Participants: Kathy Matthews, John Youngberg, Millie Youngberg
Series Code: TAH
Program Code: TAH000161
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00:32 Welcome to Thinking About Home.
00:33 I am Kathy Matthews and we have something 00:36 really special for you today that excites me. 00:39 Today our guests are John and Millie Youngberg 00:42 and they're the directors of Marriage and Family 00:45 Commitment Incorporated. I'm glad you're here 00:47 again with us today. Thank you. Thank you, 00:49 it's nice to be here. Oh! You see all these that 00:51 we have on the table there is something that's 00:53 really going to go on here, isn't it? 00:57 I would like to review a little bit about what 00:59 we've been going through, we've been talking about 01:02 Sabbath traditions, right. That's right. 01:05 And we've been going over the preparation 01:08 day, which is Friday, and the whole week so 01:11 to speak and keeping our mind going toward 01:14 the Sabbath and planning for it and what 01:18 else that we've been talking about? 01:19 Activities, that you can have this over the Sabbath. 01:24 Right things like that. And John can you tell 01:27 us about how the Sabbath is viewed 01:28 then around the world? Well, it's certainly 01:31 exciting thing to think about the Sabbath. 01:34 The Sabbath starts on Friday evening in the 01:37 Caroline Islands. It's part of the 01:40 Kiribati Islands in the South Pacific. 01:43 And as they're at the International Date Line, 01:46 the Sabbath begins and it slowly 01:48 travels around the world. And our son lives in 01:52 Guam, our son Wes lives in Guam, 01:54 it hits him pretty quick, but still Friday night is 01:59 still Friday morning for we are, and so the travel 02:02 the, the Sabbath travels hour-by-hour and, 02:06 and every hour there are people falling on their 02:09 knees and maybe watching the sun setting 02:11 in the West and so finally the Sabbath 02:14 come to a full circle until all the world has 02:17 enjoyed the blessing of this beautiful day. 02:19 The whole family of God! That's right. 02:22 The family of earth and the family of God are 02:25 worshipped on the Sabbath day. 02:28 It's a memorial, isn't it? That's right. 02:30 We called it a birthday. 02:32 Yes I like to call it a birthday. 02:33 It's the birthday of the world we're celebrating 02:37 God's creation. And even the 02:39 celebration of the wedding of Adam and 02:42 Eve is sort of like a weekly anniversary of 02:45 the first wedding. So we are celebrating 02:48 both the family and the Sabbath, the two made 02:51 for each other. Two institutions! 02:52 As that creation point! Right! 02:55 But we're very important to God. 02:57 Yes, or else He wouldn't put it there, 03:00 that's right, so early in all of earth's history. 03:03 And don't you think that God is trying to make a 03:05 restoration and a renewal of both of these 03:08 together, oh yes I do, as He prepares the people 03:11 to go back to Eden. Amen, I do. 03:14 Now for most Seventh-day Adventist we kind of 03:18 centre our activities around the besides the 03:21 services and so forth. The noon of Sabbath, 03:25 the noon meal and so forth, sort of big 03:27 moment, right the big moment of the day aside 03:30 from our activities and fellowshipping together. 03:33 Do the Jewish people do the same thing? 03:35 Well, I'm not gonna say that we're wrong and 03:37 they're right Kathy, but it's wonderful to have 03:41 big celebrations Sabbath noon, 03:43 but I wonder if they couldn't even be more 03:45 meaningful at Friday night as the Jewish 03:48 people do. That is the centre of their Sabbath 03:51 celebration, the beginning, the high point and 03:54 of course the counterpoint of that is when we seek 03:57 farewell to the Sabbath at the end, but maybe 04:01 we had a just at least respect that point of 04:03 view and say perhaps we've something to 04:05 learn from the Jewish friends. 04:08 Now we're adapting this into Christianity, right? 04:10 That's right. We're not going to teach the 04:13 Jewish ritual, maybe the Jews won't recognize 04:16 everything we do here, but we have gone over 04:20 the Jewish ritual and we have adapted that 04:23 reading also other Christian books and 04:25 talking with Christian friends and have 04:27 adapted that to Christian celebration 04:29 on Sabbath. I'm glad to hear you say that. 04:31 I don't want anybody thinking otherwise, 04:34 but I needed for you to make that clear. 