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This week in children’s ministry
Take Home Faith – resources and ideas to bring your spiritual practice home
St. Andrew’s Children’s Ministry
Welcome to the Children’s Ministry page. We are so glad you are here. This page has information about our offerings for children under 12, including a detailed overview of our core curriculum, Godly Play. Keep scrolling (or use the “Jump To” links) to see what we’ll be learning about this week, discover ways to share faith at home, and to learn more about the Godly Play curriculum. And if you’re curious about upcoming special events, hop on over to our events page.
This week in children’s ministry
Sunday, April 2nd at 10am
We have arrived at Holy Week, the height of the Church Year. It all starts this weekend wtih Palm Sunday, when we gather for a procession carrying Palm Fronds and ringing bells in honor of our Savior’s arrival in Bethlehem. We will begin outside the church, eventually processing into the sanctuary. This year is extra special, as we will be joined by the Rt. Rev. Kym Lucas, the Bishop of the Colorado Episcopal Diocese. And don’t forget, there will be a coffee hour at 9am BEFORE we begin the procession, so please join us for that to enjoy fellowship and get ready for the day’s festivities.
After the procession concludes, I will lead a children’s activity (which is open to all ages), during which time we will help prepare the Easter Eggs that we will be “hunting for” on Easter Sunday. To go with the candy in our eggs, we’ll also be creating notes of kindness, love and compassion – or, as we called them almost a year ago when I first gathered with you all, “Mustard Seeds”, those small little words of love and compassion that can eventually grow into the great tree of the Kingdom.
Take Home Faith
Discovering Our Gifts
As we move further into Lent, I want to share another idea that can be very uplifting for children. But first, let me give you a backstory. You see, one of my practices in Lent is to attend to morning and evening prayer everyday. Now, I’ve already missed a few days, and I don’t see Lent practices as absolutes. They are aspirational – goals we aim for. When we miss the mark, that’s OK. It is in the practice that we grow, not the results.
In any event, the other night I was getting ready for bed. I was tired, and I didn’t have the energy to come to my prayer table. So I made my way to the bedroom, and realized I hadn’t given our cat his evening medicine. He’s an older cat, and every morning and evening I have to mix a little powder into tuna juice to help his little digestive system keep running. This particular night, he was curled up in the closet by our bed. And so I mixed his “juice”, as we call it, and brought it to him. I knelt in front of him and held it out for him as he lapped up the the tuna juice, still curled up in his cozy spot.
And that’s when it hit me, “THIS is my evening prayer!”. I was kneeling before my cat, kneeling before a miraculous little life, offering love. It was prayer. And it gave me the idea I want to share this week: spend a little time taking inventory of the ways you are already listening to God, talking to God, sharing with God, and engaging with God. After my evening encounter with our cat, I saw so many more moments throughout my day – when I greet a stranger with a smile; when I play music; when I make my wife her morning coffee and egg sandwich before she runs out the door for work; when I simply stop for a mindful and thankful breath on a warm day. All of these moments are moments of prayer, moments of Divinity. You can even make it a formal evening practice to share with one another one or two ways you “prayed without words” that day.
You see, Jesus entered into the desert not just to see who he would become, but to uncover who he already WAS. And we can do the same in Lent. While we aspire to growth in this season, let us not forget to ALSO notice who we are and the growth already sprouting within us. Take time to notice the gifts you are already sharing everyday. Amen.
More ideas to explore:
- Letting Go in LentIn a way, Lent is kind of an easy one for “Take Home Faith”, because Lent already has its own well-known practice. We give […]
- Who is YOUR Samaritan?Did you know that in Jesus’ time, Samaritans were a despised group among the people in his audience? Over the years, this parable has […]
- SEEDS OF KINDNESS – The Parable of the Sower“Seeds of kindness” is a simple idea based on the parable of the Sower. Jesus talks a lot about seeds in His teaching. The […]
Learn More About Godly Play
Developed by Episcopal priest Jerome Berryman, Godly Play introduces the sacred stories of the Christian tradition to our youngest members. Designed for children from 3 to 12 years, Godly Play is a rich, story-based curriculum that speaks to children’s innate understanding of the presence of God. Rather than focusing on giving children a set of “right answers”, or drilling scripture passages as if we’re preparing for the SAT’s, Godly Play invites children to wonder deeply about the presence of God, the meanings of these sacred stories, and their OWN sense of meaning.
Every Godly Play story ends with “I wonder” questions, in which the storyteller poses a series of questions starting with this wonderful phrase.
“I wonder which part of this story you liked best?”
“I wonder which part of this story is about you?”
And more.
These wondering questions are open-ended, and invite our children to form their own connections, to make their own discoveries about their relationship with God, and to draw forth their own spiritual wisdom. They are not questions in which we adults try to nudge them toward a “correct answer”. Instead, we are co-investigators into the wonder and awe of these sacred stories, into the wonder and awe of God.
We invite you to come to a Godly Play meeting one Sunday morning (at 9am) to experience Godly Play’s truly unique approach to children’s faith formation. Experiencing it firsthand is the BEST way to understand the magic of this approach. In the meantime, you can follow the links below to learn more about the founder, Jerome Berryman, and the Godly Play curriculum.