KINDLE THE SABBATH LIGHTS
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O YHWH,
Creator God,
Revelator on Sinai,
God of Israel,
God of all nations,
Lord of the Sabbath!
How we cherish sundown on Friday,
truly the highlight of our week.
How we relish hour after hour from erev to havdalah,
taking refuge in Your Sanctuary in time,
leaving behind a world of cares,
withdrawing into the comforting peace and blessing
derived from simply obeying Your Fourth Commandment.
How can we not respond to Your call
to cease from our strivings and enter Your Sabbath Rest?
How can we resist a gracious invitation
from the King of kings and the Lord of lords?
How can we refuse a gift freely bestowed
and designed for our benefit and enjoyment?
How can we ignore Your fourth commandment
which is the easiest of all commandments to obey:
to simply set apart a day to cease all striving
and discover the big difference it would make in our life?
O YHWH, Lord of the Sabbath,
How we love You and desire to please You
by living 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 declare Your Name to as many as would listen and believe that—
‘YHWH is God, there is no other!’
Hear O Israel, hear O nations of the world:
YHWH is One, the One True God.
Hear and heed, come and worship,
YHWH is His Name!
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Psalm 135
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!
BLESSINGS
O YHWH, from Whom all blessings flow,
we thank You for all the good
that have been part of our lives
that we continue to enjoy,
whether deserved or undeserved.
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We are mindful that the opposite of blessings
are curses resulting from 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 reminders that consequences do result,
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 cautious and focused.
We thank You even for these difficult lessons in life,
for that is what they are —
lessons to learn from,
that we might repent and change direction,
habitual sins we know we should desist from continuing,
so that we might examine ourselves in areas that matter most —
particularly when others are affected and are hurt
because of our indifference and apathy,
carelessness in word and in deed,
or sins of omission—
when we fail to do what we should,
promises we failed to keep,
duties and obligations we neglected.
‘Curses’ could be disguised ‘blessings’
but only if they lead to valuable personal lessons,
positive changes in ourselves and others
hard lessons that are not wasted —
even for these, we thank You,
Lord YHWH, Who disciplined Israel
for their own good and for Your greater glory.
We, Sinaites, as Gentiles,
expect no less from Your disciplining Hand,
for we know better and have learned from Your Torah
the difficult lessons that Israel learned only in hindsight,
though never too late for them,
in Your timeline of world history.
As we delight in our Sabbath fellowship,
being with one another not only every Sabbath,
but throughout our common quest for Truth,
in this lifetime journey of faith,
together seeking the One True God—
we fondly remember others on this pilgrimage to Sinai–
who were once with us but have left our company,
those have suffered limitations in mobility,
others who have travelled to distant lands,
and beloved who have entered their eternal Sabbath.
We lift up to you our loved ones —[name them]
parents, spouse, children,
extended kin, special friends.
With all of them in mind and heart,
we now sip this wine and break bread,
for this is truly the highlight in our week,
a special occasion we look forward to every seven days.
Indeed You have taught us to delight in Your day of rest,
O YHWH, Lord of the Sabbath.
We join Jewry in making a toast—-
“to LIFE!” L’CHAIM, MABUHAY!
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 much 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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