Sabbath Supplementals

Transcription

1 Sabbath Supplementals by MaryAnn McKibben Dana for use with Sabbath in the Suburbs: A Family s Experiment with Holy Time Sabbath Videos MaryAnn has a series of five videos to help groups explore the themes in Sabbath in the Suburbs. These could be used to open a gathering, as a springboard for conversation, or as a component in a closing worship time. You can view all five at SabbathInTheSuburbs.com. Below are some options for discussion: CATHEDRAL MaryAnn asks, What kind of cathedral are you building with the way you spend your time? What does your cathedral look like? Are there places that need renovation? (If your group is comfortable doing so, you could have them draw plans for a Sabbath cathedral. ) START After watching the video, ask participants to choose one idea to help them begin a Sabbath practice. Have them share this idea with a partner, and encourage these partners to hold one another accountable to start. BALLOON This video deals with some of the emotional work of Sabbath the sense of being needed, and fear that we will let someone down if we take time away for rest. Consider some of the stories of Jesus on the Sabbath (see the Defining Sabbath section of this guide for suggestions) and see what you might glean from them as we learn to let go. (Letting go is not easy: Anne Lamott has written, Everything I ever tried to let go of has claw marks on it. ) The themes on p in the book also relate to this video. LANGUAGE Do you agree with MaryAnn about the problematic use of the word busy? Brainstorm expressions and terms we use to describe time. Perform a language audit on yourself or your group. How do we speak about time in a way that encourages frantic activity and a scarcity mentality? Are there terms we need to let go of so we can think about time in a more gracious way? NOW MaryAnn mentions Today is their childhood as a phrase that helps center her in the present moment. Do you have similar reminders? How has your sense of time, Sabbath, rest, work and play changed as your circumstances have changed? 1

2 Retreat/Group Modules About These Modules Many groups are using Sabbath in the Suburbs as a springboard for retreats and other group gatherings. The following ideas are intended to function as mix and match suggestions. Choose those topics and activities that fit the timeframe of your gathering (weekend retreat, daylong gathering, etc.) and the demographics of your group. No group will do every activity Sabbath retreats should not feel rushed and busy, but have plenty of time and space in the margins for unhurried reflection. Free time is vital! Many of these activities would also work well in Sunday School classes and book groups as a supplement to the questions in the discussion guide. Gathering Activities While people are assembling, try one or more of the following: Before you meet, ask people to bring from home something that represents Sabbath for them. This might be a favorite coffee mug, woodworking or gardening tools, a photo album, etc. Have people introduce themselves to one another and explain their object. Then have people build a worship center by placing these objects together on a table at the front of the room. You might sing or listen to a song as people come forward. Before the gathering, cut out large pictures from magazines that capture different moods and activities. Assemble these on a table before people arrive, and have participants choose two pictures as they come in. One should represent what life is like for them right now; the other should represent their hopes for what a Sabbath practice might look like. Options for Opening Rituals These would work at the beginning of a retreat or just a group meeting: Light a candle at the beginning of your gathering and keep it burning for the duration of your event, if possible. (Candles are an important part of the traditional Jewish Sabbath.) If your group will meet several times, send the candle home with different people each week so they can light it during their Sabbath time. Have them bring it back and talk about their Sabbath experience... and it s OK to report that Sabbath didn t happen! Sabbath takes place in the midst of our everyday lives; it s an experience of the sacred ordinary. Listen to the Carrie Newcomer song Holy As a Day Is Spent, available on itunes. (You may want to print the lyrics.) Ask people to name holy moments in their own lives, using the same format as the song: Holy is The New Zealand Prayer Book has a liturgy of evening prayer: What has been done has been done. What has not been done has not been done. Let it be. Print or display these words so everyone can see them. Have people name the things that they had to set aside or let go in order to be here today. After each offering, say the words from the prayer book together. For a particularly plugged in group, try the Ritual of the Cell Phones in the appendix. Read one of the poems or quotes in the appendix. Allow time for silence and/or ask participants for a word or phrase that speaks to them from the reading. 2

