A Sinaite’s Liturgy – 4th Sabbath of October

Image from storehouse.sonsofzadok.com

“Blessed is the Eternal Power

Who inspires our people to kindle the lights of Shabbat.

Blessed is the Source of Life and Light.”

Lord YHWH,

we join observant Israel

in welcoming Your Queen of Days

with the traditional kindling of the Sabbath lights

which begins the celebration of Your weekly Sabbath,

truly a memorial to You as Creator.

We honor You, Lord YHWH,

as the Source of all Existence,

Whose omnipresence inhabits sacred places,

‘sanctuaries’ set apart for the worship of You,

Who ordained a ‘sanctuary in time’

such as the Sabbath which You Yourself observed

on day seven of week one of earth-time.

Before there was Israel,

before nations were formed,

before the Revelation on Sinai,

before Commandment IV of the decalogue,

there was the Sabbath instituted by You,

to stress its universality,

that it is for all humanity to remember to honor You,

As the One who has no beginning and no end,

Who spoke “let there be” and it was so,

As Creator of all that exist, visible and invisible.

How could we fail to celebrate

this weekly appointed time

with our God and King,

when You have commanded Your people

to remember the ‘first’ in your Creation

that we should set apart,

that ‘first’ you blessed, sanctified and designated

for the most precious gift of rest,

for the benefit of humankind and beasts of burden,

for all who toil non-stop to take a refreshing break

from six days of striving and labor and routine,

Thank You, O Lord of the Sabbath,

for Your holy Sabbath.

Image from michellederusha.com

You have likewise blessed all Sabbath-keepers

by simply granting us not only with a day of rest

but also by adding blessings of joy in heart and peace of mind, with insight, increased understanding

and divine wisdom derived from our Sabbath study

and discussion of Your instructions for living,

Your Torah.

Truly, how blessed are those who follow Your lead

in celebrating this holiest of days!

SCRIPTURE READING on the SABBATH:

[JPS — we have substituted the Tetragrammaton Name YHWH for “the LORD”.]

Isaiah 56

1 Thus saith YHWH:

Keep ye justice, and do righteousness;

For My salvation is near to come,

And My favour to be revealed.

2 Happy is the man that doeth this,

And the son of man that holdeth fast by it:

That keepeth the sabbath from profaning it,

And keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

3 Neither let the alien,

That hath joined himself to YHWH, speak, saying:

‘YHWH will surely separate me from His people’;

Neither let the eunuch say:

‘Behold, I am a dry tree.’

4 For thus saith YHWH

Concerning the eunuchs that keep My sabbaths,

And choose the things that please Me,

And hold fast by My covenant:

5 Even unto them will I give in My house

And within My walls a monument and a memorial

Better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting memorial,

That shall not be cut off.

6 Also the aliens, that join themselves to YHWH, to minister unto Him,

And to love the name of YHWH,

To be His servants,

Every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it,

And holdeth fast by My covenant:

7 Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer;

Their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices

Shall be acceptable upon Mine altar;

For My house shall be called

A house of prayer for all peoples.

8 Saith the Lord GOD who gathereth the dispersed of Israel:

Yet I will gather others to him, beside those of him that are gathered.

Isaiah 58

13 If thou turn away thy foot because of the sabbath,

From pursuing thy business on My holy day;

And call the sabbath a delight,

And the holy of YHWH honourable;

And shalt honour it, not doing thy wonted ways,

Nor pursuing thy business, nor speaking thereof;

14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in YHWH,

And I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth,

And I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father;

For the mouth of YHWH hath spoken it.

Isaiah 59

21 And as for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith YHWH;

My spirit that is upon thee,

and My words which I have put in thy mouth,

shall not depart out of thy mouth,

nor out of the mouth of thy seed,

nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed,

saith YHWH, from henceforth and for ever.

Image from ourdailyblessinglife-amyb.blogspot.com

In the course of our daily living, may we never miss seeing Your Hand in our lives and those of our loved ones:

homes that shelter us;
provisions for each day;
nourishment for our body;
opportunities where we are able to use our gifts and talents;
learned and natural skills that enable us to earn a living and to sustain our lifestyle;
special privileges we enjoy that have not been accessible to others;
health which is true wealth;
loving relationships that are blessings and even those that are placed before us as a test of our character;
extended existence on earth with quality of life;
living in a country that enables us to to enjoy freedom and rights and privileges;
and many more . . .

Image from www.mysarshalom.com

Finally, we thank You for daily provisions for each one of us,

symbolized by the bread we share together;

We thank You for the joy we derive from people in our lives—family and friends, neighbors and co-workers, those in our faith community.

As we raise this glass of wine which symbolizes our joy,

we celebrate Your Life in us, to Life, L’chaim, Mabuhay!

Image from www.torahstudies.com

HAVDALAH

Blessed are You, YHWH, our God and our King,

for the joy in every Sabbath celebration,

for the fellowship of like-minded believers,

for the knowledge You have made known to us through Your Torah,

and for the time we have left before next sundown

to rest in the peace that You grant us

on this blessed and holy seventh day.

Image from elohists.blogspot.com

Shabbat shalom!

Source: Exodus/Shemoth 24 – "the sight of the Glory of YHVH (was) like a consuming fire" -- We gentiles living in this 21st century are able to experience that climactic moment [God appearing on Sinai] by reading and studying this portion of the TORAH. Indeed, we see YHWH not quite as dramatically as the mixed multitude did, but perhaps even better through these accounts recorded in Exodus. There is a saying that hindsight is 20/20 vision, i.e., we begin to see and understand the question marks in our past only later in our lives, as we mature and hopefully become wiser and more introspective about the meaning or seeming meaninglessness of happenings in history, whether personal, national, or universal. Søren Kierkegaard adds a twist to this: “Only 20:20 vision is hindsight. Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” As we endeavor to understand each portion in the TORAH of YHWH, much of it will seem irrelevant to our current situation but if we see beyond the time-bound cultural and religious situations and begin to understand what truly has not change—human nature and the Great Revelator who designed the perfect blueprint for living in peace, happily and contentedly with family, community, country and the nations, the unquestionable conclusion is: TORAH is relevant to ALL humankind, not just to Israel, to this very day.

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