I will probably keep a log of random thoughts and impressions as this experiment goes on. Here is the first installment, with at times excruciating and mind-numbing details:

• First, I changed the name of the sabbath ministry thingy on this blog to make it less googleable.
• We had our potluck tonight. We had about 9 individuals or couples signed up for the gathering for empty nesters and people without kids, and about 7 families signed up who have children or youth. A couple of last-minute cancellations and we had 5 families represented at our house. Not exactly a groundswell, but it made for a very nice house-church feel, and a good turnout for something that just sprang up less than a month ago. It’s a good grassroots start. I’m convinced that there is potential for ministry here, and for sharing it in other settings, and I feel like we’ll learn a lot.
• We talked, the kids ran around (Mamala stepped up as she does so well and so often, corralling the kids), we ate, we talked some more. The people there were curious and excited. It is a very interesting group. Many are involved in ministry in the church, but they are not the movers and shakers. I am pondering the implications of this. I think the community aspect of this appealed to people. We will probably only meet once at the end, but the e-discussion was compelling to folks.
• I had come up with an assessment/things to think about list that had questions and ideas about stuff like: when the Sabbath time might be for each family; activities that each would pursue, or be sure to avoid (no shopping on the sabbath? no internet?); how the sabbath time will begin and end (light a candle? ring a bell? say “hey! it’s sabbath time”? whatever); how each family will move forward if and when they “blow it” one week (slinking away in shame is not an option).
• Some families are starting from scratch, others have family dinner a few times a week or other activities to build on, some take Sunday every week as family time but haven’t called it Sabbath as such. Personally, I like the counter-cultural nature of Sabbath. One family doesn’t have their kids attend birthday parties on Sundays, for example. They know their kids are still young enough that they can call the shots on this easily. It gets harder as they get older.
• I also realized that Sabbath has great potential as a spiritual practice because it’s something people can jump into where they are. If the idea of Sabbath sounds overly pious to you, start by calling it family time. If you are already engaged in the practice, try something a little more intentional. People were interested in the Blessing of the Children that happens during the Shabbat meal in the Jewish tradition.
• Although I was pleased by the evening, I did have a struggle this week with feeling very smug and self-righteous. Which I need to get over. When people would say “We just can’t do this,” I was tempted to say, “And we can?!?!” followed by my Busy List. But that is just playing the game where each person one-ups the other on how busy and thus important he or she is. Which is the whole thing we’re trying to step off of.
• So, yesterday’s Sabbath. It was a truly delightful day. We took the morning through about 3:30 or so, then picked it up again at 7 (I had to preach in the middle). We went to the farmers market in the morning. This would not fit some people’s definition of Sabbath but we love going there as a family and buying the week’s fresh produce. I also finished two knitting projects, which makes it sound like I slaved for hours, when in fact each just had a little bit of finishing left. I had not had uninterrupted time just to do it. That was great.
• I also let the dishes pile up all day. The dishwasher was clean and full so I just left the rest there:
  That was huge for me. I may be reforming my clean-as-you-go ways. It really did not take that much more time to do it all at once, though I did have everything rinsed and piled nicely out of the way and that made a difference.
• Though the part of my brain that is always tuned in to de-cluttering never shut off. As I went from my room to downstairs I spied a plate and cup left over from the previous night’s midnight snack and I brought it down with me. That seemed perfectly OK. At least for now, and maybe forever. Though it’s interesting to contemplate: will I someday get to the point where I don’t see the plate and cup and/or be bothered by it?
• At one point R thought he might go out and mow the lawn. It was a beautiful day, and as he put it, “I enjoy it.” We decided that one’s enjoyment of an activity might not be a good criterion for whether something is work or not. My provisional definition of work is “something you would do even if you didn’t have to.” I doubt if we had no lawn that R would go across the street and ask to mow a neighbor’s lawn. So instead he and C worked on a craft project. We realized that we have a lot of quantity time with the girls on the weekends, but it’s usually at the grocery store or some other errand. Sabbath takes on a different feel when you’re doing it with small children. Everybody chilled out doing their own thing—we’re just not there.
• I had less time to plan my Sunday School lesson this weekend because of the sabbath, and I only hoped that having a Sabbath would benefit the class in its own way. It was a great discussion and maybe that’s because I was more rested and grounded.
• Today had its challenges that threatened to stress me out. R called me from the grocery store at T-minus two hours to the potluck saying that the battery to the van was dead. So I had to dash over there with a tired and strung out M. Mamala and C were at Target. It was all a little stressful. But it also was the perfect reset. This is what life is like. This is the environment in which we undertake Sabbath. We might as well admit it and get used to it. ‘Twill always be thus.

That is all.