A Sabbathy Easter Weekend

Our book club just finished Eugene Peterson's Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. I had read it years ago, but though I often prefer thinking things through on my own (it's nice and quiet in my head and no one calls on me unexpectedly), I gained tremendously by going through this book with friends.

Peterson prefaces a section on the ten commandments with this:

And if we are going to live in community, dealing with the men and women whom we look at and see every live-long day has to be faced head-on. This may not be as obvious as it appears, for there is nothing more common among us than turning the people among whom we live into abstractions, lumping them into categories, idealizing or demonizing them, dealing with them impersonally as principles or projects.

In Peterson's comments on the fourth commandment, sabbath-keeping, he points out that the Exodus reason for sabbath-keeping was that we keep it because God did. As God rested on the seventh day, we get back in stop with the creation rhythms of work and rest. Then he says:

In Deuteronomy we are told that keeping sabbath is a matter of simple justice; it prevents the stronger from exploiting the weaker, whether parents over children, employers over workers, even masters over horses and mules. Everyone is given a day to recover the simple dignity of being himself, herself, in the community without regard to use or function or status. Even dogs and cats are included.

In our discussion, my friend Angie talked about how they try to observe sabbath as a family--to have a time where chores and homework and clean-up pause and she and Joe and the kids can just be, without usefulness or productivity.

We are entering a busy time. May is a busy month anyway as school seems to wind up before winding down. In the next six or seven weeks, Justin will be full-on busy with soccer and band and school. He has some kind of rehearsal or practice four nights a week and one or two games every weekend. Anna will have rehearsals for the 5th grade play. Scott will be away for two weeks as well, adding to the general mayhem.

So, a church retreat over Easter weekend in Michigan was a perfect way to get away and and breathe and, well, just be.

Some people flew kites...

Idyllic weather

Kids buried each other in the sand...

Anna has ALWAYS loved the sand. It's her happy place.

We karaoke'd...(don't tell Justin I put this up--he never reads the blog, so he'll never know...unless you tell him)...

We shared meals and worship times, scavenger hunts and bonfires; we played basketball and volleyball and card games; we had long conversations and walks.  And on  Easter morning, we worshiped together before parting ways. I imagine that I'm not the only one who took a Sunday afternoon nap when we got home.

I'm thankful for this warm, welcoming community and for the rest and refreshment that were ours together this weekend.

Oh, and Harris Easter Basket Hunt report--We did it in the evening. Here's Anna hunting for a clue in her tree (yes, it's her tree).

Just so you know, we didn't hide it way up in the tree. She could have found it with her feet on the ground. She just enjoys the climb.

Church Weekend

Since Friday was a holiday, we headed up to our church weekend in the mountains Thursday evening.

During this time of year, the mornings are clear and sunny, and the weather can turn  in the afternoon. So, outside activities took place in the mornings.

Much to the delight of the kids, our first major activity Friday morning was burning stuff.

Branches and leaves had been collected during previous work weeks and put in piles. But they were damp and needed a great deal of tending to actually burn.

Some people worked on raking leaves, some tended the fire, some stood around chatting (me). But Anna was totally into the yard work.

I guess as a city kid, the opportunity to play with fire for a few hours was too good to resist. There was adult supervision of the fire, mind you.

 She did a lot of hauling leaves and branches to the fire. Lots and lots. For hours.

In sensory processing language, this kind of activity is called a heavy work activity, and it's very good for her on multiple levels. Throughout the weekend, she would head out and fill up the wheelbarrow and push it around. If our yard was big enough, I would be thinking at this point about getting her wheelbarrow for Christmas. Just kidding, but still...

She worked so hard Friday morning that she said she was sleepy near the end of lunch. So we went up to our room to have a little rest and she feel fast asleep for a couple hours. I dozed off too (all that chatting, you know).

On another note, my computer is making an odd noise, so I'm taking it in to get it quieted down today. Hoping it doesn't take too long, but there may be no new posts for several days.