3 Defining Sabbath It s helpful to get people on the same page in terms of what we mean by Sabbath. Discuss: What is your experience with Sabbath, if any? What in your personal background or practice has been helpful and life-giving, and what patterns or attitudes would you like to let go of? Who are your mentors who live Sabbathly? Break the group into smaller pairs or triads and give each one a scripture passage to read and discuss. Ask them to consider what we learn about Sabbath from this passage. Suggested scriptures are: Genesis 1:31-2:4, Exodus 5:1-9, Exodus 20:7-12, Exodus 31:12b-17, Isaiah 58:11-14, Matthew 12:9-14, Mark 2:23-28, John 5:2-18. Bring the groups back together and share responses. From these responses, make a list or working definition of what Sabbath is. Barriers to Sabbath What are the barriers to Sabbath? What stands in the way of rest, play, renewal and delight? Create a list together. If you looked at the scripture passages in the Defining Sabbath section, consider: How do these passages answer or address these barriers? Or do they? Read and discuss The Busy Trap, a New York Times blog post by Tim Kreider (available through Google search). What is at stake when we use the word busy? How much of our resistance to Sabbath is external and how much is internal? Near the end of the retreat, or toward the end of a multi-week study, return to the list of barriers and discuss whether any of them have been addressed by what you all have experienced together or through the book study. Sometimes, as we consider Sabbath more deeply, we can experience breakthroughs of even our most stubborn barriers. And often one person's block is another person s breakthrough. See what wisdom the group can offer to one another. Have people frame their responses as I wonder statements, rather than advice intended to fix. Developing a Sabbath Practice These activities are intended to help people get practical with the conversation and to consider how Sabbath can figure into their lives. Choose one of these: Read about Reboot, a group of Jewish artists and thinkers, and discuss their Sabbath Manifesto (available online). Print or display copies for people to see. Have people come up with Sabbath Manifestos, either as a group or individually. As an alternative, especially for people who like to play and draw: invite small groups to design a Sabbath merit badge in the spirit of Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. Have people write up their own fun requirements and come up with a design. Have people write letters to themselves that they will receive three months from now. They should include any wisdom, reminders of what has been discussed, or encouragement they might need. (The content is up to them ask them to write whatever would be most helpful.) Have them seal the letters and address the envelopes to themselves. Keep these letters and send them at the appointed time. (Don t forget!) 3

4 Diving Deeper into the Themes of the Book Several sections of Sabbath in the Suburbs invite further reflection. Consider your group s interests and needs and choose one or more of these topics to explore further. Read or review the pages listed and explore the suggested questions or activities. Focus on Delight (p ) Isaiah talks about keeping the Sabbath as a delight. Ask people to name an activity that delights them and how long it s been since they engaged in that activity. Have people get in a line based on these time estimates. You might add a playful touch by giving small prizes to the people at the beginning of the line (who have pursued their delightful activity recently) and at the end (those for whom it s been a long time). How does it change your view of Sabbath to think about it as connected with delight? Are there delightful activities that you would consider off-limits for Sabbath? Why or why not? Bring Yourself into Balance (p ) The video START talks about getting re-kiltered you might view it as part of your exploration here. Lead participants in an experience of examen, which is an Ignatian practice of reflecting on one s life in a prayerful way. You can find descriptions on the Internet or in the book Sleeping with Bread: Holding What Gives You Life by Sheila, Dennia and Matthew Linn. This practice, repeated over time, can help people determine what s out of balance in their lives that needs to be reconfigured on the Sabbath. Slow Down (p ) If you re in a retreat setting, send people outside for a slow walk, in which they are invited to go as slowly as possible. Ask them to notice their surroundings and how they feel as they go at this snail s pace. (It can feel very uncomfortable, which can be useful information as we consider an alternative pace for our lives.) Invite them to bring something back (a leaf, a rock) that they wouldn t have noticed before. Ring a gong or a bell when it s time to regather so people don t need to be checking their watches. Read and discuss Adam Frank s article on NPR, Noticing: How To Take A Walk In The Woods (available via Google). He talks about noticing as the job of the scientist... but it s also the job of the theologian. Consider how slowing down helps us fully experience being alive. Consider Technology (p , 85-86) How does technology bring us closer together? How does technology impede these connections? How do you engage with the digital world? What would you change about the role technology plays in your life? How does that desire connect with Sabbath? What commitments or boundaries do you feel led to create around your use of smartphones, computers, TV, video games, etc.? Read and discuss Pico Iyer's The Joy of Quiet from The New York Times (accessible through 4

