Happy September! If you, too, sent kids back to school, I offer the call and response of our parent community in the crosswalk: enjoy a more quiet day!
The assembly responds: And a quieter day to you.
We have so much good stuff in this month’s newsletter:
A breakdown on the Exodus law and how we can still practice God-centered storytelling.
Download the curriculum I wrote for my church kids exploring that passage.
A guest essay from the delightful Kayla Craig.
As always, if you have a topic or story you want covered, let me know in the comments.
Let’s dive in!
On Sunday our church (we’re walking through the book of Exodus) came to the law. What we found was that even without it being a traditional story, we could practice God-centered storytelling. What I especially love is helping frame “rules” for kids as something that flow from God’s character and dream for the world. Here’s how this might go:
The Passage: Exodus 20-23
Read or paraphrase: Paraphrase, for sure. Some of the laws in the passage are simply not kid-accessible.
Good for ages: 6 and up
Attributes of God you might highlight:
God cares for the vulnerable
God is generous
God is kind
God gives us rest
God dreams of a world that works in a way that matches who God is
In his commentary on Exodus, Christopher Wright says that the laws we find in Exodus 21-23 and elsewhere in the Old Testament “embody a vision of the kind of society God wanted Israel to be in their own historical and cultural context. So, if we can discern the motivation, purpose, and values that drove such guidelines for living back then, we can then begin to articulate broad principles and relevant application in other contexts such as our own.”
He goes on to give some helpful questions to do just that:
What was the objective of this law?
What kind of situation was it trying a) to prevent, or b) to promote?
What kind of people would have a) benefitted from, or b) been protected by, this law?
What kind of people would have been restrained by this law?
What motivations were there for obeying this law – either explicit in the text or implied in the story of salvation?
What values, norms, or principles are embodied in this law?
Then, he encourages us to “step out of the Old Testament context, and back into our own world, and ask similar questions”:
What kind of situations or people in our society could be regarded as comparable to those envisaged in these Old Testament laws?
What should be our objectives in responding to such situations and people?
How should principles found in Old Testament laws be applied in practical life today – in my own life, in the church, in wider society?
In my “kid voice” (slower, with pauses to check in and pivot if need be) I’d say:
You may know that God’s people were slaves in Egypt and God freed them, leading them out of Egypt, into a wilderness/desert, and on to a really great land God had promised them. As simple as that is to say, living it out was a long process. The people needed to get to know God again, because their time in Egypt had been so long and so hard, they sort of forgot. And God was, of course, ready to help them not just get to know God, but also learn what it would mean to live together as God’s people.
Ask: What do you know about laws nowadays? Can you think of some examples of laws? What are they meant to do?
Laws in the time of the Bible’s Old Testament were similar in some ways to laws today, but definitely were not exactly identical. Just like how traffic laws have a purpose—to keep us safe— Old Testament laws had a purpose. They were meant to help the community live together in ways that matched who God is.
But because their time and place was very different from our time and place, reading the laws in the Bible can be confusing. Still, like always, every Bible story tells us something about who God is and what God is like.
So we’re going to look at a few laws– there are hundreds!--and see if we can discover 2 big things:
How would this law help people live in a way that matched who God is?
What does this law help us know about who God is?
You might ask: Here are 5 questions that can help kids explore OT law verses. I put them in the workbook, with space for kids to draw as we talked about it.
Does this law protect someone or something? Who or what?
What might happen if this law were totally ignored?
What might happen if everyone agreed and participated in this law?
What do you notice about who God is or what God is like because of this law?
What is a new version of this kind of idea that would fit and make sense in our world today? Write your own version of this law.
Download the Handout
Here’s the handout I created for our kids. We didn’t read all of the first page, I just paraphrased part of it (but it was something for grown ups to know the topic). For each question, they drew rather than wrote answers out.
In between the two OT laws, we played a game of “Mother May I?”, contrasting it, with its “one person is the boss of you” vibe, to God and the laws.
My friend Kayla Craig from Liturgies for Parents has new book: Every Season Sacred, which comes out Sept 19.
I got the chance to read it early and endorse it, and here’s what I said:
“Kayla sees our everyday as the very place we meet God, and in this book, she shares with us how we might too. But the best part is that she’s offering us this lens not for ourselves alone but for the children we’re raising―not just with her stories but with questions and prayers we can share together in our homes. It’s a gift for a child to learn to find God near in all things as their home practices rhythms of grace, and Every Season Sacred will help tremendously.”
