To Light the Sabbath Candles

Keeping the Sabbath is the only commandment God called holy and said to remember. The moment the women light the Sabbath candle, we glimpse the boundless realm of the world to come as all work is put down and we meet with the Lord. The flame reveals our distinctions and makes known our gifts, a flame that spoke from Mount Sinai, led the Israelites through the desert, consumed offerings, and anointed the new church. Jesus said, ""Come."" Let anyone who hears this say, ""Come."" He opens his kingdom with generous hospitality, an invitation to a place at the table for anyone called to reconcile the wild and natural branches of the olive tree. Under the shared commandment to know God, the radiance is drawing together a family at his table in an unprecedented movement bringing Jew and Gentile into the one new humanity Jesus prayed for us to be. Sabbath is the only ritual listed in the ten commandments. In it he has set a table before us in the presence of the enemy who tried to divide the wholeness of the body of Christ, the feminine importance in bringing light, and the sacredness of heritage.

Christine Graef is author of The Jewish Concern for the Church. She lives at the edge of the woods by the St. Lawrence River in upstate New York.