5 Google search). Say Yes (p ) Improvisation, whether musical or theatrical, can provide us with models for saying yes. Yesand is the basic rule of improv: to accept what is offered and to build on it. Research some improv games ahead of time that your group might play. One easy one is called What are you doing? Here s the description from : Everyone at one end of the room; form a long line. The first player of the line steps into the room and starts miming an activity. As soon as the activity is clear, player 2 approaches player 1 and asks, What are you doing? The first player answers something that has nothing to do with what s/he s actually doing. E.g. if player 1 is cutting someone s hair, when asked what she s doing she might say I m reading the newspaper. First player moves away, and the second player starts miming the activity stated by the previous player. A third player comes up to player 2, asks what he is doing, and so on. Play until everyone has mimed something, and has answered the question. Play without Purpose (p ) Set aside time during your retreat or group sessions for play. Set out board games or cards. Have people bring favorite games from home. If keeping score increases the fun, do so. Play the what else could this be? game. Hand around a common household object and ask people to pantomime something else it could be---e.g. a wooden spoon becomes a tiny guitar; a set of earbuds becomes a lasso. Chapter-by-Chapter Discussion Guide Sometimes all you need is a good set of questions. The following questions are designed to help groups work their way through Sabbath in the Suburbs on a chapter-by-chapter basis. 4-6 session study generally works well, with 2-3 chapters per meeting. Note to the Reader and Chapter 1. Beginnings What images, positive or negative, come to mind when you think about Sabbath? Do you take time for rest and renewal in your life right now? If so, what does it look like? If not, what would your ideal Sabbath be like? Don t worry about whether it s a realistic picture or not. Just imagine it. MaryAnn describes an experience at her child s bus stop as a wake-up call to the need for Sabbath (p. 7). Have you had a similar experience that revealed a need for rest and play? Chapter 2. September What days make the most sense for you in terms of taking a regular Sabbath? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? How do you define your work? What are the activities you need to rest from? The book describes a basic definition of Sabbath as a day not to change one s environment (p. 15). How do you react to this statement? What would it look like for you to live Sabbathly? 5

6 Chapter 3. October MaryAnn writes, Taking a break from the routine changes the way I think about the routine. (p. 28). Do you agree or disagree? Make a list of delights things that bring joy to you and your loved ones. How might you incorporate these delights more fully into your life on a regular basis? One of the sabbath hacks this month is to think about the boundaries around Sabbath in a fluid rather than rigid way (p. 35). How do you respond to this idea? Chapter 4. November What do the psalmist s words, teach us to count our days, mean to you? Sabbath can be a way to bring life back into balance. In what way does your life feel balanced or out of balance? What role might Sabbath play in recalibrating? Chapter 5. December How do your own holiday preparations encourage an attitude of Sabbath? How do they inhibit this attitude? MaryAnn writes about a study that compares the happiness we receive from experiences as opposed to things (p. 55). How do you see that playing out in your life? How do you react to the Good Samaritan study (p. 58)? Chapter 6. January What role should technology play on our days of rest and renewal? MaryAnn describes missing two scheduled appointments in a week and sees these as a warning sign that life has gotten too hectic and full (p. 73). Do you have similar warning signs? What are they? Chapter 7. February What s your reaction to the extinction burst (p. 84)? When have you experienced this? What are ways to reduce its impact when learning a new habit or pattern of being? One way of thinking about Sabbath is as a time to fast from just one thing. What might you fast from? Chapter 8. March What do you think about the idea of the spiritual life as a process of subtraction? MaryAnn writes about saying No to some things in order to say Yes to more important or life-giving things (p. 94). What would it look like for you to say Yes more often in your life? In talking about a Sabbath cheat this month, MaryAnn writes, I ll take a messy and real imperfection over an impossible perfection any day. (p. 98) What s your reaction to this statement? Chapter 9. April MaryAnn talks in her sabbath hack about training our vision. Instead of seeing what s left undone, let it represent something nourishing that we did do (p. 104). What are some examples you might use in your own life? In what ways is Sabbath a time for authenticity? 6

7 What were your childhood experiences of Sabbath? play? hurry? Chapter 10. May Who or what is your Jethro (pp )? In what ways can the harder thing become the easier thing? MaryAnn quotes Abraham Heschel who warns against kindling fire on the Sabbath, including the fire of righteous indignation (p. 122) How do you react to this idea? Chapter 11. June What do you think of J.O.Y. (p. 125)? MaryAnn talks about the Reboot organization and their Sabbath Manifesto (pp ). What would yours be? How does the idea of the Sabbath as a commandment impact your understanding of the practice? Chapter 12. July In what way is a vacation a Sabbath for you? In what way is it not? Do particular destinations lend themselves to Sabbath times and others not? MaryAnn talks about playing without a purpose (p. 139). Is this easy or hard for you? Why? The chapter describes a number of justice/economic issues relating to Sabbath. How do you respond to these, and what others can you think of? Chapter 13. August How do you understand scarcity? How do you understand abundance? MaryAnn writes about learning to play softball. Knowing the rules meant she was able to enjoy the game more fully (pp ). What is the relationship between freedom and discipline? In what ways might Sabbath contribute to the healing of the world? 7

