Practicing Sabbath

Part 1/4 in a new series!

Hi there! My hunch is that you, as a person who cares about this world God made and loves, are trying your best to pay attention to the news and also be present in your own life and to your people. And it likely feels like a lot.

You may remember that I traveled to Israel/Palestine in 2016 to learn about the history, conflict and peacemaking efforts on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides on a trip led by The Telos Group. They are my trusted guide on this issue, and if you’d like to better understand how we got where we are, they have a resources page.

I wrote this a while back, but I’m finding it personally helpful again.

On a different note, I’m excited for the next month here in the Kids + Faith Community! We’re going to do a 4 week series on 4 family practices that can be incredibly meaningful for kids to experience:  Sabbath, Generosity, Forgiveness, and Gratitude

For each of these practices we’ll have 4 ideas to help you talk about what it is, where it comes from, etc.:

• IDEA 1: A key Bible story or passage that connects to what that practice is about

• IDEA 2-4: Ways to Wonder, Play, & Pray as your kids explore and respond to that story

• THEN! Specific help to bring that practice to life in your family

Let’s start with the practice of Sabbath!

IDEA 1: BIBLE STORY - Food and Water in the Wilderness - Exodus 16-17:8

These stories of manna and water in the wilderness give us a vivid picture of God’s goodness not in some abstract, theological way, but in the very concrete act of providing for people’s everyday needs. The people have just come from a place, in Egypt, where food and water were earned in exchange for backbreaking work. No work, no bread.

Now, there isn’t just bread, there’s double on day 6 so that they can rest on day 7.

One of the first lessons God hopes Their people will learn after having been set free is that a new day is here. Their God is different from Pharaoh. Yahweh gives bread from heaven, abundantly, consistently, graciously. No work required. No earning. Just grace. That’s who our God is, then and now.

FUN DETAIL:

When the people don’t trust that the manna will show up each day and try to save some for later it ends up filled with maggots. God has a sense of humor. I mean, it could have just disappeared. Sometimes people see this as a punishment, or evidence of God’s anger at the people, or something like that.

But God doesn’t take away the next day’s food, God keeps on providing whether the people trusted the previous day or not. It’s not a punishment; it’s a reminder. A reminder that God is inviting the people to learn to trust God’s goodness, every day. 

This is what we see when we practice God-centered storytelling.

IDEA 2: WONDER QUESTIONS

• I wonder what the very first manna day was like?

• I wonder how many days of manna it took before people began to trust God more? A lot? A few?

• I wonder how God took care of us this week?

IDEA 3: PLAY - 500, Story Style

Try a game of 500, but with a twist. To play, one person has a ball and is the thrower. Anyone else in the game catches. The object of the game is to get 500 points. 

When the thrower makes a throw, they also call out ONE of these four things:

1. Quail Live (worth 100 points)

2. Quail Dead (worth 50 points)

3. Manna Live (worth 100 points)

4. Manna Dead (worth 50 points)

• If the thrower calls out “live” then the ball must be caught in order for the points to count.

• If they call out “dead”, the ball has to hit the ground for the points to count. 

• If the thrower shouts “dead or alive” then either way the person who gets the ball gets the points. 

Whoever gets to 500 points first wins.

IDEA 4: PRAY - Goodness List Prayer

Find a comfortable place to be for a couple minutes. 

Say, “We’re going to take turns saying out loud things that we can see or taste or touch, or people you know that help us see God’s goodness.” (i.e. “The way mac and cheese tastes!”) 

Pray short or long, eyes open or closed, still or moving. When your list is good for now, say, “Amen.”