Sabbath, Creation & Communion
THE PLAYGROUND
A five-lesson course for faith leaders, laypeople, and seekers. An ancient Christian practice of rest, for a world that has forgotten how to stop.
About this course
Sabbath, Creation & Communion explores how rest, the land, and spiritual vitality belong together. Taught from the Farminary, a 21-acre working farm near Princeton Theological Seminary, it draws a line between worn-out soil and worn-out people, and asks whether God wants either of them depleted.
Across five lessons, Rev. Dr. Nathan Stucky leads a group from Genesis to Exodus to the road to Emmaus: rest as God's gift rather than a reward, Pharaoh's pace against God's, manna in the wilderness, and a final shared meal that gathers it all up.
The course is written to be led. Everything a facilitator needs, from prayers and discussion questions to group activities and a local pilgrimage, is in the Leader Guide.
Rest is not a reward
"The Sabbath is the ultimate form of resistance to a world that doesn't know how to slow down."
— Dr. Nathan Stucky
Most of us treat rest as something earned: the thing that happens after the inbox is empty, which means it rarely happens at all.
Scripture tells it the other way around. In Genesis, the first full day humans spend in creation is a day of rest. Before anyone lifted a finger, God gave it. Sabbath was never a prize for productivity. It is a gift of grace, and a quiet act of resistance in a world that doesn't know how to slow down.
The five lessons
Each lesson pairs a teaching video with conversation and, in most weeks, something to do together, ending with a shared meal.
LESSON 1
Imagine the Possibilities
An exhausted world, seen from a farm. Rev. Dr. Nathan Stucky connects the depletion of the land to the exhaustion of people, and asks what God actually desires.
Genesis 2:15 · Romans 8:19–22
LESSON 2
The Gift of Rest
In Genesis, the seventh day is the climax of creation, and rest is the first thing humans experience. The group curates a playlist of their rhythms.
Genesis 1:1–2:3
LESSON 3
Who Sets the Pace?
Pharaoh's demand for ceaseless production, set against God's rhythm of rest. The group goes looking for exhausted places.
Exodus 1–5 · Exodus 20:8–11 · Leviticus 25:1–7
LESSON 4
Rest Now
Manna in the wilderness: rest comes not when everything is settled, but precisely when it isn't. Small, subversive ways to steal rest.
Exodus 16
LESSON 5
Communion
Sabbath as a foretaste of a renewed creation. Like the disciples at Emmaus, the group stops to break bread together.
Luke 24:13–35 · John 3:16 · Revelation 21
What’s included in the course
Five lesson videos
Eight to ten minutes each, streaming on demand.
The Leader Guide
Session goals, prayers, warm-up prompts, discussion questions, and group activities.
Three group activities
A shared playlist, a photo walk of exhausted places, and a closing meal.
A sample group covenant
Six commitments to read together in week one.
A local Rest Walk
A sample pilgrimage from a tired place to a garden, with bread and prayer.
A reading list and glossary
Heschel, Hersey, Berry, and Dr. Stucky's own Wrestling with Rest.
What this course gives you
FOR YOU AS THE LEADER
Ready to teach.
Prayers, prompts, questions, and activities are already written.
You’re not the expert.
Dr. Stucky teaches on video, which frees you to hold the space.
You get to rest too.
The guide asks you to practice slow time, not just teach it.
FOR YOUR GROUP
Permission to stop.
Discomfort with "unproductivity" gets named out loud, not hidden.
Something to do together.
A playlist, a photo walk, and a shared meal.
Five weeks, one table.
About 45 minutes of teaching video, ending with bread broken together.
FOR YOUR COMMUNITY
A shared question.
A group that has asked "Who sets the pace?" looks at its calendar differently.
Room for the land.
Sabbath that includes the soil, the creatures, and the neighbors who never get a day off.
A Rest Walk in your own neighborhood.
A sample pilgrimage itinerary in the Leader Guide.
Meet the theologian
Rev. Dr. Nathan Stucky
Director of the Farminary Project at Princeton Theological Seminary, a 21-acre farm where the garden is a living classroom. A farmer, musician, and ordained Mennonite minister with an MDiv and PhD from Princeton Seminary, he is the author of Wrestling with Rest: Inviting Youth to Discover the Gift of Sabbath.
Bring Sabbath, Creation & Communion to your group
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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No. The Leader Guide includes session goals, opening and closing prayers, warm-up prompts, discussion questions, and notes on facilitating well. Its own advice to leaders: you don't need to be an expert or have all the answers. You are a guide and a co-listener.
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Yes. The course was written for individuals as well as congregations, and the videos and questions work for one person. The playlist, the photo walk, and the closing meal are better with company, so consider bringing a friend.
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Plan on 60 to 90 minutes. The teaching videos run eight to ten minutes. The rest is conversation and, in most weeks, a group activity.
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One purchase covers your group. The course is led entirely from the Leader Guide, and participants just need a notebook or journal. Materials aren't licensed for distribution beyond your group.
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No. The final lesson ends with a shared meal, which can be as simple as a loaf of bread torn by hand or a potluck. The Leader Guide suggests sharing Communion only where it fits your community's practice.
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No. The course was written for urban and rural groups alike. The Rest Walk starts wherever your neighborhood feels tired, and ends at any park or patch of green.