That moment when you realise you have a ton of work due tomorrow and you should REALLY stop procrastinating
Sunday, December 22, 2019
OH wait
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
"Christian Nation" (eyeroll)
For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course, that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.
“Blessed are the merciful” in a courtroom? “Blessed are the peacemakers” in the Pentagon? Give me a break!
Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country
“Blessed are the merciful” in a courtroom? “Blessed are the peacemakers” in the Pentagon? Give me a break!
Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country
Lesson/Family Home Evening: Advent 4 (Love)
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).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:
Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. Last week we talked about joy. This week, the last Sunday in Advent, we talk about love.Our story today is from the Gospel of Matthew. How many gospels are in the Bible? Four. The gospels tell the stories about Jesus, mostly, but this story starts before Jesus is born. Let’s read it together.
Bible Story:
Story: Read together Matthew 1:18-25
This story tells us that Mary got pregnant before she and Joseph were married. Today when someone gets pregnant, maybe they will set up a nursery for the baby. Maybe they will have a baby shower. But Mary isn’t quite ready! She doesn’t feel like she’s set up for a baby yet, but she knows that the baby will be special and that they will have a special journey together. She knows that love is the most important thing.
Today we’re going to read a story about how baby Jesus was born, but it’s a little bit different. Let’s read it together.
Story: Read together “Home By Another Way: A Christmas Story” by Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor
Conversation:
What do you think the journey was like?When the wise men started their journey, they thought they were going to see the king. They DID go see the king, but it wasn’t what they expected, right?
Then they went and saw baby Jesus and that wasn’t really what they expected either, right?
We never really know what to expect when a baby is born. We never really know what to expect for Christmas. But the most important thing is love, right? The wise men brought gifts for baby Jesus that the stinky king in Jerusalem probably would have liked more, right? But Mary and Joseph were grateful because they know it’s the thought that counts and the love that counts. Jesus is the most precious Christmas gift, not the gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Today our craft celebrates love and family-- the most important things about Christmas.
Story: Read together “Love is People” (p. 124-125) in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: The Poetry of Mr. Rogers
Craft:
CO-CREATING: Nativity Heart Ornaments
materials
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String
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Heart-shaped box
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Nativity stickers
String
Heart-shaped box
Nativity stickers
craft
We will make ornaments with the holy family in the shape of a heart.
Closing Prayer
“Dear God, thank you for the season of Advent. Thank you for teaching us about love.
Thank you for giving us people and animals who love us and whom we love.
We ask for your help to show our love to others and to help you create a more loving world.
Amen.”
Thank you for giving us people and animals who love us and whom we love.
We ask for your help to show our love to others and to help you create a more loving world.
Amen.”
Curriculum texts used:
- A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: The Poetry of Mr. Rogers
- "Home By Another Way: A Christmas Story" by Barbara Brown Taylor
Sunday, December 15, 2019
Friday, December 13, 2019
Lesson/Family Home Evening: Advent 3 (Joy)
Opening Check-Ins
Invite all children and adults to introduce themselves. You may invite the children to share something that has brought them joy in the past week. They don’t have to share if they’re not comfortable. 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.Set up the altar. You may wish to note any differences in the altar for the season of Advent. Invite children to collect a flower, leaf, twig (or something like that) to place on the altar. 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).
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:
Today is the third Sunday of Advent. What did we talk about last week? Last week we read some from the Book of Isaiah and talked about peace.What are we talking about this week? This week we are reading from the Gospel of Luke and talking about Joy. This section in the Gospel of Luke has a special name: Magnificat. It looks kind of like a song of praise that Mary sang to God, but like other songs in the Bible, we don’t really know what it sounded like. We have the words to read, though. And we’ll read a bit from our story Bible to see what Mary was singing about.
Bible Story:
Story: Read together Luke 1:46b-55
Story: Read together “An Angel Appears to Mary” in “Children of God Storybook Bible” (p. 60-61)Mary was singing because she was happy to be pregnant! She was happy to be chosen to give birth to Jesus and raise him.
Mary was excited to have her baby because she knew he would be special and loved by God. God makes all of us to be special, wonderful, and joyful. Today we’ll read a story about when God made YOU!
