Saturday of the Third Week of Advent, Â December 21, 2024
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Sabbath
Hark! My lover! Here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills.
The Seventh-Day Adventists have made Saturday their Sunday. For other reasons, members of this church live some of the longest lives of anyone on earth. Maybe there is something in this Saturday deal.
The Jewish Sabbath begins on Friday evening, the end of the sixth day of the week. On the seventh day, the Lord rested. Sabbath ends at the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night, about an hour after sunset.
Margaret found a Shabbat prayer service which we sometimes pray … (the link takes you to a beautiful document which is essentially reproduced here, but without much of the graphic beauty)
Bless all who join Ahava in prayer this evening.
May our worship lead us to acts of kindness, peace and love….
Prayer is not asking for what you think you want,
but asking to be changed in ways you can’t imagine.
~ Kathleen Norris ~
How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity.
Loving God, with a full heart we thank You for the blessing of the week  which has passed, and for the strength to overcome our difficulties.
We ask Your blessings for the week that lies ahead.
Grant health and contentment to our loved ones and friends.
Help us to strengthen each other with gentle words and acts of kindness.
Bestow Your blessings upon all Your children.
May we enter Shabbat in peace.
Lighting of the Candles
Light is the symbol of divinity and creative goodness.
It is the outward sign of the inner spark
God has shared with every one of us.
Light is the symbol of warmth and unity.
It binds us together with all Jews,
of all orientations, in all lands
who are kindling their Shabbat lights.
In peace, in unity, with joy,
let us now kindle our lights of Shabbat.
Blessed are You, Adonai, Creator of light,
who makes us holy with mitzvot and commands us
to kindle the Sabbath [and festival] lights.
Blessing Over Wine
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, Creator of the fruit of the vine.
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who finding favor with us, sanctified us with mitzvot. In love and favor, You made the holy Shabbat our heritage as a reminder of the work of Creation. As first among our sacred days, it recalls the Exodus from Egypt. You chose us and set us apart from all the people. In love and favor You have given us Your holy Shabbat as an inheritance. Blessed are You, Adonai, who sanctifies Shabbat.
Blessing Over Challah
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who brings forth bread from the earth.
Shalom Aleikhem
Peace be to you, O ministering angels,
messengers of the One God.
May you enter in peace and bless me with peace,
and may your departure also be in peace,
O messengers of peace and of the One God who is blessed.
Chatsi Kaddish
Magnified and sanctified be Your name, O God.
throughout the world, which You have created according to Your will.
May Your sovereignty be accepted in our own days. in our own lives.
and in the life of all the House of Israel, speedily and soon,
and let us say. Amen.
May Your great name be blessed for ever and ever.
Exalted and honored, adored and acclaimed be Your name,
O Holy One. Blessed are You, whose glory transcends all praises,
songs, and blessings voiced in the world.
And let us say, Amen.
Ma’ariv Aravim/Twilight Prayer
The shadows of evening fall, and stars appear in the heavens.
Night follows day, but the sun dispels darkness and brings warmth and growth to all it touches.
This is the order of the universe.
It brings us day and night, dawn and twilight, a time to work and a time to bless,
a time to expand and a time to replenish.
In all of these, God can be found.
Sh’ma/Oneness of God
Hear, O Israel: Adonai is our God, Adonai is One
Blessed be God’s Holy Name forever and ever
Hear, O Israel:
God’s hands are our hands;
God’s work is our work;
God’s voice speaks through us;
God is One when we are One.
The essence of saying Sh’ma is not just the words,
but an inner assent and affirmation.
We declare that we are responsible and accountable
to a power in the universe beyond ourselves.
V’ahavta/And You Shall Love
Just as you shall love your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
and with all your might, so shall you love all people.
Teach love, compassion and understanding to your children
when you sit in your home, while you walk on your way,
when you retire and when you arise.
Bind these words as a sign upon your arm so that you may fight against prejudice,
between your eyes so that you may not be blind to the suffering of others,
and write them on the doorposts of your homes and gates
so that you remind yourself and others that
intolerance will not be tolerated within your walls.
[Adaptation of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 by Bracha Yael]
Love God with your mind:
stay curious, open to questions; marvel at the wonder of what is.
Love God with your heart:
stay alive to suffering and joy; yearn for the world that could be.
Love God with your strength:
open your hands and give; work for the sake of what ought to be.
MiChamocha/Redemption
You have stayed long enough in this place, God said. Time to go forward.
Turn your face to the future. Believe that you can cross this sea and survive.
Inside you is a Moses; within you Miriam dances, unafraid.
Lift up your voice and sing a new song.
[based on Deuteronomy 1:6-7]
Hashkiveinu/Shelter of Peace
May we lie down this night in peace and rise up to life renewed.
May night spread over us a shelter of peace, of quiet and calm, the blessing of rest.
There will come a time when morning will bring no word of war or famine or anguish;
there will come a day of happiness, of contentment and peace.
Praised be the source of joy within us,
for the night and its rest, for the promise of peace.
Yis-m’chu/Prayer for Shabbat
Yesterday is but a dream, And tomorrow is only a vision.
But today, well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness.
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day.
Magein Avot v’Imahot/Shield of Our Ancestors
Shielding our ancestors with a word, and reviving the dead, the holy God,
to whom none can compare.
God gives us rest on the holy Sabbath, for it pleases God to give us repose.
Every day we stand in God’s presence in awe and reverence,
And ever praise God’s name in thankful prayer.
God to whom all thanks are due, God of shalom.
God who hallows the Sabbath and blesses the seventh day.
God who grants rest and holiness to a people bounding with joy,
In remembrance of God’s work of creation.
Yih’yu
May the words of my mouth and the
meditations of my heart be acceptable to
You, My Rock and my Redeemer.
Oseh Shalom
May God, who makes peace on high,
Bring peace to us and all Yisrael.
Make peace for all of Yisrael,
And ALL ON EARTH, and let us say Amen.
Given the crazy world in which we live today,
peace is surely one of the most important things we can pray for.
In this prayer we ask God to bless us with peace. Surely peace is a
blessing, just as the peace found on Shabbat is a blessing.
But this begs a question:
Does God simply bless us with peace in return for our prayers,
or must we bless God by working to make peace in our world?
Aleinu/We Must Praise
People will always follow a good example.
Be the one to set a good example, then it won’t be long before the others follow.
How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment,
we can start now, start slowly changing the world!
How lovely that everyone, great and small,
can make their contribution toward introducing justice straight away…
and you can always, always give something,
even if it is only kindness!
[Anne Frank]
Said the Holy One to Israel:
I asked you to pray in the synagogue of your city,
But if you cannot pray in the synagogue, pray outdoors in an open field;
And if you cannot pray in the field, pray in the shelter of your home;
And if you cannot pray in your home, pray in the dark on your bed;
And if you cannot pray on your bed, meditate in your heart without words.
~ based on Midrash T’hilim on Psalm 4:9 ~
What is a mitzvah? A prayer in the form of a deed.
~ Rabbi A. J. Heschel ~
For our children:
May you be who you are.
May you be blessed in all that you are.
And for each of us:
May we be who we say we are.
May we be who we were put on this earth to be.
Thank you for joining Ahava in prayer this evening…
B’ahava, Cantor Jacqui
Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one,
and come!
For see, the winter is past,
the rains are over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of pruning the vines has come,
and the song of the dove is heard in our land.
(Isaiah 29, Psalm 27, Matthew 9)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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