‘May this day bring Sabbath rest to my heart and my home’: a ‘Sabbath Blessing’ seen in Lichfield Cathedral

A ‘Sabbath Blessing’ by Pete Greig seen in Lichfield Cathedral last Friday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

There many traditional Jewish prayers for Shabbat evening. The prayers said in the home on Friday evening include prayers at lighting the candles, saying Kiddush and other Shabbat dinner traditions.

The songs and blessings before the Friday night meal include: blessing for lighting the candles, blessing for the children, Shalom Aleichem (welcoming the Sabbath angels), Eshet Hayil (Woman of Valour), Kiddush, Netilat Yadayim (a blessing for washing hands) and Hamotzi (the blessing for the bread).

The lighting of candles as sunset approaches on Friday is the traditional sign of the arrival of Shabbat. After lighting the candles, it is customary to cover one’s eyes and recite the following:

‘Blessed are you, God, Ruler of the universe, who sanctified us with the commandment of lighting Shabbat candles.’

In households where there are children, it is traditional to offer a special blessing on Friday night after candle-lighting with two versions, one for boys and one for girls.

For boys, the introductory line is: ‘May you be like Ephraim and Menashe.’ For girls, the introductory line is: ‘May you be like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.’

For both boys and girls, the rest of the blessing is :May God bless you and protect you. May God show you favour and be gracious to you. May God show you kindness and grant you peace.’

On approaching the table, it is traditional to welcome the Sabbath angels with the song Shalom Aleichem, whose name means ‘welcome’:

Peace be with you, ministering angels, messengers of the Most High,
messengers of the King of Kings,
the Holy One, blessed be he.

Come in peace, messengers of peace, messengers of the Most High,
messengers of the King of Kings,
the Holy One, blessed be he.

Bless me with peace, messengers of peace, messengers of the Most High,
messengers of the King of Kings,
the Holy One, blessed be he.

Go in peace, messengers of peace, messengers of the Most High,
messengers of the King of Kings,
the Holy One, blessed be he.

Proverbs 31 describes a ‘woman of valour.’ The song Eshet Hayil (‘Woman of Valour’) was introduced by the Jewish mystics in the 17th century, and it is sung as a tribute to the woman of the house, normally right after Shalom Aleichem.

The kiddush marks Shabbat as sacred time. There is a traditional blessing before sipping the wine, often preceded by a Biblical verse called Vayechulu that recounts the moment God completed creation and decided to rest.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, how has sanctified us with his commandments and favoured us, and given us in love and favour his holy Shabbat as an inheritance, as a remembrance of the act of creation. For this day is the beginning of all holy days, a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. For you have chosen us and you have blessed us from among all the nations. And you have bequeathed us your holy Shabbat in love and favour.
Blessed are you, Lord, who sanctifies Shabbat.

Following Kiddush, it is customary to wash one’s hands before continuing the meal. After washing the hands with water from a cup – often twice on the right hand and twice on the left, though precise practices vary – this blessing is recited: ‘Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with your commandments, and command us concerning the washing of the hands.’

After washing hands, some people have the custom of remaining silent until bread is eaten. Before eating the bread, this prayer is recited: ‘Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has brought forth bread from the earth.’

After the meal, some families have the tradition of reciting Birkat Hamazon (Grace after Meals). This lengthy blessing, whose recitation is required after any meal that includes bread, includes multiple expressions of gratitude to God for providing food and sustenance. On Shabbat, it is preceded by an additional Psalm and often by a short invitation to prayer known as a zimmun, and after the meal and after Birkat Hamazon people may sing special Sabbath songs known as Zemirot.

In Lichfield Cathedral last week, before Choral Evensong on Friday evening, I ca across this ‘Sabbath Blessing’ by Pete Greig:

May this day bring Sabbath rest
to my heart and my home.
May God’s image in me be restored,
and my imagination in God be re-storied.
May the gravity of material things be lightened,
and the relativity of time slow down.
May I know grace to embrace my own finite smallness
in the arms of God’s infinite greatness.
May God’s word feed me and his Spirit lead me into the week
and into the life to come.

Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024: 105, Friday 23 August 2024

‘Hang all the law and the prophets …’

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and this week began with the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XII).

The Requiem Mass for Ian Keatley, who died suddenly earlier this month, takes place later today (23 August) Saint George’s Church, Belfast, where he sang as a boy. Ian was good friend and colleague when he was Director and Music in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and later when he was Organist and Director of Music at Southwark Cathedral. I shall be keeping Ian, his family and his friends and colleagues in my prayers throughout the day.