I’m thrilled to bring you a sliver of her thoughtful work.
In middle school, I lived in the suburbs of Saint Paul, Minnesota. This was a thrilling place to be a thirteen-year-old girl in the early aughts—the Mall of America was practically next door.
Every weekend, I’d beg my parents to bring my friends and me to our dream hangout location, where we’d inevitably land in the food court after a long day of browsing trendy tanks and tees we couldn’t afford, giggling as we picked Auntie Anne’s pretzel pieces from our braces.
As an adult, I have worked to unlearn the liturgy of consumerism, but as a tween, I was formed by mall culture—especially for back-to-school shopping. What I didn’t realize while my dad was testing massage chairs at Brookstone was that perhaps bringing four middle- school girls to a sprawling, sensory-overloading shopping center—and staying there to provide occasional safety check-ins—was not his primary idea of a fun Friday night. It did not occur to me that my mom might not have desired to see boy bands perform in the mall atrium as much as I did.
I look back and realize that my parents made intentional choices to invest in spending time with me. I can only imagine the conversations my parents listened to as they navigated the minivan back and forth from the mall so many weekends in a row. They seemed so old then; now I realize they were the age I am now.
My mom laughs these days about how my father had difficulty wrapping his head around the middle-school “frenemy” drama that encircled my life. A friend who made me cry on Monday would likely invite me over for a pizza party on Friday. Another girl I vowed to never speak to again was soon the recipient of the other half of my BFF heart necklace.
“Wait, she’s friends with Ashley now? Why would she want to go to her house? I thought Ashley was mean to her!”
He was listening.
Listening shape-shifts throughout parenting seasons. We learn to interpret what our newborn’s different cries mean, translate our toddler’s garbled requests that no one else can understand, and decipher our teen’s eye rolls and door slams.
Listening—honest, humble, heartfelt listening—is a pivotal discipline. It plays a part in staying connected to our children—and staying connected to God, too.
Maybe you’re thinking the same thing I’ve wondered: How do I get quiet enough to listen to God in the cacophony of my actual life? I’m a parent!
Listening to God comes in many ways.
Just as our natural seasons change, so do the ways we hear God.
Of course, there is value in quieting ourselves in prayer and turning to Scripture, but maybe our extraordinary God is in the soundtrack of our ordinary lives too—the giggle of a daughter as she pops iridescent bubbles one by one, the triumphant shout of a son as he cheers on his teammates from the bench.
Maybe, when you’re paying attention, you’ll hear God in the fallen leaves crunching under your sneakers as you bring in groceries, or you’ll catch a divine whisper in the whoosh of a cool wind bringing with it an autumn chill. And you’ll become awake to the symphony of love surrounding you in the soft snore of a baby, the deep exhale of the school bus brakes letting you know the kids are home.
You’ll listen to creation point back to the Creator in the crackle and pop of an autumn bonfire, the pitter-patter of rain hitting your roof, a chorus of geese honking and hollering as they get in formation to fly south. You’ll hear the holy chatter of a squirrel, the drip of the first cup of coffee, the hiss of the tea kettle, and the thump and thrum of the heater kicking on for the first time.
When you practice a posture of listening to God in your daily comings and goings, what you hear might surprise you. God’s still small voice (see 1 Kings 19:11-13) might not sound like what you expected—and may be exactly what you need.
And just as incredible, God listens to us too (see 1 John 5:14).
Just like a caring, connected parent does.
Meet Kayla!
As parents, we’re tasked with nurturing and guiding our children, even as we navigate our own wonderings about faith. In the overwhelm and constant demands of life, is it possible to tend to our own souls and to our family’s flourishing?
Every Season Sacred is a nuanced (and practical) weekly invitation for parents to ask big questions, embrace faithful rhythms, and experience God’s mysterious, loving presence together.
Kayla Craig is a former journalist who brings deep curiosity, compassion, and care to her writing. She created the popular Liturgies for Parents Instagram account, weekly podcast, and newsletter. She lives in a 115-year-old former convent in her Iowa hometown, where she hopes to create spaces of welcome alongside her four children, two dogs, and husband, Jonny.
May our always listening, always speaking, always with us God be unmistakable in showing Their deep love for you and for the kids in your life this week.
Amen.