Sabbath for Sojourners

 This last weekend we enjoyed sabbath at Hebron again.  These monthly times of gathering for worship on the sabbath, followed by a working bee on Sunday, are so enjoyable.  What makes keeping the sabbath so much more important as the years go by?  The prophetic significance of the coming reign of peace of the Messiah?  The blessings received?  The fact that it's the only day that was named?  Or perhaps the greater affinity we have for those things that gives YHWH pleasure.  Whatever the reason, I'm looking forward to the years ahead as we are continually changed, moulded and readied for that great Day.

Hebron is part of that readying and as we maintain and develop the property we are in the process being maintained and developed as a fellowship and as individuals - such is the wisdom of our Father.

Fellowship is the priority of Hebron and having some of us come up early and stay on Friday night was great.  There's nothing like chilling out after tea and chatting around the fire.  We don't keep any specific traditions or rituals for the start and finish of the sabbath, however, the reverence we have for this time is high.  It's natural, perhaps even appropriate, for families and individuals to develop their own traditions but as a group we are conscious that this does not become ritualised.  Yeshua spent quite a bit of time highlighting the dangers of this, and having come out of Sunday worship we are careful not to rationalise or legislate any traditions other than those stipulated by scripture.

On Sunday (should I call it the first day perhaps?) we filled the day with chores and cups of tea.  Bringing in the sheep to vaccinate our two lambs was remarkably easy so hopefully they're getting the hang of the yards and race.  On a down note, one of our ewes lambed today.  I was keeping my eye on her as she had separated herself but after a couple of hours decided to check her because I noticed crows were around her.  Sadly the lamb had died.  I'm not entirely sure why she died, although I think she was born live.  It's the cruel reality of keeping stock but to date we've been quite fortunate.

Trevor and Brendan spent most of the day in fixing the middle fence and swinging the gate.  I do love gates!  I'm not sure why but I think they're very aesthetic and am always a sucker for a photo with a gate.

Christina and I spent the afternoon in the caper patch weeding.  This is never an easy job and there's still quite a number to go but this winter we will be laying down weed mat and gravel which will make this task much more manageable in the future.

The morning was spent planting more fruit trees and Carol gave everything a good haircut in readiness for the summer months when we are looking forward to picking the fruit.  We will be relaying the irrigation soon which will ensure that my time is spent doing much more enjoyable things this summer, other than hunting and fixing water leaks.  Maybe sitting in the shade by the dam reading a good book?

Neal has proven himself to be quite the carpenter and finished the front door.  Who else would have had the patience and dedication to see this job through?  Well done Neal!

After getting the all clear from the doctor John was busy converting scrap wood to firewood and taking care of all things tractor.  If it has wheels and an engine John is never far away :)

We were blessed with perfect weather and once again, a small group of people managed to complete a wide range of tasks.  More blessed is the fact that we're still friends and look forward to the next time we can be together!

Shalom

P.S.  I completely forgot to update everyone on a momentous decision that was reached. Our alpaca was destined to become unnamed and consequently vulnerable to feelings of abandonment and lifelong psychological issues.  After much discussion, debate and referring to Dr Google it was decided to use a name from Gulliver's Travels, just so that sibling envy didn't manifest in later years.  Lilliput was an obvious choice but it was decided that this was far too 'nancy' for one who was a defender of lambs.  Therefore the regal name of Don Pedro (said with a South American accent of course) was decided upon.  On an aside note I recommend only reading the child's version of Gulliver's Travels, the original is far too risque!