I wake up early, before the children. I pour my coffee, add the cream and watch it settle into the brown liquid. I stir and it rises back to the top, then stir again and the two liquids together become one warm, comforting ritual.
An hour of rest before the troops awaken, a moment of quiet to start my day. Quiet time is so needed by women everywhere. Rest is so needed. But what if we could rest with our families? What if we could lead our children into this beautiful, difficult discipline?
Difficult, because it’s counter-cultural, this idea that we should schedule rest. Beautiful, because it’s God-ordained, this idea of Sabbath.
The word “Sabbath” (in Hebrew, Shabbat) means something to this American girl with Jewish roots. I grew up watching my grandparents eat kosher, debate social justice with my dad, and say that yes, Jesus was a good guy, but not the Son of God. Unfortunately, that’s all I ever knew about their faith – until two years ago when, while educating my children, I found out that I had the most to learn. I studied, I read, I asked questions, and I fell in love with my Jewish heritage.
What Shabbat Means To Me
I fell in love with the way my local Messianic Jewish congregation talks about Yeshua (Jesus), the One who both begins and completes our faith. I fell in love with the sound of the shofar, and of Hebrew prayers uttered by impassioned lips. I fell in love with the old traditions – ways of passing down the truth of all that God has done, by feasting and remembrance. By celebrating Old Testament holidays, the Jews pass down God’s goodness to their children around the table, as a family.
Take Purim, for example. The day when Esther interceded for her people, and the Hebrews, instead of being defeated, overthrew their enemies. “That was the month when their sorrow was turned into rejoicing and their mourning into a holiday” (Esther 9:22, CSB). Jews around the world remember this day of deliverance every year in March by rejoicing and feasting with their families.
Or the story of the memorial stones – when Joshua led the Israelites through the Red Sea, and God made the waters stand still. The Lord directed Joshua to place twelve memorial stones in the middle of the river as a sign of remembrance, that generations to come would know what the Lord had done. “In the future, when your children ask their fathers, ‘What is the meaning of these stones?’ you should tell your children, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over… this is so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord’s hand is mighty, and so that you may always fear the Lord your God” (Joshua 4:21-24).
It’s almost as if He knew that we would forget. It’s almost as if the One who made us foresaw that we would get busy, and let time pass by, and we would let go of the stories. Lest His deliverance become fuzzy in our memories, He didn’t stop at acting in mighty ways, but He also established ways for His children to remember. And He knew that we would need these reminders, not only every year during special holidays, and not on the chance occasion that we might pass by the memorial stones in the Jordan river; but that we would need to stop and remember Him every week.
A Family Tradition
When I read more about how some families honor the Sabbath, it seemed too far out of reach. It was a far cry from the tradition I’d known – church on Sunday morning, followed by some quiet time, then back to busy-ness. A Jewish Sabbath is a full twenty-four hours: from sundown Friday till the first three stars appear in the sky on Saturday. The book of Genesis states that God completed the work of creation in six days, and rested on the seventh day. Jews understand the seventh day of the week to be Saturday. So when they honor the Sabbath, they do so not only to rest from their own completed work, but also to honor God’s completed work – and the way He set us apart when He invited us to partake of Shabbat with Him.
The Hebrew word for rest, nuach, which appears in the Old Testament at least 65 times, can mean to rest, to remain, to be quiet, and it has been used as a synonym for the word Shabbat. Shabbat, among other things, means a whole day of purposeful rest.
At first, a full day of resting felt like just one more thing to add to our already busy calendar. Isn’t it odd —that scheduling the day that God asks us to take a rest from our work – can feel like more work? When we believe we are too busy to rest, that must be the time when we need it the most.
So I kept reading. And when I learned that Sabbath is not only rest – it is a celebration – honoring this day became not only doable, but the desire of my heart.
If you go to your local Messianic Congregation, you’ll find voices singing with all they have to give. You’ll see feet dancing the steps to Davidic worship. You’ll hear prayers uttered to the God who has been with us, who has seen us, since the beginning.
Seeing God’s Goodness
God is at work all the week long. And just as He rested on the seventh day, after all of creation was complete, so can we rest, not only because our work is done, but because He has done a work in us. He does so many good things for us all week long. He keeps the earth turning, the air in our lungs going in, and out, and in, and out; He provides every good gift that we have. Sabbath is simply a time to stop. And let settle all the good things that God has done. We let His goodness settle, like cream in a coffee cup. Just as I stir the liquid until I can’t separate the cream from the coffee, Sabbath is an opportunity to mix God’s gifts into our life until two stories become one – and we can’t separate the story of His goodness from the story of our life.
So this Friday – I’ll save the best dinner of the week for last. We’ll light a candle. Traditionally, candles have been used during Shabbat because of the Orthodox Jewish idea that electricity meant labor. Messianic Jews, however, rest and rejoice with Yeshua in mind – Yeshua, who completes our hearts, and also fulfills every facet of the law. Therefore, you wouldn’t be likely to find strict adherence to traditional Sabbath restrictions in a Messianic home or service. In my home, we simply use candles because of the way they brighten up the atmosphere, and the way they tell my children: Tonight is a special night.
My family’s favorite Shabbat tradition is the blessing of the children. Each child will line up for his or her blessing. I’ll place a hand on their heads one by one, tell them how loved they are, and pray God’s favor on their life. They love, love, love our little ritual. Then we’ll sit down together, and the supper will be something that I know everyone loves. Sabbath foods vary widely depending on the culture and the style at the family at the table, but it is always something special. This week, I’ll be recruiting my nine year-old to help me learn how to make challah (braided loaves of bread).
Whatever foods grace our table, we’ll make an effort to slow our Friday night dinner down. We’ll talk about the ways God has shown up in our lives this week. And Saturday, we’ll allow ourselves to rest. Not to hurry to get chores done and not to scurry to a million errands. Saturday night, we’ll pray that the rest God gave us on our Sabbath day flavors the coming week with His peace.
But when all doesn’t go as planned – when the kids ask for spaghetti for Sabbath dinner, and someone flings their sauce onto the wall – when a neighborhood cat comes to bother our chickens, and I have to chase him away – or when there are chores that simply have to be done, if my family’s going to have clean clothes come Sunday morning – I remember that Sabbath was never about me anyway. It was never about our ability to do Sabbath well – it was about learning that Yeshua Himself is our Sabbath rest. And I remember, as Paul said, that every festival, every Sabbath, was not about the thing itself – “These are only a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ” (Colossians 2:17). May these special days and celebrations, with all their imperfections, remind us not only of what God has done, but of what He will do.
As part of our weekly routine, Sabbath reminds us not only to rest, remember, and rejoice – but to do so on repeat. So we’ll enter into this invitation of His, this gracious gift – but we won’t do it perfectly. And when our Sabbath ends up looking a little more like any other day, and a little less like the perfect day I had planned, I’ll trust in Yeshua, the One who said: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Sabbath is an opportunity to mix God’s gifts into our life until two stories become one – and we can’t separate the story of His goodness from the story of our life. Click To TweetRecommended Resources for Further Reading:
All of a Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor. (For adults and children alike.)
Myjewishlearning.com
The Feasts Unlocked: A Practical Understanding of God’s Holy Days (Aguirre, Planet Blue Media, 2018).
Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Vine, Unger and White, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996).