Conversation:
We all know that babies are special. Has anyone heard the expression “bundle of joy”? What does it mean?
It means a baby! We think of babies as bringing joy into the world, and Mary certainly felt that way when she found out she was going to have a baby.
Our book today talks about how special all of us are. We all bring joy to God and to each other.
Story: Read together “When God Made You” by Matthew Paul Turner
Craft:
Decorate rocks like baby Jesus. Wrap him up in cotton balls and in a treasure or gift box!
Closing Prayer
“Dear God, thank you for the season of Advent. Thank you for teaching us about joy. Thank you for giving us moments of joy in our own lives and for helping us to build a joyful world with you. We ask for your help to find joy in this season and help others to find it, too. Amen.”Curriculum texts used:
- Children of God Storybook Bible by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
- Images of God for Young Children by Marie-Helene Delval
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Lesson/Family Home Evening: Advent 2 (Peace)
Opening Check-Ins
Invite all children and adults to introduce themselves. You may invite the children to share a time or place when or where they felt very peaceful. They don’t have to share if they’re not comfortable. 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).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:
Today is the second Sunday of Advent. What did we talk about last week? Last week we read some from the Book of Isaiah and talked about hope.What are we talking about this week? This week we are reading more about Isaiah and we are talking about peace.
Today in church, the grown-ups are reading a passage from the Book of Isaiah. Does anyone know who Isaiah was or where in the Bible that book is?
Isaiah is a prophet, so his book is in the section we call Wisdom Texts in the Hebrew Bible. Today we will read in our story Bible some about Isaiah.
Bible Story:
Story: Read together Isaiah 11:1-10
Story: Read together “Isaiah Becomes God’s Messenger” in “Children of God Storybook Bible” (p. 52-53)How do you think Isaiah helped make peace? I think he did so by living holy, as our book says. “By doing good, seeking what is fair, rescuing the oppressed, and caring for the widow and the orphan.”
Sometimes peace is about forgiveness, too, right? What do you think the opposite of peace is?
When I think of the opposite of peace, I think of war. When wars end, people usually need to forgive each other. Sometimes making peace is about changing the way we think about people. We have to stop thinking of people as our enemies, right?
Are there some people in the world that we are told are bad?
There is a story attributed to Hillel, a Jewish rabbi. “Attributed” means we think he said it. Do you know what a Rabbi is? “Rabbi” means “teacher,” and is kind of like a minister. Jesus was a rabbi.
Well, someone went to Hillel and said if he could tell him the story of the Bible while he stood on one foot, he would give everything he had to God. That basically means, “if you can tell me quickly,” because most of us can’t stand on one foot for very long, right?
What do you think he said?
“Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. The rest is commentary.”
So the whole point of all these stories in the Bible is to help us love each other better, right? And so when we think about how to create hope, peace, love, and joy in the world, we can usually go back to that. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. And you’re probably on the right track.
So today I want us to read a story called “Who is My Neighbor?”
Story: Read together “Who is My Neighbor” by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso and Amy-Jill Levine
Conversation:
Sometimes we’re taught we should avoid certain people or be afraid of certain people. One of the things that we learn from Jesus, though, is to love absolutely everyone. Today we are going to send some love and peace to some people who need some extra.Has anyone ever been to a jail or a prison? They are very crowded and noisy. It can be hard to find quiet or to sleep. And of course you don’t get to leave or see the people you want to spend time with whenever you want.
We are going to make bookmarks. We will decorate them and write words of encouragement for those in the prison system who are waiting for their trial or serving their time. We want them to know they are loved by God and to feel God’s peace, especially at Christmas time.
Read together "God is peace" in Images of God for Young Children (p. 60-61)
Craft:
Bookmarks for incarcerated. These are very simple-- strips of paper decorated with markers/crayons. No stickers, string, or other supplies are allowed in jails.
Closing Prayer
“Dear God, thank you for the season of Advent. Thank you for teaching us about peace. Thank you for giving us moments of peace in our own lives and for helping us to build a peaceful world with you. We ask for your help in continuing your work of peace in the world. Amen.”Curriculum texts used:
- Children of God Storybook Bible by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
- Images of God for Young Children by Marie-Helene Delval
Monday, December 9, 2019
Bootstraps
I often struggle with a balance between my individual needs and my sense of community engagement. At what point does "self care" become "selfish" and at what point is "selfless" essentially "reckless"?
