Preparing for the Sabbath

It can take months for a good idea to become an ingrained habit. It has been about one month since I started observing the Sabbath. What does 'observing' the sabbath mean for me? In the Gospel there is freedom. Thus, I can generate my own traditions. There is nothing meritorious about any tradition, per se. Tradition, however, can serve has a powerful antidote to amnesia. Observing the Sabbath has been a great experience in historical recall. It is the culmination of a week of work and struggle with the world. Heschel has said, "Six days a week we wrestle with the world, wringing profit from the earth; on the Sabbath we especially care for the seed of eternity planted in the soul. The world has our hands, but our soul belongs to Someone Else. Six days a week we seek to dominate the world, on the seventh day we try to dominate the self (The Sabbath, Pg. 1)." It is a time to place worldly concerns on the back burner and focus on the eternal.
One tradition that I have developed has been the Friday night house cleansing. Amber particularly likes this tradition. I make sure the floor are clean, the kitchen is spotless, and all my monetary activities are complete. It is a relief to wake up on Saturday morning and have no worry about all the things which clutter my life. My external setting is no longer a hindrance to my internal meditations on this day of rest.

A Covenant Reminder

Today I saw a beautiful rainbow in the sky. Usually when I see a rainbow my mind is immediately brought back to the story of Noah and the Flood. The rainbow is a sign of hope and restoration. A sign that points to the Lord's grace and mercy on humanity. Even though all the thoughts and intents of man's heart are evil He still finds something in humanity worth saving. The Jewish people recite a blessing when they see a rainbow (Blessed are You, Ha Shem, our God, King of the Universe, who remembers His covenant, is trustworthy in His covenant, and fulfills His word). It is amazing how God will use natural phenomena of His world as reminders of His covenant. The Law's of Nature stand as testimony to God's covenant with man. The website HowStuffWorks describes the process as follows: In a rainbow, raindrops in the air act as tiny prisms. Light enters the raindrop, reflects off of the side of the drop and exits. In the process, it is broken into a spectrum just like it is in a triangular glass prism. In the oneness of a shaft of light there is a myriad of colors. The analogies are interesting to ponder (A husband and wife are ONE flesh yet two distinct entities, in the church there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female for we are all ONE in Christ (Galatians 3:28), God is ONE (Deuternomy 6:4) yet eternally exists in a Tri-Unity). The ancient commentator on the Pentateuch, Sforno, says, "When you see it, it should remind you of the Flood, and you must bestir yourself to rouse people to repent." Never again would God use water as his means of total annihilation. However, God did use water for the destruction of the Egyptian army. Conversely, the Apostle Peter says that "... the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you -- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but and appeal to God for a good conscience -- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:21,22)." Water has both the power to destroy and to purify. It can cleanse our bodies and also crack a rock.

How we know Jesus was a Jew!

1. He lived at home until he was 30.

2. He followed his father in profession.

3. His mother thought he was a god.

I feel like I have been robbed. I've be a follower of Yeshua HaMeshiach for nearly fifteen years. I am now just beginning to realize that Yeshua was not a blond haired, blue-eyed hippie. He was a Jewish Rabbi. Of course, He was much more that just a Jewish Rabbi. I will be sharing my musing as I continue to recapture my birth right. "And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise (Galatians 3:29)"