Blessing of the Animals 2013

We had a wonderful celebration of St. Francis's feast day early in October! The service of Holy Eucharist was enhanced with an animal blessing and some exotic animal visitors. I have been so busy I forgot to post the pictures. Here are some photos to give you a feel for this wonder-filled service!

Many dogs raised their voices in song this year!

We had a great group of dogs, a number of cats, and some rodents too!

Sandy loves Church!

Our preacher Carol and her support team.

My dog Sydney enjoyed the service tremendously!

Carol our preacher, Rev. Peter our celebrant, and friends!

Our Christ Church girls are not afraid of spiders!

Look at that smile!

All creatures great and small...

The exotic animal parade!
Rev. Peter could not get far enough away from this snake!

This wallaby youngster was in its mother's pouch
at last year's blessing!

The Yak! It took a little coaxing to get him down the aisle
and then he didn't want to leave.

What a beauty!

At the end of the service animals came
 forward with their family for a blessing.

Celebrating Easter

We celebrated Easter in the atrium with the Liturgy of Light on Sunday. It was a great morning! I wish I had pictures of the celebration itself, but I was too busy to pick up the camera. Instead I have some photos from our feast afterward. Thank you so much parents for donating food and drinks. The children really do enjoy eating together.

You can read more about the Liturgy of Light celebration, which in based on the Easter Vigil service, in this previous post.

Remember - the season of Easter is 50 days! We have until Pentecost (May 19th) to live in the joy of the Resurrection. What ideas do you have for keeping Easter in your family life? It can be as simple as lighting a white candle at meals or saying a special prayer together before bed time. 

Easter is a great season in the atrium. We can't wait to see your children on Sunday mornings!

 

Happy Easter!

Epiphany Celebration

With Epiphany falling on a Sunday, we had to work with several interruptions in the True Vine Atrium last week. Children and catechists were coming and going to lead and to observe the Chalking of the Church and procession at the 10:30 service.  Somehow, we still managed to have a very nice morning together!

In honor of Epiphany, we prepared a little celebration for our atrium. To be clear - this is not a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd work, but something we put together ourselves based on an idea from a friend.

We had pondered the scripture and worked with the material of the three wise men the Sunday before Christmas. In atrium last week we remembered the significance of strangers from a foreign land coming to honor Jesus. We wondered at this sign that Jesus' light wasn't just for people in one country or even in one time but for all people and all time. In fact, since that day Jesus' light has spread around the world and across time to us today!

To celebrate this good news, children who were not involved in the Church celebration had the time to choose a country and make a flag to represent it and it's people. We hung these flags in our prayer corner.

After returning from the celebration downstairs, we talked again about the gifts the wise men brought to Jesus and their significance and passed around little samples of each gift. For our celebration, everyone took part in a procession, led by children carrying the Good Shepherd statue and our star lantern. Children carried the three gifts and we sang "We Three Kings" as we processed in and set the prayer table. Once gathered we prayed together, with the children offering special prayers for the countries represented by the flags, and other countries of the world.

It was a sweet morning, and a welcome reminder to me that God can work through imperfect plans and less than ideal schedules!

The Bible in the Prayer Corner

Last week in the True Vine Atrium we gathered for a celebration of the Holy Bible in the Prayer Corner. This is the first time we have had this celebration - it is well established in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, but I somehow missed it over the years. After preparing for the celebration, we had a procession and set our prayer table. We talked a bit about how precious the Holy Bible is, and that it contains the Word of God for all people. Each person held a Bible and we noticed that they come in many different shapes and sizes, and even in different languages! We remembered that even though we may not be able to read the words, the meaning is the same. We read a verse from the Gospel of John, and concluded with a song.

This was a lovely reminder that Jesus is present to us when we listen to Scripture and it lifted up the significance of the Bible in the life of the atrium. I look forward to making this a tradition in our atria in the years to come!

Pentecost Celebration

On our last Sunday of Christian Formation before summer break we celebrated Pentecost in the atrium. Pentecost is a wonderful feast of the Church year. On Pentecost, we remember and celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit which was given to Jesus' followers after his Ascension. 

The Good Shepherd leads the procession,
with a little help from a friend!

I love celebrating Pentecost with the children! We begin with a procession and together we prepare the prayer table with a red cloth and seven red candles. 

Gathering together to prepare.

Children from all three atria participate in this celebration.

Children lead the service, introducing and reading four lessons for us, including Acts 2:1-4 which tells of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and Isaiah 11:2, which tells of special gifts we can receive when the Holy Spirit comes. We use the flame from the Paschal Candle to light the seven red candles, each one representing a gift of the Holy Spirit. We talk a bit about the gifts -  wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, fear of the Lord, and piety - and pray about which gift we desire at this particular time. Then each person is called forward by name to light a candle from the candle of the gift they wish to receive. The celebration includes some of my favorite atrium songs!

Practicing hand gestures with a song.

Because this was the last Sunday of the year, we also recognized and prayed for the children who will be moving up, and thanked our catechists. And of course, we ended with a feast!


Thank you parents and grandparents for all of the great food! I was only able to catch a few photos before and after the celebration, but thought I would share them here for you to enjoy!

The children enjoy being together with children from other atria.

The Paschal Candle and our gift candles.

The disciples gathered in the Upper Room.
Individual candles lit from the gift candles.

The feast!

Enjoying the food...

...and being together!

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!

Liturgy of Light 2012

We celebrated the Liturgy of Light with all three atria last Sunday. It was a lovely morning! You can read about this celebration in a previous post. One dimension I particularly enjoyed this year was seeing children grow into new roles in the celebration. It was great to have children new to the atrium applying the wax to our candle, and older children being leaders and readers in the celebration. It is such a joy to be a part of the children's growth over their years in atrium!

I wasn't able to take many pictures, but here are a few for you to enjoy!

Our newly decorated paschal candle and the individual candles
that each of us held as we "received the Light of Christ."

Ready for the feast!

Thank you parents for bringing food for our feast! It was enjoyed by all!