04:36 Millie, would you gonna say something? 04:37 Yes I was just going to say that in many homes 04:40 they don't adapt the Jewish tradition, 04:43 but they do start the Sabbath with just a 04:45 candle and the little children will light the 04:49 candle and it will burn through the evening and 04:52 then the next evening they blow the candle out. 04:56 All the way through? They don't usually keep 04:59 it, blow it out, blow it out after a Friday 05:03 evening and then started up again the next time. 05:06 But we have been using this family 05:11 Sabbath tradition at our home not all the time 05:14 occasionally often when we have company and 05:17 we adapted and adapted. We change it all, 05:20 all the time so. So we're just going to 05:22 give an illustration today of what one can 05:24 do and then they can make a special for their family. 05:26 That's right. Well! What you say is very 05:28 important because I think every family 05:31 should be on it's own traditions and your 05:34 traditions are probably be different than ours, 05:37 but it should have a special meaning to that 05:39 particular family. Right, as I mentioned 05:41 once before we had a Menorah. 05:43 We had the couple that brought us to the Lord, 05:46 went to Jerusalem trip and they brought us 05:50 back on Menorah and the candles that go with 05:52 it and that was really special to us for several 05:55 year and we still like to do that when we've got 05:57 the right candles for it that fit the Menorah. 06:00 And the lights are the glowing of the light and 06:04 thanking the Lord as we light those candles and 06:06 praying together. It's really special. Okay. 06:11 We were going to talk now about the Bible. 06:17 In the Bible it talks about how the Pharisees 06:20 have often times made the Sabbath a burden 06:23 or did make the Sabbath a burden, but do the 06:26 Jewish people still feel that way or is it more 06:29 happy occasion? Yes, there are certain sects of 06:32 the Jews that perhaps make the Sabbath a 06:34 burden, but many, many Jews make the Sabbath 06:38 a very happy day to the point that the great 06:41 Jewish scholars for instance Abraham, 06:44 Joshua, Heschel said it's a 06:46 sin to be sad on the Sabbath. 06:48 It's a sin to be anxious on the Sabbath. 06:51 So this should be the most joyful day. 06:54 And you know it does make good to hear 06:55 people talking like that because it's also 06:58 applicable to us. Right and we've been 07:01 told that we need to put away our worries from 07:05 the week so that the Sabbath can be a delight. 07:09 And we have rituals or rather do all our rituals 07:15 need to be the same? Or would it be 07:17 commendable if each families solve their own 07:21 like we were talking about a moment ago, 07:22 can you add to that? I think every family has 07:25 to decide it on their own rituals 07:28 what they want to do. They may try this 07:30 and try something else, but they began to get a 07:34 pattern of what they do on Friday evening. 07:37 In any ritual the big thing is meaning and to 07:41 do a ritual that has no meaning why do it. 07:45 Right! But if this has a meaning to a particular 07:48 family for their particular circumstances 07:51 then there's a reason to do it. Right. 07:53 There are some families that are ritual as every 07:56 Friday evening they take a Bible story and 07:59 acted out, the children will act it out, 08:01 and the parents will try to guess what the story is? 08:05 And that's part of their ritual, but everyone has 08:08 to decide what they've like to do? 08:10 Just to make the Sabbath a real special holyday. 08:15 Well you know we're talking about 08:17 celebrating the Sabbath and some people get 08:19 little edgy about the word celebration, 08:22 I want you to take the edge off of that, okay. 08:26 Well, I think Kathy that we have to see, 08:31 are we talking about a holiday or a holyday 08:36 they spell almost the same, but there's, 08:38 well one came from the other didn't it? 08:40 But there's quite a difference in the real 08:42 meaning of them. Right! So I would, 08:45 I would hope that we don't moving anyway 08:49 toward a holiday were anything goes as long 08:53 as you're celebrating and enjoying yourself. 