Later this afternoon, I am involved in a meeting to discuss possibilities for the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship in the Milton Keynes area. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘Hang all the law and the prophets’ … all the wire hangers fall to the floor

Matthew 22: 34-40 (NRSVA):

34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ 37 He said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

A statue of Bishop Charles Gore outside Saint Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Charles Gore (1853-1932) was one of the great – almost formidable theologians – at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. He was the editor of Lux Mundi (1881), an influential collection of essays; the founder of the Community of the Resurrection (1892); and the first Bishop of Birmingham (1905). He was also from a well-known Irish family; his brother was born in Dublin Castle, his father, Charles Alexander Gore, was brought up in the Vice-Regal Lodge, now Arás an Uachtaráin, and his mother was from Bessborough, Co Kilkenny.

But formidable theologians are also allowed to play pranks on the unsuspecting. And it is told that Charles Gore loved to play a particular prank on his friends and acquaintances when he was a canon of Westminster Abbey.

He would enjoy showing visitors the tomb of one of his collateral ancestors, the 3rd Earl of Kerry, who was descended from the Fitzmaurice family, once famous throughout Limerick and North Kerry.

He would point to an inscription that ends with the words, highlighted in black letters and in double quotation marks: ‘hang all the law and the prophets.’

But when you look closer at this monument, those words are preceded by ‘… ever studious to fulfil those two great commandments on which he had been taught by his divine Master …’ ‘… hang all the law and the prophets.’

A more recent Irish-born theologian of international standing, Professor David Ford, sees these two commandments as the key, foundational Scripture passage for all our hermeneutical exercises.

He was born in Dublin and since 1991 has been the Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. Speaking at the Dublin and Glendalough Clergy Conference in Kilkenny 12 years ago [2012], he was asked about some of the hermeneutical approaches he outlines in his book, The Future of Christian Theology (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 20111). He said that if the two great commandments are about love, and God is love, then no interpretation is to be trusted that goes against love.

And he reminded us of Augustine’s great regula caritatis, the rule of love. If love is the rule, then the ‘how’ of reading scripture together is as important as the ‘what.’

In The Future of Christian Theology, he says: ‘Anything that goes against love of God and love of neighbour is, for Christian theology, unsound biblical interpretation.’

In other words, this passage, and its parallels in the other synoptic Gospels, provides for David Ford the hermeneutical key to understanding all Biblical passages.

Some years ago, I was preaching on this morning's Gospel reading in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, Co Limerick. I asked the children (and adults) playfully how we might hang all the law and the prophets.

I began by hanging up two inter-linked wire hangers. One wire hanger carried a card saying, ‘Love God’, the other a card saying, ‘Love one another.’ They were held onto a line by string against the pulpit.

The children were then invited to bring wire hangers to hang from these first two wire hangers. This second group of hangers carried cards with markings such as ‘Remember God’s goodness,’ ‘Don’t make a god of money,’ ‘Tell the truth,’ ‘Listen to Mom and Dad,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Be faithful,’ ‘Don’t rob,’ ‘Don’t tell lies,’ ‘Don’t envy others,’ ‘Don’t be jealous’ …

Then the string holding the first two wire hangers was cut. All the wire hangers fell to the floor.

The Lesson, of course, was: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matthew 22: 37-40).

Kerry Crescent in Calne, Wiltshire, recalls a FitzMaurice family title and a story told by Charles Gore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 23 August 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘What price is the Gospel?’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from Dr Jo Sadgrove, Research and Learning Advisor, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 23 August 2024, International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition) invites us to pray:

Father of everlasting compassion, you see your children growing up in a world of inequality, greed and oppression; help us learn from the mistakes of history.

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray
and to give more than either we desire or deserve:
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid
and giving us those good things
which we are not worthy to ask
but through the merits and mediation
of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God of all mercy,
in this eucharist you have set aside our sins
and given us your healing:
grant that we who are made whole in Christ
may bring that healing to this broken world,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God of constant mercy,
who sent your Son to save us:
remind us of your goodness,
increase your grace within us,
that our thankfulness may grow,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Saint Bartholomew:

Almighty and everlasting God,
who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace
truly to believe and to preach your word:
grant that your Church
may love that word which he believed
and may faithfully preach and receive the same;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Cambridge Divinity School … David Ford was Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org