Making Sabbath more special

Before I go into this I am not turning Jewish. I do however think we may be able to learn a few things about sacredness & honoring God from the Jews.
My sugga bugga wugga tugga couldn't sleep a few Fri. nights ago & was browsing the bookshelves where he found a book he bought & read a few years ago. It was written by a Jew that converted to Christianity & he explained the Sabbath & the holidays & how they can mean so much more to us a followers of Christ.
I was up early on Sabbath AM & opened my Bible to Galations where I was reading on a very similar topic. When R woke up, this normally slug like waker was all excited about how we could make Sabbath more delightful. I began reading his book & on our honeymoon day we bought 2 more about how we can incorporate traditions that are meaningful thus make Sabbath more holy & personal to us. We began this past Friday night & I have to say it was the best Sabbath that I remember. I don't know if it was because of the beautiful way it began, but things that normally annoy me @ church didn't bother me at all. The entire day was lovely & the closing we did was wonderful too. I had a sense of peace & reverence that I usually feel is missing.
If anyone is interested I can tell you what we have decided to do. It is not an exact replica of the Jewish service & anyone can modify it to suit their own family needs. Those of you with children ~ this is especially important. The arthor of one of these books asks "if we do nothing to make Sabbath opening & closing special is it not just like any other day"?
The remarkable thing to me is that, after looking on the web, I found people of all denominations that are now keeping Sabbath even while attending their regular Sunday churches. They all agree the Holy Spirit has led them to this. Amazing huh?

I want to hear it, please tell us more. What are the books that you read? And where on the web did you find this info? I have been trying to make Sabbth a truly Holy day and am finding that the biggest obstacle is myself! Adding on all those extras are hard, but I want to do it.

The 2 books we are using are God's Appointed Times by Barney Kasdan & To Life! by Rabbi Harold Kushner. The best one is by Kasdan who is a converted Jew. We read about what the Jewish traditions are, why they do what they do & then modified it to something we felt was right. So here's what we do & why:

SHABBAT ~ on the table 1) a special tablecloth
2) 2 loaves of challah covered by a special cloth & set on a special plate
3) the Kiddush cup ~ a special cup/cups that is usually shared by the family. Jews use wine we use grape juice.
4) 2 candlesticks
*Jews light their candles 18 minutes before Sabbath begins to guard the edges. We're OK with less time since we don't regard lighting the candlesticks work.
*the wife lights the candles & says a silent prayer then she says "blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has set us apart by your commandements & has commanded us to kindle the Sabbath lights".
* the Kiddush cup is blessed by the family led by the husband "blessed art thou O Lord our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine."
*for the challah there are 2 loaves to symbolize the extra portion of manna God provided for Sabbath, the cloth symbolizes the dew on the manna. The blessing of the challah is "blesses art thou O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth. The challah is broken by hand & not sliced with a knife to symbolize the day when all weapons will be done away with at Jesus' coming (in our case His second coming). As the bread is shared each person greets the others with "Shabbat Shalom" (peaceful Sabbath) & hugs & kisses aregiven round.
*A final blessing is given over guests or children. The father places his hand on their heads & asks God to help them to be like famous Bible charaters. For the girls Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel & Leah & so on.
* the next part is my favorite. The husband can either read from Proverbs the parable of a virtuous woman or read something he has written to praise his wife.
*we had a short song service next & then dinner which is supposed to be the best meal of the week
This may sound long but it was maybe 15 min. including the songs.

Sabbath evening ~ Havdalah
On the table ~ a braided candle (let me know if you find these), & b'sameem (a small box of sweet spices)
*Light candle (wife) & pray silently then say Isaih 12:2 "surely God is my salvation."
*husband prays a thank you for the Sabbath day they have had
*the b'sameem box is passed around. Each person shakes the box & sniffs the sweet spices inside to remember the sweetness of the departing Sabbath.
*the Kiddush cup is passed
* you can have a short reading if you want
*close with songs

We went thru the SDA Hymnal & chose songs we liked then divided them into either Shabbat or Havdalah songs.
I think this is such a meaninful service & I'm sure children would love it too.

I almost forgot. Go to biblicalholidays.com You will love it!

The things that you say on Friday night don't seem like vain repititions or anything?

Not trying to be negative.
I definately want to make Sabbath more special.

Jesse wrote:

The things that you say on Friday night don't seem like vain repititions or anything?

Not trying to be negative.
I definately want to make Sabbath more special.

I guess they would be if you aren't a converted person or if you were thinking that saying these things would save you

I guess I would have to see it in action, but reading it makes it seem like just Jewish customs that people would get tired of after time. But I know that it's what's in the heart that matters. If you're purposely making Sabbath special then it will be no matter what you do.

But shouldn't we be doing things to make Christian customs instead.. I think it's good to look at what the Jews did and go off of their example... but we don't speak Hebrew, couldn't "happy/peaceful Sabbath" just be said? I could ask more questions but I know it will only sound offensive online so I won't.

Just tailor it to your desires Jess. The ideas could just be a springboard for people to make their own traditions. I'm chuckling now just imagining Gavin singing to you! But I bet he does it anyway.... right?

I guess I'm less than enthused to attempt to do anything b/c of the 10% chance of Gavin participating.

You can say/do whatever you want. The point is to set Sabbath aside as the most special day beginning Fri. evening. As for using the Jewish words/customs we thought long & hard about that. This is what we came up with. The candles ~ Christ is the light of the world. The challah ~ Jesus provides us with everything, even the food we eat. The Kiddush can either be a small communion where you check your heart for every unrepented word/deed or the rememberence of Christ's first miracles & all He does for us on a daily basis. Your children will learn the objects & their meanings & look forward to this every week. Besides, who can claim a peaceful Sabbath? I had a sense of peace that lasted longer than the 24 hour Sabbath. And remember God said "He who honors me I will honor Him". We are looking into ways to make it more Holy because it seems as tho we go to church, eat & then don't remember it's Sabbath again until sundown except to remind ourselves what we can't do during those hours. I feel that we need to do a better job.

I know what you mean Jess. I lived that way for 30 years. Whenever we did anything (worship & so on) I was the one that did it & I gave up after several years. As soon as the boys could have their own devotions. But that is one of the biggest regrets in my life. I rationalized it by thinking to myself that the boys would only think of me as a religious nut. So what? Their salvation is worth anything. Do it yourself & pray every day for a change in Gavin's participation.

I agree totally.

I think that the 18-minute before Sabbath lighting is good for another reason: Not because we're afraid of it being "work", but to give you an extra 18 minutes to prepare yourself and start to relax. I know that I, personally, would get a lot more out of the preparation if I prepared for it ahead of time.

LOL, that sounds sort of silly as I re-read it.

Ginnifer wrote:

I think that the 18-minute before Sabbath lighting is good for another reason: Not because we're afraid of it being "work", but to give you an extra 18 minutes to prepare yourself and start to relax. I know that I, personally, would get a lot more out of the preparation if I prepared for it ahead of time.

LOL, that sounds sort of silly as I re-read it.

I agree wholeheartedly! We should spank all the kids 30 minutes before Sabbath so that they stop crying by the 18 minute mark, and voila! Relaxation!

But Brian says we don't need a sunset calender so when would we know it's 18 minutes before Sabbath??? And why can't you light it 30 mintues or 12 mintues before Sabbath??? How did they decide on the 18 minute thing? Sounds legalistic.

What difference does the time thing make? If you want to try it try it. If not continue what you are doing/not doing now. What makes something special for one person may not make it special for someone else. That's why there are entomoligists.