08:55 Right, I'm glad for you to make that clear. 08:56 I mean some people are going to the stadium or 08:58 they're going to the circus or so on that 09:00 maybe could be appropriate for some 09:03 people on a holiday, but we think that the 09:08 holyday of the Lord has a very special vertical 09:12 meaning as well as a horizontal meaning. 09:14 Right, right. So we're not, go ahead, 09:16 we're told to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 09:19 So we still want to make it holy, 09:21 but we want it to be a joyful, delightful holyday. 09:25 And that doesn't mean that we have to 09:27 you know, have a sad look on our face, 09:29 but we can be joyful. You know sometimes 09:32 our children look at the Sabbath and they can 09:34 hardly wait till it's over with. 09:36 How can we change that? How do you feel about this? 09:40 Well, it just by the activities that we have 09:42 on the Sabbath day, just making plans I know in 09:46 our home frequently we would start a book on 09:48 Friday night. And then you could look forward to it. 09:51 Yes. Oh! We did that too. And then we would 09:53 read that book during the Sabbath hours. 09:55 Sometimes even after the Sabbath hours they 09:57 wanted to hear the rest of the story. 09:59 Right, right. But it depends on what we do 10:06 as to what we can do to make the day special, 10:09 if it is special the kids will enjoy. 10:11 So if it's a drag then we're gonna have kids 10:15 for clock watches. When does the sunset 10:17 because I wanna get out of here, I want to go 10:19 because I already have program or whatever, 10:21 right, but the true Jewish sense is that 10:25 we're sorry to see the Sabbath go. 10:28 And we want to, we wanted to linger a little 10:31 bit longer so we can savor it's joy. 10:34 Right, you have a little something to say about 10:36 that later maybe? Yes. 10:38 Well, what are we going to do now? 10:40 We're gonna get started with this. 10:41 Are you ready to do that? I think we're ready. 10:43 Okay, I'm anxious. I was gonna blow the 10:45 horn, but fine we will go with John today. 10:48 Okay, John you blow the horn. 10:49 You want me to blow the horn. 10:50 This would indicate that the Sabbath has arrived 10:54 and I might mention in Israel now they have 10:57 electronic, which is a very poor substitute, 11:00 which, yes, right. This is much better. 11:03 This is a true shofar horn. Shofar horn, I bought it 11:06 in Jerusalem for the Ibex. Oh! Okay, shall we 11:10 plug our ears or do we just enjoy it? 11:13 It's kind of a loud, isn't it? 11:15 Are you ready? Okay. 11:27 Very loud! I don't think I could 11:28 have done it is well as you do it. 11:30 But that says, the Sabbath has arrived and 11:33 it's so good to know that there is a certain 11:36 time when it arrives that means stop all the work 11:38 if it isn't done, it isn't done, but it's a 11:42 beginning of rest and so I kind of like some 11:46 indications that this is time 11:48 for the Sabbath to begin. And many people start 11:51 by singing songs or having music played, 11:55 15, 20 minutes, 30 minutes before the 11:57 Sabbath hour. Amen. So, then they're ready to 11:59 go into the Sabbath. And we like to sing 12:03 certain songs that we have our new song 12:04 which is "Welcome, Welcome Sabbath" 12:06 which has a Jewish sound to it? 12:09 And so we start with that. Sometime we'll sing, 12:13 Oh! Dear, Lord we come at set of sun, 12:16 different songs. We are trying to get lots 12:20 of new Jewish songs to sing because they're 12:22 happy and it just gives you a good Spirit, 12:25 a good feeling because the Sabbath is here. 12:28 From there the woman, the mother is the queen. 12:32 She is the queen of the home and the Sabbath 12:35 is the queen also. So the mother is the 12:38 one who invites the family hour to the 12:41 Sabbath hour. So I have here her prayer 12:45 that she reads to her children and family. 12:50 It goes like this. "Oh! God of your people 12:53 Israel You are holy and You have made the 12:58 Sabbath and the people of Israel holy. 13:02 You have called upon us to honor the Sabbath 13:05 with the light, with joy and with peace. 