Sabbath-Keeping in the Woods
Parking Info
When: Sunday, July 7, 9:30 am - 12:00 pm (come and go any time during these hours)
Where: The College Cabin, 400 Reservoir Place, Goshen
What: A simple, self-guided Sabbath worship experience with our church family. Prompts will be provided to help you open yourself to encountering God in nature.
Why: This will be the second Sunday in our Sabbath-keeping series, and we want to take a breath and really practice Sabbath-keeping together. Rather than the sort of (very good!) planned and led worship services we have each Sunday, this experience will have minimal structure. We will step into nature and step into community, and expect God to find us there.
Where: The College Cabin, 400 Reservoir Place, Goshen
What: A simple, self-guided Sabbath worship experience with our church family. Prompts will be provided to help you open yourself to encountering God in nature.
Why: This will be the second Sunday in our Sabbath-keeping series, and we want to take a breath and really practice Sabbath-keeping together. Rather than the sort of (very good!) planned and led worship services we have each Sunday, this experience will have minimal structure. We will step into nature and step into community, and expect God to find us there.
Important Info
What to expect: When you arrive at the cabin, a greeter will welcome you, give you a booklet of prayer and activity prompts, and give you a blessing. Using those prompts or following your own curiosity and inner prompting, you can find a place to sit, walk trails, make music, join prayers, or converse with others. You may come anytime between 9:30 and 12:00, and stay as long as you wish.
Prayers: In addition to prayer prompts in your booklet, you may join simple communal prayers in the pavilion at 10, 11 and 12. A bell will ring to signal the call to prayer.
Music: If you encounter God in music, you’re invited to join the jam session on the porch! Bring your own instruments or music resources and be ready to join in - and to suggest music you’d like to make together. The shape of this music session will be determined by the people who show up, and we anticipate that it will be eclectic!
Bring: Water bottles, instruments, music resources, Bible. Some chairs will be provided in and around the cabin, but you may also wish to bring a camping chair. Snacks and a water cooler will be provided. Extra challenge: Make this a tech-free Sabbath and leave the phone at home!
Prayers: In addition to prayer prompts in your booklet, you may join simple communal prayers in the pavilion at 10, 11 and 12. A bell will ring to signal the call to prayer.
Music: If you encounter God in music, you’re invited to join the jam session on the porch! Bring your own instruments or music resources and be ready to join in - and to suggest music you’d like to make together. The shape of this music session will be determined by the people who show up, and we anticipate that it will be eclectic!
Bring: Water bottles, instruments, music resources, Bible. Some chairs will be provided in and around the cabin, but you may also wish to bring a camping chair. Snacks and a water cooler will be provided. Extra challenge: Make this a tech-free Sabbath and leave the phone at home!
If you’re able to walk about 0.4 miles, please park in the church parking lot and walk to the cabin. If you’d like to walk a shorter distance, park at Yoder-Culp Funeral Home. There is also parking at the cabin itself, and those with decreased mobility are welcome to park there.
Note for Parents and Caregivers
This is intended to be a shared sabbath experience for your family, and there will not be childcare or activities specifically for children. It is a gift, a time for your family to let God meet you together.
Here are a few tips for helping this to be a meaningful time for your household:
Here are a few tips for helping this to be a meaningful time for your household:
- Prepare: Attend worship on June 30 (or watch the service later in the week), and then talk as a household about the idea of sabbath-keeping. Here are a few keys to guide this preparation:
- Sabbath is a gift from God. It is a weekly call to reorient ourselves to God’s time. It shores us up and brings us back to our own humanity and to God. Simply put, Sabbath is a time to remember that we are created in God’s image, we belong to God, and God loves us.
- Throughout time, God has commanded God’s people to set aside one day/night every week to remember the Sabbath. This is just as big of an instruction as, “Do not murder.” Sabbath matters!
- Sabbath isn’t about doing nothing or following a bunch of strict rules. It’s about being open to God and letting God find us. For some of us, that means rest. For some, it’s play. Sometimes it’s like opposite day - if most of our days are full of working at a computer, Sabbath may be our chance to encounter God through weeding a garden!
- God also asks us to give the earth rest as part of caring for the earth. Earthkeeping and Sabbath-keeping are closely connected, so we are going to spend our church sabbath in creation.
- In our church Sabbath, we will walk in God’s creation. We will be curious. We will take deep breaths. We will pray. We will read the Bible. We will listen, look, feel, smell and taste for signs of God’s activity. God may invite us to make music or to play. We will go and follow however God leads us, and we will do that as a family.
- Pre-game: This may be more meaningful for your household to do with others. Consider asking another family, some young adults, or some older adults to come at the same time as your household and practice Sabbath together.
- On Sunday: Remember that you are responsible for the children in your care. While we welcome the sounds of children making discoveries and, in general, being children, we also want to help this be a reverent experience for everyone, and that means parents/caregivers supervising their own children.
- Playground: If your household craves some unstructured outdoor play as part of your sabbath experience, the playground at the church will be available.