I think is important for Christians to lift up and try always to remember the interconnections that sustain and propel us. I think there is a temptation among Americans (perhaps especially among white, Protestant Americans) to buy into the "bootstraps" myth of individualism that leads people like Donald Trump to think he built his business all by his lonesome. The moment I start to see myself as a person who acts alone in the world, I not only disrespect and disregard the many lives that have helped me get to where I am, celebrated me and held me in my lower moments; I fail to see a myriad of possibilities before me that exist in the interrelationships I am a part of- the paths forward I might be blind to if I think I am walking alone.
I hope that makes sense.
I think is important for Christians to lift up and try always to remember the interconnections that sustain and propel us. I think there is a temptation among Americans (perhaps especially among white, Protestant Americans) to buy into the "bootstraps" myth of individualism that leads people like Donald Trump to think he built his business all by his lonesome. The moment I start to see myself as a person who acts alone in the world, I not only disrespect and disregard the many lives that have helped me get to where I am, celebrated me and held me in my lower moments; I fail to see a myriad of possibilities before me that exist in the interrelationships I am a part of- the paths forward I might be blind to if I think I am walking alone.
I hope that makes sense.
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Lesson/Family Home Evening: Advent 1 (Hope)
Opening Check-Ins
We support each other no matter what. Invite everyone to share something that makes them hopeful. They don't have to share if they don't feel led. 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).This week, I changed the color of our altar cloth to blue, a seasonal color for advent. You might also discuss any altar changes and their symbolic meaning.
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:
Today is the first Sunday in Advent. In church, we have different seasons, kind of like there are seasons in Nature. Seasons in nature let us know what to expect about weather and maybe let us know what holidays are coming. The church calendar is similar. The church calendar can also tell us what holidays are coming, but we might think of church seasons as seasons of the heart, times during which we talk about certain kinds of stories and feelings.The season of Advent lasts from December 1 to Christmas Eve.
Advent is the season of “waiting.” When we think about the season, we are kind of waiting for warmth and the sun to come back. But we are also waiting for the birth of Jesus and Christmas.
The color for the season is PURPLE or BLUE, even though we often see lots of red and green at this time of year. We used blue on our altar. Blue is a color that is symbolic of hope. Each Sunday of Advent, we celebrate a different theme. Today we’re going to talk about hope.
Why do you think we celebrate hope during advent?
We celebrate hope because we have hope for the birth of Jesus and we have hope for a better world with God.
Today we’re going to read one of our scripture stories from the Book of Isaiah.
Bible Story:
Story: Read together Isaiah 2:1-5
Story: Read together “Walk in the Light of the Lord” in “Shine On: A Story Bible” (p. 136-137)Conversation:
Why do you think light is a symbol of hope?We can see light from far away. So we know that even if we will have to journey to get to it, we will get there. It can help lead our way and show us that way forward to a bright future.
Today we are going to learn a carol about the wise men following a star. They followed that star toward hope.
We're also going to read a story about hope called “Butterflies Under Our Hats.”
Story: Read together “Butterflies Under Our Hats” by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
Conversation:
Sometimes we just need a reminder to be hopeful. So we will make candle holders today to help us remember to be hopeful. We have hope for Christmas. We have hope for warm weather again! We have hope for Jesus. Sometimes we just need to see a bit of light to remind us to be hopeful.
Read together "God is light" in Images of God for Young Children (p. 12-13)
Curriculum texts used:
Special Texts used:
Read together "God is light" in Images of God for Young Children (p. 12-13)
Closing Prayer:
“Dear God, thank you for the season of Advent. Thank you for teaching us about hope. We ask for your help in remaining hopeful even when it seems hard. Help us to ignite hope in others by following Jesus’ example and walking in the light of God. Amen.”Craft: Tissue Paper Candle Holders
You can find an instructional video here:
Closing Carol
Instead of a standard prayer, during Advent, we are singing Christmas carols together. Because our theme is hope and light, we sang together "We Three Kings." If you don't feel comfortable leading song, you may prefer to listen to the song together in silence as closing.Curriculum texts used:
Special Texts used:
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