Moving Day!

Each year on our last Sunday in atrium we recognize children who will be moving up to a new atrium in the fall. This year we have five children who are leaving the Good Shepherd Atrium and moving up to the True Vine.  At our last session, each child was given a tin with a tiny mustard seed glued inside to be taken home and enjoyed.

In the fall, seven children will be moving up from the True Vine Atrium to the Golden Thread Atrium. At our celebration, each of these children received a little lantern with a battery powered tea light inside to remind them that Jesus, the light of the world, lights the path for them. 

As a part of the celebration we always invite each child who is being promoted forward and pray for him or her. This year, I asked the children from the child's current atrium to come forward also, and to lay a hand on the shoulder of the child moving up as we prayed. The children took on this new role with dignity and seemed to enjoy it.

It is always so bittersweet to say goodbye to children when they move up. What a joy it has been to see them grow over their three years with us. We will miss them next year. And yet, as a catechist the wisdom of the age groupings that we use is very clear to me. As the end of the year approaches I can feel restlessness in the oldest children. They are ready developmentally for new materials and the broader outlook that a new atrium provides.

Congratulations to all of the children who have completed a level and who will be moving up next year! Your new catechists can't wait to welcome you, and are looking forward to many joys and discoveries together!

Prayer Gardens for Teachers

At the end of every year I pull together a small gift to thank our volunteer teachers for their ministries. It is always a challenge to keep within the budget and still find a nice way to say thank you. This year I got creative with prayer gardens and I was happy with how they turned out, so I thought I would share them here!

I started with a very inexpensive Zen Garden set from Dollar General, which included a small tray, a rake, a few stones, and some sand. I added more stones and doubled the sand that came with the set. I also added a few shells as a reminder of baptism, and tea light candles to represent the light of Christ. Then I made a set of guided prayer suggestions for using the garden, and put everything together in a gift bag.

I hope our teachers enjoy their little prayer gardens as much I enjoy mine. You can read more about what I have included in my prayer garden at home and ways that I have used it in previous posts.

I've just returned from an amazing week of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Level 3 Training in Saginaw, Michigan. I'll post more soon about this wonderful experience.

Thank You Teachers!

On Sunday we had our last day of Christian formation classes for the year. In the atrium we celebrated Pentecost and recognized children moving up to a new atrium next year. We also gave gifts to our teachers and celebrated our great year together after Church with this delicious cake! (We ate it so quickly I doubt any of the teachers actually saw the cake, so enjoy the photo above!)

Thank you to all of the people who serve in our formation ministries at Christ Church! We are blessed with many dedicated volunteers who really care about spiritual formation. I am so grateful for their deep faith and their hard work each week.


We thank God for:

• the children, youth, and adults who are growing in their faith at Christ Church,
• our nursery caregivers Camille and Julie, and our nursery teacher Eppie, 
• the catechists in our atria ~ Deb, Lynette, Sarah, Kristin, Juanita, Lynn and Dennis,
• our youth teachers ~ Mischelle, Justin, Jenn, Brad and Katie,
• our substitute teachers for children and youth ~ Betsy, Anne, Lisa, Mike, Kathleen, Kimberly, Lem, Julie, Frances, and Kate, 
• our regular adult formation teachers ~ Rev. Peter, Greg, Hilary, and Mary Jo and Mike (who coordinated our Adult Forums), and
• our many Adult Forum leaders who taught throughout the year.

It has been a year filled with blessings and I am so grateful to the entire parish for its support of our formation ministries!

Thank you

Teachers!

Recent Projects

Last Sunday we completed a project we've been working on for about six weeks in the True Vine Atrium. I brought this 3D model of the Temple in Jesus' time back with me from Israel with my third graders in mind. I loved the large scale model of first century Jerusalem that we saw in Israel, and the children have enjoyed seeing pictures of it and learning a bit more about the Temple in Jesus' day. 

The puzzle was almost impossible (there were a ton of small pieces and the directions weren't very helpful) but the children were determined and worked intently on it each week. The persistence of a core group of children paid off when the last pieces of the puzzle were added on Sunday! We are thinking about painting the Temple with our watercolors, and then I hope to bring it downstairs to the Great Hall so that the congregation can see it. Lynn (a catechist from the Golden Thread Atrium) saw the Temple and wanted one for her group. I was able to buy one in the U.S. from Judaism.com. I hope our fourth, fifth, and sixth graders are ready for a challenge!

