Shabbat Shalom...

We had the best Sabbath celebration Friday night. After 3 weeks of trying to celebrate the Sabbath, it finally came together. I had tried soooo hard to make good challa bread for the Sabbath feast.... It was........ well, you saw my earlier posts. I couldn't even feed the stuff to my chickens for fear of choking them to death! But, turns out, I had a bad recipe. Realizing this, I turned to my handy-dandy search engine (aka, Google) and found a recipe that turned out to be so yummy, my kids are begging me for more. Jonah and Rebekah helped roll out the strips of dough for the parts of the braid, and Rebekah braided a whole loaf herself. She was so proud of it. (Hers is the one without the poppy seeds) I wish I'd thought to take a photo of them working the dough.... Anyway, at dinner, the family simply devoured that bread. (It doesn't hurt that I have a bread-lovin' family, but the bread really was good. We may make some more this week!)
So after the bread was in the oven, the children set out to make the table beautiful. It was so sweet. They used a table cloth, set out the first candlesticks they could find (a bit large, but we left them!), the red dinner plates (which Jonah and Rebekah decided stood for the blood of Jesus atoning for our sins! I was very proud of them for making that connection, but didn't want to actually think of that as we ate...), and Noah pulled down the stemware. Jonah even thought to wrap our silverware in napkins to finsh off the table. They were so proud of their work.


The ceremony itself was wonderful. I used two different books to learn the parts of the ceremony and I typed out what we would do. Here's what I came up with...


My Part
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, ‘The Lord’s appointed times are these.” Following this text of Leviticus 23, God’s first appointment with us is for Sabbath. It’s number one on His list of holy days, both in its listing and frequency.

Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word Shabbat, which means “rest”. It was born in the very beginning: “thus the heavens and the earth were finished… and He rested… God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it He had rested from all his work which God created and made.” (Gen. 2:1-3)

Shabbat is for restoration. There is always more to do. Yet, without proper rest and refreshment, human strength and creativity fail.

Preparation Prayer

Blessed art thou, O Lord Our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by thy commandments and commanded us to be a light unto the nations and has given us Yeshua, Jesus, the light of the world.

The Candles (Light & Say)

Creation:
This candle represents creation. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth light out of darkness.

Redemption:
This candle represents redemption. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” Our Lord said, “You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”



Prayer (cover your eyes and pray this prayer - Shabbat officially begins when the woman opens her eyes to view the candles that have been lit)
As we light these candles and set them to give light to all who are in this house, light our lives with the great love of Your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray… Amen.

Tommy's Part
Kiddush (blessing over the cup)
Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

Blessings over the challa (bread)
Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.

Blessings over the Children
Boys:
May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh. May He make you, Noah, _______________________. (Tommy filled in here, ad lib. I forget exactly what words he used for Noah, but I think it was Honest, Trustworthy, and Hardworking.)

May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh. May He make you, Jonah, _______________________. (Same here but he used Trustworthy, Hardworking, and Obedient for Jonah. I thought that was neat that he used obedient for Jonah since the Biblical Jonah had a problem with obedience as well. Hmmm.... maybe we should have considered that before naming him "Jonah"!!)

Rebekah:
May you be like Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah. May God make you, Rebekah, _______________________. (For Rebekah he added Pure, Tenderhearted, and Noble. I teared up a little! That really blessed me to hear him blessing our children. Even though that is not a normal practice for our family, it shows me part of his heart and what he wishes for and prays for regarding our children.)

Blessing for Your Wife (Okay, here's the funny part... When I gave him these cards to read over so he'd be prepared for his part, he read this and asked "Did you come up with this?" Of course I had to laugh and say "Nooo! It's straight from the Bible and that book, thank you!" And when it came time for this part he asked me "Do I have to put my hands on your head?" I, of course, declined. So with a few chuckles, he read the blessing for the wife...)

(Proverbs 31:10, 27-30)
An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.
She looks well to the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and bless her;
Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:
“Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all.”
A woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

All in all, this was a wonderful evening for our family. My kids are all asking for it again. And they've been going around saying "Shabbat Shalom!" to each other and giggling as they all try to pronounce "challa" with the proper gutteral "ch" at the beginning. I'm glad nobody has been a fly on our wall. They'd have thought we'd all been trying to get something really nasty cleared out of our throats!! LOL! I'm so thankful that I have had a chance to teach these things to my children! What a wonderful experience for them AND for Tommy & me.

Thank you, Dearest Lord Jesus, for an opportunity to teach my children about You. About the feasts that You would have participated in for 33 1/2 years. Thank you for allowing us to be able to homeschool our kids so that my heart is turned to teaching them the "ordinances and laws, and... showing them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do." (Ex. 18:20) I know if they were in public or even private school my heart would have never been turned toward them in such a way. Thank you for your providence, your plan, and Your Presence... I love you my King.

Living by Grace,
Lori