SHABBAT SHALOM by Bobbie Ann Cole
“Shabbat shalom,” is how we greet one another in Israel on Friday and Saturday. The sabbath runs from nightfall Friday until nightfall Saturday, (when, incongruously, the shops all open up again!) ‘Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy,’ is God’s fourth commandment to us. Christians do this on yom rishon, the ‘first day’ or ‘head of the week day’, when our Lord Jesus rose—Sunday. This Hebrew greeting means, “Have a peaceful sabbath,” the shalom part meaning ‘peace’, but with deeper connotations of ‘completion’, and also ‘paid’. Shabbat is connected to sheva, meaning, ‘seven’. On the seventh day, God rested from all His work of creation because it was complete. Seven is considered the number of completion. So the expression ‘Shabbat shalom’ is like a double dose of completion. If we can find this completion, perhaps our sabbath really could be restful. However, I, for one, cannot just switch a restful spirit on and off on one day a week. If I’m gurgling and bubbling inside all...