Opening Check-Ins
We support each other no matter what. Invite everyone to share something that made them happy and/or something that made them sad this past week. We are here to support each other in prayer and presence.Centering in Silence and Song
If you have a household altar, I recommend using it. If not, a sense of ritual and sacred time can be initiated by lighting a candle and ringing a bell (three times is usually a good way to help everyone settle into silence). Share a few minutes of silence together. You may sound the bell again when silence is over. Children often enjoy the responsibility of these tasks (and should be supervised and assisted as appropriate).You may also listen to this song and discuss what it brings up for each of you:
Prayer of Jesus
If you have a particular version of the prayer that you use, you are encouraged to use it.This is the "children's translation" that I wrote and use with my students:
God all around us with many sacred names
We roll up our sleeves to create a beautiful world with you
Please care for us and our needs and forgive us when we don’t do our best
Please help us to be forgiving of others, too.
Help us to be good, loving, and safe so we can help create a loving and safe world for everyone.
Amen.
Sacred Story
Background:
This time of year there are a few different holidays. Does anyone know what holidays are happening soon (or just happened)?Halloween.
Dia de los Muertos.
All Saints.
All Souls.
Today in the sanctuary, many people brought in pictures of their ancestors. What is an ancestor?
An ancestor is someone like a grandma or a grandpa who was alive before us. We all have lots and lots of ancestors. We have parents, grandparents, great grandparents, great great grandparents, and on and on. Even if we don’t know them or never got to meet them, we all have ancestors.
Dia de los Muertos is a holiday that started in Mexico.
Who knows what Dia de los Muertos means? It means “day of the dead
in Spanish.
Even though the holiday is celebrated in many countries, everyone celebrates it a little bit differently. Many people build a special altar in their home at this time of year to celebrate and honor their ancestors who are gone. We have an altar in church every Sunday and for Dia de los Muertos, we honor our ancestors on our altar. We bring in pictures, but sometimes people put special foods and other special things on their altars, like maybe things that belonged to their ancestors. Many people believe that at this time of year, our ancestors visit us. Many people go to cemeteries and visit with their ancestors there.
Read together: “The Spirit of Tio Fernando: A Day of the Dead Story” by Janice Levy.
There is another holiday at this time of year called “All Saints.” Who knows what a Saint is?
A saint is a very special person who went to heaven. There are some special saints we know the names of, like St. Francis or Joan of Arc, but on All Saints we celebrate everyone in heaven, even people who are not famous. And we celebrate that God will make us saints, too.
Some Christians and churches have “icons.” Does anyone know what an icon is?
An icon is a picture of Jesus or a Saint, usually on wood. They’re used for decoration and worship, kind of like stained glass windows with pictures or banners or a mural.
Conversation:
Read together "God is Night" in Images of God for Young Children (p. 14-15)Craft:
Today we will make icons of our saints. We can choose a saint (like St. Francis) or one of our personal saints, like a grandma or auntie.
We can draw our own picture, use a picture we have brought from home, or use one of the coloring pictures provided of inspirational people who are living or passed saints.
I found free scrap wood at my local hardware store that I sliced into little wooden blocks for the children to decorate. I also printed out coloring pages of "saints" for the children to color and paste on the blocks. Lastly, I used shiny foil origami paper for the kids to use for edges and halos.
Closing Prayer
“God, we thank you for all of our ancestors who have gone before us. We thank you for Jesus, Moses, Mary, and all of our spiritual ancestors. We thank you for Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Theresa. We thank you for our grandparents, our great grandparents, our uncles and aunts and everyone who lived before us and made our world. We thank you for all of the people living now who will be your saints in the future. Thank you for the inspiring people and lives that show us how to do your work in the world. Amen.”Curriculum texts used:
Special Texts used:
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