I'm sure some of our friends and family think we are a little odd. That's okay. Erin and I were both raised in Restoration Movement churches. We are both Bible scholars in our own way. We both have a fascination with and respect for the Jewish heritage of our Christian faith.
So, two years ago we started celebrating Passover with our family. We have a love for the symbolism involved and for the correlation between the Passover and Communion. We love the opportunity to get a peek at the Last Supper of Christ. We use the evening to teach our little ones about God saving His people in the Old Testament and fulfilling His rescue plan with the sacrifice of Jesus in the New Testament. Oh, the parallels are many and deep and cut to the heart.
As we researched and planned our first Passover, we became interested in a Sabbath celebration. I have taken awhile to start because it seemed so special and I wanted to get it perfect. Eventually, like with Passover, I decided to just dive in and make it our own. We wanted Sabbath to be a special time for our family to rest and reflect and just be. We didn't want it to be a burden. We don't want to have to decline an invitation elsewhere because we celebrate Sabbath. The Sabbath was created for us, we were not created for the Sabbath after all.
We began with the beginning of the school year. We plan to celebrate the first Friday evening of the month but to be flexible. Sabbath is from sun down to sun down but we don't plan to do anything special on Saturday, at least not at this point. I am sure that as we go along we will add to our celebration things that have meaning to us. As we continue to learn and grow so will our Sabbath.
We celebrate with candles and bread and wine. I set a pretty table. We relax with a nice meal. We bless our meal. We pray together. We talk together. We end the evening with singing praises to our God. It may not be a traditional Jewish Sabbath. We are not bound by such traditions.
One of my favorite parts is that while I knead the bread I am to pray for my family. I love taking the special time to pray for each individual. It is such pretty bread and oh how yummy. I believe we will be eating delicious Challah french toast on Sabbath weekends.
The best part is when Erin goes around and blesses each person in the family. I love the candlelight, I love the bread, I love the wine, I love the atmosphere that it all creates. I love praising Our God the King of the Universe together as a family.
So here we are, maybe a little odd. We don't have a planned family game night or "family time" as some do. We call it Sabbath. Will we add other Jewish holidays to our family tradition? I don't know. I do have my eye on learning more about Purim. I do so love learning about the Jewish faith. The symbolism, the prayers, the loving dedication, it all warms my heart.
And...I want a shofar. Call me crazy but I do.