13:09 As a king and queen give love to one 13:11 another, as a bride and her bridegroom, 13:14 so have we kindled these two lights for the 13:18 love of your daughter? The Sabbath Oh! 13:21 Mighty God grant me and all of my loved 13:24 ones a chance to truly rest on this Sabbath day. 13:29 May the light of the candle strive out from 13:32 among us the Spirit of anger, the Spirit of harm. 13:37 Send Your blessing to my children that they 13:40 may walk in the ways of Your Torah, Your light. 13:46 May You ever be their God and mine Oh! Lord 13:52 my Creator and redeemer" Isn't that special? 13:55 That's beautiful. So she welcomes the Sabbath 13:58 and then she lights the candles. 14:02 And so we take the candles and we are 14:05 reminded that one candle is for redemption 14:12 and one is for creation. And when do we put in 14:13 we say, "remember The Sabbath Day". 14:18 And then we light the second candle and this 14:21 also is for redemption creation, 14:26 "to Keep It Holy". And that's a Sabbath light we 14:29 want this light in our home, God's presence 14:33 to fill our home to make it really very special. 14:36 And then we repeat the, the Fourth Commandment. 14:40 Okay. Shall we try? Let's see if we can do 14:41 that we didn't practice this very much, did we? 14:44 We're going to call on our memories. Alright. 14:47 "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 14:51 Six days shall thy labor, and do all Thy work; 14:56 but the Seventh-day is the Sabbath of the Lord 14:59 Thy God. In it Thou shall not do any work. 15:05 Thou down Thy Son nor their daughter, 15:08 Thy man servant nor Thy manservant, 15:11 nor Thy cattle, nor Thy stranger, that is within 15:15 Thy gates. For in six days the Lord made 15:19 heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is. 15:24 And rest at the seventh day. 15:27 Therefore the Lord bless the Sabbath day 15:30 and hollowed it ". We did okay. 15:33 We did okay. Yeah. 15:35 Sometimes you get a little confused and we 15:38 do too, but God knows what they are. 15:40 Until we remember the Sabbath day that just 15:43 helps us by saying it to remember that we are 15:46 putting our work aside. And we're gonna keep 15:48 this day as a special day. And from there the 15:52 mother often that has a silent prayer for the 15:56 family and that is rather nice. 15:59 From there we go on to singing other songs like 16:02 the Sabbath Blessing and other songs 16:06 that are really nice. Then the father blesses 16:10 the children and it's always nice to have 16:12 children in our home especially the little ones 16:15 we gather the little boys and little girls. 16:19 And John we want you to pray for the boys and 16:24 girls of our listeners. That's going to be special. 16:27 Would you do that you're going to? 16:28 So we don't have our own little ones or 16:30 grandchildren here, but. Not here right now. 16:32 They're out there. They're out there and 16:33 we're going to. And so I'm going to kneel and 16:35 this prayer is for the children of our watchers 16:39 our, our television viewers to see me. 16:49 Oh Lord of Thy people Israel. 16:54 Today we want to pray that God will make 16:57 these sons of ours, the grandchildren liken to 17:02 Ephraim and then to Manasseh. 17:05 That You make these sons strong and tall, 17:09 that You help them to be all that they can be 17:12 as they grow to reflect Your image and to their 17:15 part for our Lord God Almighty, amen. 17:22 But we don't want to forget our daughters either. 17:26 And so, we're going to have little prayer for 17:29 our daughters, our granddaughters. 17:32 May the Lord bless you young ladies, 17:36 may you be like Sarah and like Rebecca, 17:40 and like Liya and like Rachel. 17:43 May you stand for the right as Queen Esther did? 17:47 May be faithful and true like Ruth who is a 17:50 progenitor of Jesus Christ, may these young 17:54 ladies grow to be sweet and pure and 17:58 be everything that they can be, watch over them 18:01 in a special way in Jesus name, amen. 18:05 Amen. Thank you. What is next? 18:11 Okay, the next part of the program is for me. 18:14 He blesses me. Actually he reads to me 18:17 from our Proverbs. I'm the blessing man. 18:19 He is the blessing man. And he reads from 18:21 Proverbs 31, sometimes John has read all 18:25 Proverbs 31, but today 18:27 we're going to read only a portion. 