friends.
We sip our wine and break bread,
for this is truly one of the great pleasures in our week,
a regular occasion we look forward to every seven days.
Indeed You have taught us to delight in Your Sabbath day,
O YHWH, Lord of the Sabbath.
We join Jewry in making a toast—-
“to LIFE!” L’CHAIM, MABUHAY!
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HAVDALAH
As we end our Sabbath fellowship,
we thank one another for the pleasure we derive from each other’s company and the wisdom each one has contributed to our Torah discussion.
We thank the Giver of the Torah, the God we have chosen to serve,
for giving instructions in every aspect of life — personal, family relationships, social life, living in community, health, conflict resolution, and so many more.
We resolve as we do each week, to reflect on the lessons we learned,
to apply them to our daily living, and share with as many as are interested in learning from us.
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May we be not simply readers and students of Torah,
may we live it and never forget that as we claim to be worshippers of YHWH, when we fail to live as we should according to His Torah,
then we fail to be true reflectors of His Light and His Life.
Thank You, Lord YHWH,
for Your lovingkindness and mercy,
for Your daily provisions not only for us,
but also for our family.
We love You and will endeavor show it best
by obeying Your guidelines for living.
Amen.
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