Shabbat service for families
Ok, so now you have the book, you’ll see there’s a reference to some extra things you can get on here.
(If you’ve not got the book, do feel free to browse.)
On page 18:
Family Travel, the Bible ideas says: Find and play or sing some songs which use words (or concepts) from Psalm 139. See GodVenture.co.uk for ideas. So here are a few songs to get you going which use the words of the psalm:
Lord you have searched me, SU’s Reach up!
Search me O God, Vicky Beeching’s Shelter
Even before I speak, SU’s Bitesize Bible Songs 2
These songs are all also available as singles, Vicky’s on itunes and SU’s on their site where you can also listen before you purchase and get extras like a cool poster of the Bible verses (go into the album and click track downloads).
On page 9:
Family Rest, you’ll see a reference to a Christian-Jewish style Shabbat meal. This is something we’ve been experimenting with for a while, and have had good fun sharing with various families, including the family who introduced us to it (thanks Sharmans!). So below is a little more detail in case you’d like to try one out for yourself.
What’s Shabbat?
Shabbat is a special meal which celebrates faith using four simple symbols, and marks the beginning of a day set aside to rest, enjoy God and have time together. It’s a Jewish tradition, although Shabbat for Family is adapted for Christians. It’s a time to remember what’s important to us – God, our family, our freedom, and for Christians, our relationship with Jesus. The four symbols are candles, water, bread and wine, each of which is generally available wherever you are.
Anyway, here’s some words which you can use. Feel free to use them and change them to suit your family. Jewish families have their own Shabbat customs, and I think it makes sense, just as with the GodVenture book, to be flexible and do it in a way which works best for your family. We know a family who do it over Saturday morning brunch. We’ve done short, silent versions of it in restaurants.
Pages 1 and 2 are a cover you could print out, or make your own with pictures of the symbols you use. If you print pages 3-4 back to back and fold it to A5, you’ll have four short pages of words to use over your meal. Please note that these are only some words we use, not The Words, so feel free to adapt them, perhaps adding Bible verses special to your family, or adding pictures or other prayers relevant to you.
Children
We found with children, it’s best to have them involved as much as possible. It’s great to have those who’d like to read different sections of the words. The children can also light candles (traditionally this is just the girls, but the boys might like to help out!) and help with pouring wine, breaking bread and join in with the hand washing.
Other guests
We have tried to make the words as inclusive as possible to make it easy for our non-believing friends to join in with us. We especially make the hand washing a time when people can join in as much or as little as they feel comfortable with. We’ve found that for lots of people being encouraged to say their own words at this point is very meaningful and actually adds another dimension.
I could say loads more on this, and maybe will at some point, but for now you could look at this for more info on how Jews do Shabbat.
