Backstory Pt 2-of-3: Remember the Sabbath Day, keep it holy… >>
Backstory Pt 3-of-3: Practicing Sabbath >>
It all started with the bats…
About eight weeks into the Covid-19 pandemic that shut down schools and churches, restaurants and parks, my daughter and son sat at our breakfast bar mourning everything they had lost over the preceding twelve months. First we moved across country, so they lost their house, school, friends, neighborhood, church, and town. Then, just as we were beginning to make friends and have play dates, to find a church and determine the best bakery, to discover playgrounds and meet our neighbors, everything stopped. No school, no church, no friends, no playdates, no parks, not even trips to the grocery store!
As they ate breakfast, my daughter shared a kids’ news article on Covid-19 and bats. My son reasoned that someone was probably going to pass a law against eating bats. Without thinking, I mentioned that such a law already existed. Incredulous, they both started guessing where such a law might be found.
“National Geographic!”
“The Crikey Club!”
“Greta Thunberg!”
“Some environmental group!”
They offered their suggestions while I walked over to grab my Bible. When my daughter saw me flipping to the beginning (Deuteronomy 14:12-18 to be exact), she rolled her eyes and said with the exasperation and disbelief only a tween-girl can muster, “Oh my God. The Bible.”
“Read here,” I said, casually handing her the Bible. Seeing where the list of unclean flying creatures would end, her voice gained momentum when she reached verse 18. “And BATS!” she shouted, somewhat despite herself.
What happened next changed our family forever.
My son’s whole body started to go a bit rigid and his face turned red. As he balled his hands into fists, he sputtered in horror:
“You mean, if all those stupid people…had only…been smart and…listened to God….and done what the Bible said…then I wouldn’t have to stay home? And I could go to school? And see my friends? And I could be…playing with MY FRIENDS…JACK AND LUKE RIGHT NOW!!!!!”
Questions erupted in rapid fire: God knew about Covid? God told people not to eat bats? All those laws that we never read in Sunday School are important? The Bible has REAL instructions? Should we do everything the Bible says?
For years we had taught our children the stories of God and God’s people, we had tried to model reading our own lives through that story, we had observed the church year in our home, and we had taught our children to pray. But this was something different. My kids suddenly wanted to know exactly how the Bible matters…to us…right now…for real.
How does a parent answer that question, not just about Jesus but about the whole story, the whole biblical text?
Over the next year, we are experimenting with this question in our weekly rhythms, our eating and working and resting and reading and praying. And I’ll be writing about it here—both what I’m planning for seasons like Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter, and also what we learn along the way.
If you want to join us on this journey, be sure to follow @DrJessHughes on Instagram & Twitter and subscribe so you get new posts.
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And maybe someday it will become a book…
grace & peace,
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