A Sinaite’s Liturgy – 2nd Sabbath of October

KINDLE THE SABBATH LIGHTS

We meet once again at sundown,  erev Shabbat,

to welcome the Queen of all days,

to seek our Lord YHWH’s blessings upon our celebration

as we enjoy one another’s company,

and acknowledge His Presence;

 for YHWH is truly the invisible Guest of Honor 

Who graces the special gathering

     of all keepers of His Holy Sabbath.

We avow that the fourth commandment in the Decalogue

is not a burden but a pleasure to obey in special observance, 

a most welcome respite from the routines of our six day workweek,

necessary for humanity’s physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing,

truly a gift of rest,  

for all that have the breath of life should enjoy,

not only as an indulgence,

but as a matter of survival,

besides enhancing our quality of life.

 

We thank the LORD of the Sabbath, YHWH,

for commanding us to enter Your sanctuary in time,

to seek Your company

while in fellowship with our faith community,

for renewal of family ties and friendship,

and for worship of You

and the study of Your Torah.

 

We recall the words of Your mouthpiece,

the prophet Isaiah, as he addressed Israel:

 

If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,

from pursuing your affairs on My holy day;

If you call the sabbath “delight,” YHWH’s holy day “honored”;

And if you honor it and go not your ways

Nor look to your affairs, nor strike bargains—

Then you can seek the favor of YHWH. 

I will set you astride the heights of the earth,

And let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob—

For the mouth of YHWH has spoken.

 

[Isaiah 58:13-14 in modern application:]

 

“If you watch your step on the Sabbath
    and don’t use my holy day for personal advantage,

If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy,
God’s holy day as a celebration,
If you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’making money, running here and there—
Then you’ll be free to enjoy God!
Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all.
I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.”
Yes! God says so!   

 

 

 

As Gentiles who worship You, the God of Israel,

and embrace Your firstborn son Israel as our brother;

we pray for peace in the Holy Land,

for peace of heart and mind,

and continued protection of the Jewish people

amidst the threats they face continually.

We pray for their survival during non-stop assaults

from hostile nations, religious radicals, antisemitics,

but most specially the angry enemy within their own borders,

with whom they need to deal with wisdom, 

and if at all possible, to find mutual understanding,

and convince the ‘other’ to agree to live in peaceful co-existence

in their individual sacred space and communal shared spaces

in the city of ‘shalom’, Yireh Shalem, Yerushalayim, Jerusalem,

in the land of promise, divinely set apart

to provide Israel rest from her strivings

which Israel’s national history sadly has not realized

since the prophesied return of their remnant

to the Holy Land.

We pray for their unity not only in matters of ethnicity and culture,

but most of all, unity in matters of faith,

 in belief and trust in You, their God,

that the secular among their population

who are spread out all over the world

will return to the last recourse which should be the first,

when all human possibilities for peace have been exhausted,

that all Israel will unite in calling on Your Name, YHWH, 

the God of their Patriarchs,

the God Who chose them to be Your covenant people

the custodians of Your Manual for Life for all humanity,

Who prepared them to become a blessing to the world,

and a light to the nations.

May they fulfill their destiny to be both blessing and light,

as doubters even among them live in unbelief,

as people of faith await the fulfillment of prophecies

regarding a “chosen” people whose very survival

and presence in this age of skepticism,

is the testimony to You as the One and Only God,

and to the truth of Your pronouncements from ancient past

as recorded in their Hebrew Scriptures.

 

You are the God whose Name

is etched in their individual consciousness

and collective memory,

and whose acts are recorded in their national history.

We thank You for the blessing Israel has been to the world,

for fulfilling the role you have assigned them as witnesses for You despite the odds they face,

for recording the Torah

for all humanity to consider as a Way of life,

for their contributions

to the advancement of knowledge

in all fields of learning,

and contributions to the quality of life 

brought about by the brilliance and genius

of their outstanding achievers.

 

We cling to the promises uttered by Isaiah to Israel, 

for just like observant Jews,

we consider Your Holy Day, the Sabbath, 

as a day of joy, a day of celebrating life,

a day to delight in, devoted to connecting with You,

O YHWH, God of Israel,

God of the Nations, 

God of Sinaites, 

Lord of the Sabbath.

 

As Gentiles,

virtual ‘outsiders looking in’,

may we share in the blessings You have promised Israel,

Gentiles who have embraced You, the God of Israel,

Gentiles who love you with all mind, heart and soul,

Gentiles who obey Your commandments,

and who live Your Torah.

 

Amen.

 

 

To know You, the one True God, and to know Your Name, O YHWH, is a blessing.

 

To know that You have prescribed a way of life

for all people on earth

and to live it day by day,

is a blessing.

 

To be in the company of individuals

who worship and love You

and love one another,

is a blessing.

 

To be born in a loving family—

parents, siblings, spouses,

children and grandchildren —

is a blessing.

 

To fellowship with one another every Sabbath

and share the joy of your provisions

symbolized by the bread we share

and the wine we drink—is a blessing.

 

For all these and so much more,

for daily graces and mercies and provisions

poured into each day of our life on earth—

we thank You, Lord YHWH.

 

 

SABBATH MEAL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAVDALAH

 

Once again we remember Your words through your mouthpiece, Isaiah:

 

No longer shall you need the sun for light by day,

Nor the shining of the moon for radiance [by night];  

For YHWH shall be your light everlasting.  

Your God shall be your glory.  

Your sun shall set no more.  

Your moon no more withdraw;

For YHWH shall be a light to you forever.  

And your days of mourning shall be ended.  

And your people, all of them righteous,

Shall possess the land for all time;

They are the shoot that I planted.  

My handiwork in which I glory.  

The smallest shall become a clan.  

The least, a mighty nation.  

I, YHWH, will speed it in due time.

 

May it be so for Israel! 

 

And as for us who are not of ethnic Israel,

may our names and the names of our loved ones

be written in YHWH’s Book of Life,

as we each make the right choice

every time we are challenged to make a compromise, 

a choice to align our will with Your Will

in every situation where we are tempted

to submit to the ‘I’ in I-dolatry,

instead of the ‘I’ in Your Image.

May we write our personal Book of Life

by the way we live moment by moment,

day by day, year by year, on to the end of our days. 

May the words we hear from YHWH, our Life-Giver be–

“well done, Gentile, Sinaite,

[say your name]______________

who heard My Voice from Sinai,

who took My Torah seriously,

who strives to know Me and My Way,

and calls on My Name,

who responded to the challenge given to Israel

to ‘choose life’—

May Your message to us be —

“You are among My Chosen.”

Amen.

 

 

 Shabbat shalom!