Another interesting development in the True Vine Atrium has been the use of Stockmar Modeling Beeswax by the children. This is a wonderful product! It is very soothing to handle, doesn't dry out, leaves no residue on your hands, and it smells great! I bought it this year to use with children who find it difficult to sit for a presentation. We have had it on a bookshelf and have been quietly putting it into the hands of children who might benefit from using it during presentations and prayer time. Several weeks ago, the children discovered our stash and brought the whole box down from the shelf. They have been happily sculpting ever since. There were several interesting creations this week. 

The first was this beautiful sculpture of the Holy Family. I love the smiles on Mary and Joseph's faces and the way that Jesus is so carefully wrapped in his blanket.

Another piece complete this week was this sculpture of Jesus on the cross. As the artist was showing us his work, one of the children commented that Jesus looked like an angel. This prompted some thoughtful looks and comments from the children. The artist went on to create another figure of Jesus as a baby, but I wasn't able to get a picture of it. We have been disassembling our art work at the end of atrium so that others may use the modeling beeswax the next week. 

Only two more Sundays of Christian formation at Christ Church before the summer rest. We have many children moving up this year. They will be recognized during our final celebration on Sunday, June 3rd.

A Day in the Atrium

On Sunday in the True Vine Atrium I presented the "Synthesis of the Holy Eucharist" material to one child who will be moving up next year. It was a pleasure to see how much he knew about the individual moments of our service and to help him put all of the moments and prayers in order. I love this material! Working with it helps us all to understand that our service of Holy Eucharist is many prayers that together make one great prayer. You can see a photo of the completed work above.

I also presented "How to Use the Bible" to the whole group, and everyone had a good time exploring and marking their Bibles. We talked about Bible citations, and practiced using them to find scripture passages that we know well, such as the Good Shepherd and the Empty Tomb.

I took some photos during work time and thought I would post them here. The children weren't working with the materials much but it was a quiet and peaceful morning!

Finger Knitting is very relaxing.

Enjoying a good book about the gifts of the earth.

Painting a cross.

Writing a letter for Mother's Day.

Completing an art project.

Putting together a 3D model of the Temple 

in Jesus' time that I brought back from Israel.

This is an ongoing project that I'll post about another time.

****

The Junior Choir sang beautifully during our 10:30 service!

Thank you Junior Choir!

Junior Choir on Sunday!

Last Sunday after Church, I interrupted this fine group of singers practicing their music for the 10:30 service this week! The Junior Choir has been working hard to prepare and we are looking forward to their leadership this Sunday. It is such a pleasure to have Justin Miller teaching our young people! Thank you Justin! Thank you to Eppie Miller for overseeing Choir lunches and preparing many herself! Thank you also to Cathy Wolford for her teaching and support of the Choir. Finally, thank you to the parents and grandparents who have prepared lunches for the children on Sunday afternoons.

Now everyone, back to work!

See you on Sunday!

Olive Wood Crosses

Last Christmas, all of the children, youth and teachers in the parish received an olive wood cross as a gift from our Church pilgrimage to Israel. At the time, I sent a card to each atrium and class, which told a bit about the crosses and included some pictures from our trip. In a conversation with a parent recently, I realized that I never shared this information with you, and that many parents may not know the story behind these little crosses. So I thought I would share it with you here.

Dear Children, Youth, Catechists and Teachers,

As you know a group of parishioners traveled to Israel in October. While we were there we thought of all of you so often and we wanted to share a small token of our trip with you. These little crosses were purchased for you in Bethlehem, and each one has been blessed by Rev. Peter.

The crosses are made from the wood of the Olive Tree which is a native tree common in Israel. Olive trees have been important in Israel since ancient time. Olive oil was commonly used for cooking, lighting lamps, and ointments. In the Hebrew Scripture olive oil was used to anoint Kings, and used to light the lamps in the Temple. In the Christian Scripture, Jesus prayed on the Mount of Olives, and he went there to the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper just before he died and rose again.

Your little cross could be carried in your pocket, or kept on your nightstand to hold while praying. You are also welcome to chose a string and make your cross into a necklace.

We hope you enjoy this little cross and that it is a blessing to you!