18:29 So are you ready to read to me? 18:31 I'm ready. We don't necessarily kneel to do 18:35 this, okay, but I think it's very important 18:38 that the children see that the father is 18:41 affirming their mother. Amen, I do too. 18:44 And, and so that is one of the purposes here 18:47 and so, this is in abbreviated form. 18:50 Who can find a virtuous wife? 18:53 I have. For her wrath is far above rubies. 18:58 For the heart of her husband safely trust in her. 19:01 She looks well to the ways of her household 19:04 and does not eat the bread of idealness. 19:08 Her children rise up and called her blessed, 19:11 her husband also and he praises her saying, 19:14 many daughters have done well, 19:17 but you excelled them all. A woman who fears 19:21 the Lord she shall be praised. Amen! 19:25 I always like to hear him to that. 19:27 He always makes me feel really special. 19:29 I can imagine what a bonding feeling? 19:31 Yeah it's very nice and it's good for the 19:34 children as he said to hear this. 19:37 When we first did it, I said wonder why the 19:41 Bibles book of rubies? Why not diamonds 19:44 or something like that? But I was told that the 19:46 rubies are more valuable than diamonds. 19:48 Oh! I see. Anyway so I'm pretty glad with that 19:51 we are rubies, you and I and all the listening 19:55 wives out there, mothers who want to 19:57 raise their families and be the virtuous women. 19:59 That's right. Alright, now what's next? 20:01 Okay, the next part of the service is then we 20:05 usually go into more singing. 20:07 And then we have a touching time because 20:10 Friday night is a touching time where 20:12 you have your family hugs, you enjoy hugging each 20:16 other and, and you tell each other, 20:18 how important? And we say this is very 20:20 important when we have grandmas and 20:21 grandpas in the home because sometimes they 20:25 are skin hungry. They want to be hugged 20:28 and loved too. So that's the good time. 20:31 And then from there we go into what we call the 20:35 Kiddush, and say it again. 20:38 Kiddush, okay. K-I-D-D-U-S-H. 20:41 Okay. Kiddush! John what we do? 20:45 We will have the drinking of the juice 20:49 which is, it's the Bible speaks of wine, 20:53 but this is grape juice, and, unfermented, 20:56 unfermented grape juice. Okay. 20:58 And so we will drink it and John would you 21:02 lead us out in this section? 21:04 So this is called the Kiddush and this is like 21:09 toasting the bride at a wedding. 21:12 And so what we do is that we touch our 21:18 glasses, we do or we don't, you don't have to, 21:21 I like it, okay. And then we say 21:24 Likhvod Hashabbat, which means, Likhvod 21:28 Hashabbat - "for the glory of the Sabbath", 21:31 for the glory to Sabbath, for the glory. 21:33 So we will. Let say it together, 21:36 Likhvod Hashabbat, for the glory of the Sabbath. 21:41 And we wish we could cheer with our 21:43 audience, but. Oh! This is precious. 21:49 And are we to drink it all? That's why we gave you 21:53 small glasses. Often we have large 21:56 couplets at home and we just drink for a long 21:59 period of time and enjoy. And we also say 22:02 LeHayim this is dedicated to life 22:07 that the grape juice was symbolic of life 22:11 to the Jewish people. I see, right 'cause 22:13 it was the life blood of Christ for us. 22:16 Can we take the hollow bread? 22:19 Now the hollow bread is often made with very 22:23 white, white bread and it is prepared either on 22:29 Thursday or Friday. And often there will be 22:32 two loaves of bread, two loaves, one is for 22:37 the two tables of the Commandment, 22:42 sometimes people say it's like the double 22:46 portion of Amana, but I like just only 22:49 one loaf and so that's what I've done 'cause it 22:52 fits on my sofa bed. Right! And so we will 22:59 have some bread and Kathy we will let you 23:02 tear off you don't cut, but you just tear it off. 23:06 We tear it off. That's right, and it 23:10 there's a special recipe John I'll hold it for you, 23:15 and the children like the bread. 