Marva J Dawn in her book Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting on p.199 touched on celebrating God on Sundays using all our senses… I love this! Early on Palm Sunday morning, with our boys while sitting in the morning sun on our deck, we asked each other what we could sense around us from God. The list we came up with was exciting!

Here was our inspiration from Marva…

(Each Sabbath is a celebration, a festival.)

“Festival means the heightened involvement of our senses. As part of our
Sabbath keeping we open our eyes in new ways to gaze in wonder at the beauty
of God’s creation – in nature, in works of art, in people. We open our ears
of fresh to hear this really good news of God’s love and grace as it comes
to us in Word and worship, in concerts and the songs of birds, in rollicking
laughter and chuckles of delight, in the breathing of those we love as we
sit close beside them. We taste God’s goodness in the bread and wine of
communion, in the unusual flavors of special sabbath foods, in the crisp air
on our walk. We smell the sweet perfume of Sabbath peace and the fragrances
of worship incense, of flowers, of burning logs or glowing candles, of meals
baking in the oven. We touch the tenderness of God in the hugs and kisses of
our loved ones, and the familiar binding of the Bible that we read, in the
physical sensation of well-being as we walk and talk with friends or plunge
into the stimulating waters of the lake, in the sweet breeze as we picnic on
its shores, in the intimacy of such shared special moments and activities.”

I will continue to use my senses ALL through my sabbatical taking note of
and worshiping God in His creation and with His people.