Thanu Isharu, the day of rest, begins at dusk at the end of the sixth day of the week. People gather together in the temples and begin with prayer and a song of praise to God. Then, a priest or priestess will read from the scriptures, those scriptures appointed for that week's worship and discussion. This follows a chronological succession which begins at the first of the year with the first scriptures of Yia'arakh, our Holy Book, God's Word to Arzou. The scriptures are read and the priest or priestess gives a sermon on the scriptures- a sort of explanation of their meanings and implications to us today. This is followed, in modern times, by a celebration of God's Holy Sacrifice on the cross with a Remembrance Reading of the scripture passage that tells of the Last Supper; the Words of the Messiah, Yeshua, are sung by the priest or priestess and a response is sung by the congregation. We, too, have received the Gospel through Dobaryia (my mother), as it was given to her by God.
We then partake of the Feast of Redemption, what is called on Terra "Communion", followed by a song of thanksgiving to God for His sacrifice and Redemption of Souls through Yeshua (which in Yiashir is 'Yiashuel'). Then, we pray together for God's Word to remain in our minds and hearts, sing a song of praise to God and disperse. The next morning, we begin with a devotional at the temple as a congregation which is based on the teaching in the scripture, not the teaching of or about the meanings of the scripture (there is a difference). This is followed by a song of praise and thanksgiving to God for His Word and for His Spirit which is the life within us. Then, we break fast in smaller groups. After breaking fast, we sing songs of praise to God then one, usually the eldest of the group, will read the scripture from the worship service and then we discuss what that means to us on a personal level and how we might put the teaching into practice in our daily lives.
This is informal time, once we are in smaller groups and lasts until an hour before mid day. Often we sing in this time, too. Then we gather as a congregation and begin with a prayer which thanks God for His love and His Word, for the day we have been given; praise to Him for His greatness and kindness to all, and a request for His mercy and grace to continue and grow amongst us and in those who are not yet in the fullness of faith. Then, we hear a reading from the Gospel (what we call Bea'arakh Vishu, which means "the Righteous Truth [of] the Messiah") and a sermon is given on that. Usually, the scripture of the Gospel given is in line with the teaching of the old scriptures and the sermon is more about how this impacts our lives now and what it means for those who are yet lost or not yet in the fullness of faith. We then sing a song of thanksgiving for His word and one of praise to Him for His great, enduring, and forgiving love. After this we pray for His Word to be kept in our minds and hearts so that we may meditate on it, discuss it, and live by it.
After we disperse back to our groups, we eat the mid day meal together then spend about two hours meditating on the Word we have received since the beginning of Thanu Isharu. After the time of meditation, we meet together in our groups and discuss the mid day sermon and how it affects us personally. This is preceded by a prayer for God's understanding to be given to us and is concluded by a prayer for His continued expansion of our understanding, guidance to put His Word into the practice of daily life. After this, we spend time generally socializing and going back to the temple for the last part of the day. The last formal aspect of the day is begun with a song of praise to God, much as the beginning of the day, and a prayer of "openness", asking God to reveal His Truth to us through His Wisdom. Then the priest or priestess will read from Yia Rebothakh, the Book of Wisdom which is in Yia'arakh. The proverbs read to us are also in line with the scriptures read, taught, discussed and meditated upon. We then pray that God will use this Wisdom in us to bring greater Light to each other and to the lost and those coming back into the fullness of faith. We conclude the day with a song of glory to God then disperse as a congregation.
Usually, that night, we spend time with others of the congregation, often those we were grouped with that day, but not always. Those who had traveled some distance to be there will usually go back to their host's residence and eat the evening meal with them. For the most part, the beginning of the first day, which follows dispersal of the congregation, is spent socializing with others and preparing to return home in the morning. This is how we honor the Day of Rest God has ordained for us since the beginning and how we worship our beloved God, the Light of Light, our Blessed Holy One.