23:17 Rachael makes hollow bread, yes, she enjoys it 23:19 very much. Yes it's very nice. 23:21 And we're just going to take a little portion and 23:24 we're gonna eat just a little bit, and we wish 23:25 we could cheer with you all. 23:26 But I'm not gonna eat all of this, 23:27 but I just tore about. I'm supposed to eat now. 23:30 This is at this time we eat the hollow bread. 23:35 And so this is the Hamotzi, "Blessed art 23:39 thou, O Lord God, King of the universe, 23:42 who brings forth bread from the earth, 23:46 with joy we all eat the bread". 23:50 And so they eat their bread and then they're 23:53 often as thinking. Now in our home 23:55 we usually don't have the heavy meal 23:58 on Friday evening, but we often will do this 24:03 until we don't have the heavy meal, 24:05 but the Jewish people often will have their 24:07 favorite meal then, the women often wears 24:10 white and represent purity. And they are just 24:17 special ritual. Sometimes they will put 24:19 salt on the hollow bread, which also has 24:24 a symbol which means something to many of 24:28 the Jewish people. And when you eat the 24:29 bread and after that you have the main meal, 24:33 the main course. Now what we do is 24:36 just sing Shalom Chaverim, we sing it 24:40 together where there is peace in the home and, 24:42 and we want God's peace within our home 24:45 during the Sabbath hours. So that's, that is just a 24:50 simple little traditional activity, amen, 24:54 that can be in a home, that can bring a blessing. 24:58 Now you spoke of how they, how we can linger 25:02 long not wanting the Sabbath to be gone 25:07 would you like to tell us a 25:08 little more about the stars? 25:12 It's the Jewish people have this custom that 25:15 the Sabbath continues until they can see five stars. 25:21 And so, we sometimes send out the children 25:23 outside to see if they see five stars not that 25:27 it's a doctrine of any kind. 25:28 No, not at all. But it's sort of makes 25:30 a game out of it. And they enjoy coming 25:33 and it's, I saw them you know there's what. 25:35 Somebody says well what happens if it's a 25:37 cloudy day. Yes, we've heard that's we have. 25:40 Right, where we have, we have clocks and 25:42 watches of course, but the point is that even as 25:47 the Sabbath is received early 25:50 and we hate to see it go. And at the other end of 25:54 all this and the Friday night, and the Sabbath 25:57 night, then we gather with the family and we 26:00 probably would light the candles again. 26:03 And the children enjoy lighting the candles and 26:07 revive for the opportunity of lighting 26:09 them, of lighting them. I would, I did. 26:11 One child and one candle one another. 26:12 They'd like blowing them out too. 26:15 They enjoy blowing the candles out, 26:17 they are vital. Right! And that's, are we going 26:20 to do that here or do you want to? 26:23 We can do that. We also will have fragrance 26:26 like our papery in the home, which indicates 26:29 the Sabbath which is so special. 26:32 There is a fragrance that goes from the Sabbath 26:35 and we want to continue all week long. 26:37 Amen. So Friday night and Sabbath night 26:42 are both very special. Amen. And that one is 26:45 the counterpart of the other. 26:47 So as the sun is setting in the West and maybe 26:50 has already set we get together and the 26:53 incenses lighted and perfumes the house 26:56 and we say Lord may Your Spirit pervade and 27:00 perfume this coming week and how sorry we 27:03 are to see Your Holy Day gone, we wish it 27:06 would have lingered longer, but until six 27:09 days from now when again we welcome Your 27:13 Queen, the Sabbath, we say farewell and then 27:17 of course comes the blowing out of the candles. 27:20 Millie will let you be the child to 27:22 blows up the candles. 27:25 Ah! That's beautiful. I think in Spanish we 27:27 say Feliz Semana. Feliz Semana! 27:31 Which means, happy week? Happy week! 27:35 And may the Lord bless you as you learn to keep 27:38 the Sabbath day holy. John, will you lead us 27:41 out with prayer? Lord, we are thankful 27:44 for Your Queen the Sabbath, 27:46 we are thankful for the joy this Sabbath has 27:49 brought to us. We pray that this blessing 27:51 will be extensive to each one of our viewers 27:54 and we long for the day that we will be together 27:56 in heaven and to the new earth 27:58 forth from the one Sabbath. |
Revised 2014-12-17