A Sinaite’s Liturgy – 2nd Sabbath in June

 

Kindle the Sabbath Lights

Blessed are You,

YHWH, our God,

King of the Universe,

Who commanded all humanity

to set aside the Sabbath

as a day of rest,

That we might cease from our nonstop striving

for six days of our workweek.

As we Gentiles, Sinaites, Sabbath-keepers

come together in fellowship,

We borrow the symbolic act in Jewish tradition

of lighting the Sabbath candles.

We welcome Your Queen of all days,

joyfully entering Your Sanctuary in Time,

Your Holy Sabbath on erev,

at sundown Friday.

————————

 

In the beginning,

the SOURCE of LIGHT,

whose blinding brilliance

dazzled a darkened world

when there was not a soul–animal or human—

to witness and wonder at the awesome spectacle—

the Creator YHWH spoke all matter into existence, 

one after another

according to their function and purpose,

designed to fit into His Grand Design

as only He can orchestrate it all,

with harmony and balance,

with variety and diversity,

with beauty and utmost creativity,

with perfection.  

Truly, how can we begin to describe

the testimony of the created order,

the witness of  science,

of nature and of humankind—

to the existence of God?

And by witness of the Hebrew Scriptures,

a God Who merely speaks and suddenly there “is”?

There was setting, there was dawning: one day.
6 God said: 

And so it was.

These Sabbath lights do not dazzle nor blind, 

but they dispel enough darkness in space 

where once there was light from the brilliance of a created sun

which has withdrawn from our horizon on this erev Shabbat,

as it regularly does in obedience to the Divine command: 

 

14 God said:

Let there be lights in the dome of the heavens,

to separate the day from the night, 

that they may be for signs-for set-times, for days and years, 

15 and let them be for lights in the dome of the heavens,

to provide light upon the earth!  It was so.

16 God made the two great lights,  

the greater light for ruling the day

and the smaller light for ruling the night, and the stars.

17 God placed them in the dome of the heavens
18 to provide light upon the earth,

to rule the day and the night,

to separate the light from the darkness.   

God saw that it was good.

19 There was setting,  there was dawning: fourth day.

 

O Lord YHWH, Creator-God,

we read these verses in the opening chapter of Your Torah

and believe with our mind and our heart

every word You have spoken, as recorded by Moshe

to whom is attributed the authorship

of Your Sinai Revelation.

 

We celebrate this Sabbath day

in loving tribute to You,  

the first Celebrant of the first Sabbath, 

and as a memorial to Your first Sabbath, 

the seventh day

when You rested from Your creative work,

in the company of the first man and woman 

who would be the first father and mother of all humanity.

 

Image from artbyjoani.squarespace.com

We conclude

 that You did not cease from Your work

because You needed rest;

We surmise that by doing so,

You were impressing upon us who now read this account, 

the importance of rest

from a six-day workweek.

 

We imagine

that You did not celebrate the Sabbath alone,

all by Yourself;

We imagine

what a blessing it must have been

for the representatives of Your ‘crown of creation’,

humankind,

to have been there

to be commanded the Sabbath law

that was to be the fourth

of Your Ten Declarations on Sinai.

 

The first human made from existing material, the earth,

was split by You into two beings

to complement one another in all ways,

that they might participate

in the supreme act of reproducing another being,  

of their kind, but of different genders,

male and female.

And that is Your original design.

 And we guess that the first couple

who were made on day six

were a day old

when they celebrated their first Sabbath with You.

 

From that first Sabbath of Creation week,

You have made certain

that Your Sabbath will be enshrined in Torah

as a commandment,

not a mere suggestion.

 We join Your chosen nation obedient Israel,

in taking joy and delight

in celebration of Your Queen of days.

Come, YHWH, O Lord of the Sabbath,

You are welcome in our hearts,

in this meeting place, our Sabbath sanctuary.

Our community of Sinaites, Gentile Torah-observers

embrace Your Lordship and Your Kingship,

and love Your Law, Your Torah,

Your Book of Instructions

initially given to Your Firstborn Israel,

though intended for all humanity,

Jew and Gentile.

 Would that the day will come

that the prophets of Israel envisioned,

that all nations will know You

and honor Your Name YHWH,

by worshipping You as Creator, God,

Lord and Master, King of the universe,

and living according to Your Torah.

 

BLESSINGS

The Sabbath is a blessing, a joy and a delight.

Our Sinai community of believers in YHWH, 

delight in the company of one another.

The families represented here, 

have been blessed with life

through each generation— 

parents, sons and daughters, grandchildren, 

extended families through spouses and kin.

 

For them all, O Giver of Life and Lord of Love,

we bless You YHWH,

and share this bread of fellowship,

and drink this wine in joyful celebration

of Your loving-kindness and mercy, 

grateful for Your daily provisions,

thankful for Your protection

of our homes

and specially our loved ones,

wherever they may be.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

SABBATH MEAL /TORAH STUDY

 HAVDALAH

 [Read the following quotation from Isaiah 60:19-20  

addressed to YHWH’s firstborn son Israel. 

Sinaites pray that this will happen soon, 

that the end of the age might come.]