Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Sh’ma, Yisra’el! Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad [Hear, Isra’el! Adonai our God, Adonai is one]; and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources. These words, which I am ordering you today, are to be on your heart; and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them on your hand as a sign, put them at the front of a headband around your forehead, and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkP7z7_CbE
I have always loved this passage. It sums up our jobs as believers and parents; to teach our children (by example) to love God. Listen to the link above…this is the Sh’ma, the words of Deut. 6:4. We sing this prayer every Saturday morning at our synagogue services followed by reciting the rest of the passage in Hebrew and English and we usually sing it with our little Joy every night as we tuck her into bed. One of the many things I love about Judaism is that prayer is incorporated into every aspect of one’s life! Messianic Judaism is much like Judaism in that you will find some people/congregations that are more orthodox than others (and our synagogue just so happens to be the most awesome one ever :D). Tom and I are in the learning stage and trying to decide before God what he wants from us as an act of worship. Our salvation is by grace, through faith, but out of our love for the Lord, we want to please him and give him honor and respect. We believe each person and family must decide before the Lord what he wants from them and that looks different for each one of us. I really love the reverence that Jewish people have for HIM and HIS NAME. Tom and I have been so touched to the very core by so many aspects of Judaism that it will probably take me several posts to go into what he has been teaching us and how we’ve been led this past year.
Tom and I decided that we wanted to take this passage of scripture literally and have God’s word on the doorpost of our house, so a few weeks ago, we got our very first Mezuzah!
As they say in Savannah, “Shalom Ya’ll!”
Recent Comments