If you’re not a Hebrew scholar, this says “Shabbat shalom,” or Sabbath peace.
All of my young life, Sundays weren’t synonymous with peace, per se. More like pure tedium. A test of patience. Endurance was required to go to church and get through the dullness until I had my own time back. One hour felt like an eternity. And if bible classes were being offered, that extra hour was hell itself. Utter boredom unlike any I could dream up on my own.
I think my mom was shocked when I eventually chose Christianity of my own accord when I was 29. After all, she said I was free to choose my own way when I turned 18, and I got 11 whole years of churchless life to sleep in and enjoy Sundays my way. Ultimately, without anyone else’s prodding when I wasn’t finding fulfillment, I went searching for the depth that was in the bible.
But even once I chose Christianity and began excitedly studying everything I could find in the book, I was still plagued by how to live out Sundays – Sabbath days of rest.
Less than a year ago, and 16 years into studying the bible, I wrote a post called How Do I “Do” Sundays?
Always excited for teaching, digging, enlightenment, and application, I recently started listening in on my son’s youth group Zooms. Since they can’t meet in person, his youth group pastor has been creating weekly “7th Day” videos (9-15 minutes each) about how to “do” Sabbath day. They watch them during their weekly Zoom hour, which is also filled with fun, catching up, conversation, games, and general enjoyment.
I’m already pretty good at valuing the present moment, not being frantic, and living life to its fullest without the stress of obligation for the pure sake of busy-ness. But I want to be in line with the real meaning of the 7th day and what God’s kind of rest entails.
We have a small house, so in overhearing this video series Jon Hane made, I would catch about every other sentence while making food in the next room, but today after our online church service I decided it was a perfect rainy day for watching the whole series on YouTube.
Ask for enlightenment, Edee, and you shall receive. May you find it as inspiring as I do. I’m only in the third video and had to stop and make a post about it. I love what’s in these and I want to pass them on to you in case you, too, wonder how to live your Sundays.
Thank you Jon and Sarah Hane for all you do to continue filling our children with depth and meaning. It is a parent’s dream when the people your child spends time with impart them with wisdom for their lives. I didn’t grow up with lessons framed in ways that were interesting, and I love that yours are for all of us, not simply watched by the kids for the sake of obligation toward their parents and their church.
The amount of time spent writing, compiling, videoing, editing, and sharing these videos is not lost on me, Jon. And then when you continue to help apply what’s in the videos during the small Zoom “connect groups” a few days later, Sarah, it’s a wonderful thing. In this season of Thanksgiving, we are ever so thankful for both of you…
To learn more about Jon and Sarah Hane, here is a write-up on The Islands’ Sounder website from when they first arrived here. Since then, they have not only been committed to developing meaningful relationships with as many island kids as they can and helping as many adults who need help, they also consistently have multiple irons in the fire in order to make these pandemic times fun and meaningful for all of our kids. I just love who they are and how they live out thier lives.
May the wisdom in these videos help you experience שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם.
Photo courtesy of The Islands’ Sounder