8 Appendix Poems and Quotes Here are some pieces you might use as opening readings/devotions: Wellfleet Shabbat by Marge Piercy (available from the Knopf/Doubleday website) After Reading There Might Be an Infinite Number of Dimensions by Martha Silano (available from the Writers Almanac website) Epigraphs from Sabbath in the Suburbs, especially those on pp. 1, 25, 77, 137, and 147 The work that s forbidden [during the traditional Jewish Sabbath] is any work in which you interfere with nature and act as if you are master over it. You are not supposed to pluck a single blade of grass You could think it s all sort of crazy and too much, but I can see how giving one whole day a week to doing all these things, or rather, not doing all these things, could actually change the world. All week you step on bugs, you trample grass, you ignore, change, destroy, use, exert your force all over the place. But on this day you pay attention you pay attention to every living thing, and you allow it to live. It would be good for the world to have to observe the Sabbath, a day of rest where everyone tries not to exert their force on the world, and is grateful to God, and tries not to squash any life, not even bugs, and all the malls and the fast-food restaurants and TVs are shut down. It seems like the world would be about a thirty-thousand-times better place. -Debbie Blue, From Stone to Living Word: Letting the Bible Live Again The great Swiss theologian Karl Barth wrote, A being is free only when it can determine and limit its activity. By that definition, I have a hard time counting many free beings among my acquaintance. I know people who can do five things at once who are incapable of doing nothing. I know people who can decide what to do without being able to do less of it. Since I have been one of these people, I know that saying no is a more difficult spiritual practice than tithing, praying on a cold stone floor, or visiting a prisoner on death row. -Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World The room is quiet. You re not feeling tired enough to sleep or energetic enough to go out. For the moment there is nowhere else you d rather go, no one else you d rather be. You feel at home in your body. You feel at peace in your mind. For no particular reason, you let the palms of your hands come together and close your eyes. Sometimes it is only when you happen to taste a crumb of it that you dimly realize what it is that you re so hungry for you can hardly bear it. -Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker s ABC God rests, and blesses this day, and makes it holy. In this way, the Christian theologian Karl Barth has suggested, God declares as fully as possible just how very good creation is. Resting, God takes pleasure in what has been made; God has no regrets, no need to go on to create a still better world or a creature more wonderful than the man and woman. In the day of rest, God s free love toward humanity takes form as time shared with them. -Karl Barth, quoted by Dorothy Bass in Practicing Our Faith 8

9 Sabbath ceasing [means] to cease not only from work itself, but also from the need to accomplish and be productive, from the worry and tension that accompany our modern criterion of efficiency, from our efforts to be in control of our lives as if we were God, from our possessiveness and our enculturation, and finally, from the humdrum and meaninglessness that result when life is pursued without the Lord at the center of it all. -Marva J. Dawn, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly The Blessing of the Cell Phones A Guided Meditation Ask participants to trade phones with someone they re sitting next to. Invite them to hold these phones in their hands as you lead them through this guided meditation. Read each phrase at a natural but unhurried pace. (If a person doesn't have a phone, their partner can still pray for them during the meditation.) We hold in our hands these tools of connection. They ring and we answer. They buzz and we respond. For some of us, this is our tether our calendar our means of expressing ourselves our means of reaching out, being heard, caring and being cared for, and exploring our world. We have more information at our fingertips, more data on demand, than any generation in the history of the world. That is a weighty thing. Sometimes these possibilities excite us. Sometimes these connections bring light and joy to our lives. But sometimes they feel like a burden. There is always another article we could read, always another website to peruse, another message to respond to, another person we might call. We pray for the person whose phone we hold. We pray for the many roles they play, their connections to family, friends and loved ones. We pray for their responsibilities, their ministry. We pray for the heaviness and the lightness of those relationships and responsibilities. We pray a silent blessing for this fellow traveler. O God, you hear our prayer, Amen. 9