Sabbath

our sabbath celebration last night was just a simple ceremony. it's amazing what a tablecloth, a jar with a flower, two candles, and some pretty dresses can do. it has been so hot that i haven't even been able to cook much. the weather is humid; it wants to rain, but rarely does. yesterday the rain lasted 5 minutes and only served to make the earth steamy. no relief from the heat. the moisture in the air renders the swamp cooler ineffective, so all we have in the way of cool in the house is blowing humid air and ceiling fans. i did manage to bake the sabbath bread yesterday, though i opted for basic whole wheat instead of challah. (more multi-purpose, less leftovers...) i also had some leftover coleslaw and we ate our bread with butter, cheese, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and pickles. our "wine" (for the blessing of the wine) was orange juice. but really, just saying the prayers and blessing each other and blessing the Lord for everything on our table, singing the songs, remembering the symbols of creation, redemption, the double portion, etc. makes things so peaceful and beautiful for a little while. i love the change.

this is our third week doing a sabbath ceremony. i got the book "celebrating biblical feasts" by martha zimmerman on amazon and was immediately inspired to begin. we have been getting used to just doing the opening ceremony (fri nights) and haven't attempted the closing one yet, but i would like to get that going eventually, too, it is such a special thing to be mindful of the Lord's ordinances and be deliberate about setting that time apart. it is a bit confusing that the Christian tradition has made sunday the "day of rest" because the real sabbath is on the 7th day of the week, making the beginning friday evening. so the "end" of sabbath is technically saturday night. now the question is, should we make sunday the day of church and work at home? (you know, mowing lawn, cleaning, etc. all that stuff you normally do on saturdays...) or should we change our "opening" of sabbath to saturday night, and keep sundays for church and resting? i understand that they made the christian day of celebration on sunday because that's the day Jesus rose from the grave, but... i still wish church was on saturday now. you can't very well take TWO days off!

either way, yesterday was simple and lovely. sparrow even made up a song that went something like this: "sabbath afternoon, sabbath afternoon, we get to eat the bread. the bread is in the oven, the candles are on the table..." i forget. it was sweetness. she is learning the thankfulness song "bless our home" from the book pretty well too, and they enjoy drinking out of the wine glass and washing their hands in the bowl. and i, of course, love getting blessed by my husband. he reads out of prov. 31 and says the sweetest things...

may God's rest go with you today. enjoy your family and the Lord!


a little inspiring dance before the celebration:




ready to eat the bread!