Christian Formation Begins This Sunday!

It's that time again! Many parishioners have been hard at work preparing for a new year of Christian Formation at Christ Church. This Sunday, September 22nd, atrium and Christian formation classes for all ages will begin at 9:15 am! Here is a quick peek at what we are offering and where to find it:

The Nursery
The Nursery is open from 9:00 am until the conclusion of the 10:30 service (approximately 11:45 am) and is staffed by our two wonderful child care providers - Julie Esmond and Camille Bowers. The Nursery is in room 2 on the second floor, down the hall from the True Vine Atrium.

Atrium 
Atrium runs from 9:15 am - 11:10 am.  Children join their parents in Church at the exchange of the Peace and participate in Holy Communion.

Good Shepherd Atrium (preschool and kindergarten) - led by Deb Schelling, Sarah Gage and Kathleen Nitschke. The Good Shepherd Atrium is at the bottom of the center stairwell in the basement. Children need to have a short orientation before beginning in the Good Shepherd Atrium for the first time, and this group has shortened session for the first few weeks. This schedule will be sent families directly.

True Vine Atrium (first through third grade) - led by Leslie Swaim-Fox and Marilyn Wright. The True Vine Atrium is room 1 on the second floor at the top of the south staircase.

Golden Thread Atrium (fourth and fifth grade) - led by Lynn Winkelman and Dennis Harrison. The Golden Thread Atrium is room 6 located at the top of the center staircase on the second floor.

Youth Classes
Youth classes meet from 9:15 am - 10:15 am. Youth attend the 10:30 service in the sanctuary, and serve as acolytes, choir members, ushers and more.

Rite 13 Youth Class (sixth, seventh, and eighth grade) - led by Katie Ong-Landini and Mischelle Lohr. This group meets in room 7 which is the long narrow room down the hall from the Golden Thread Atrium on the second floor.

Journey to Adulthood Youth Class (ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade) - led by Graham Lanz and Amy McKenney. This group meets in room 8 on the second floor at the top of the stairwell by the red front doors.

Adult Forum
Adult Forum meets from 9:15 am - 10:15 am. This Sunday Rev. Peter will be leading a forum called "What I Did on My Sabbatical" in the Chapel.

We can't wait to see you Sunday!

Homecoming 2013

Last Sunday we began a new program year at Christ Church! The 10:30 service of Holy Eucharist was beautiful and was led by our beloved Rev. Peter who has returned from his Sabbatical! Welcome home Rev. Peter!

Afterward we gathered for a picnic on the lawn. The food was great and the bouncy house was awesome!







I was busy registering families for the new year of Christian Formation ahead, but managed to snap some photos of old and new friends throughout the afternoon! Here are some of the smiles I gathered along the way.

Check back soon for a run down of formation classes and atria beginning this Sunday, September 22nd!

Material Making in the Summer Months

It's been quiet on the blog this summer, but I've been as busy as ever with the Catechesis! In June, Lynn and I completed our Level 3 training with a wonderful seven day session in Saginaw, Michigan, led by the amazing Donna Turner. It was a fabulous experience, and it feels great to be familiar with all three levels of the Catechesis.

Seeing all the Level 3 works inspired me to return to Level 2 with a new eye. I've been revisiting album pages and thinking about materials. The new online material manual (available to catechists at the National Association website) makes it really easy to work through materials to see which pieces may have changed or may be missing from the atrium. Many of our tracing packets needed to be updated, and as a result I have been spending my evenings tracing and coloring. I'm enjoying it!

A few weekends ago several Christ Church Catechists and I attended a Regional Gathering for people with an interest in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd held at St. Gabriel's Catholic Church in Concord, Ohio. It was great to connect with other catechists and spend time together. A special blessing for me was the chance to hear Betty Hissong speak about some of the influential leaders of the Catechesis. Betty is one of the pioneers of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and an amazing and faith-filled leader herself. It was a fun morning, and I was so glad to participate.

I've also been working on our calendar for fall and connecting with teachers and catechists. September 15th will be here before we know it! I can't wait to begin again!

Using Card Materials - A Tutorial!

Last Sunday, I asked two sisters to help me demonstrate how to use the three part card materials I've made for children to explore during worship at Christ Church. Summer time is great time to discover them, nestled in a basket in the children's resources area of the Narthex. There are three packets of cards - The Altar, The Church, and People in Worship. We want to be sure to keep the packets separate so only use one pack at a time.

These card packets are similar to others we do in atrium, but I made them using photos of our Church so that they would help the children to be more aware of the space around us and tune in to our worship. Children who can read can use these card packs independently, with a little instruction from a parent. Children who are not yet reading can work with the photos and labels with a minimal amount of help from an adult or an older sibling.

Each pack includes three types of cards - photo cards, label cards, and definition cards. Start by having  the child separate the three types of cards into piles. Next ask the child to lay the photo cards out into a line across the pew.

If the child is a reader, he or she can then pick up the label cards and begin to match them one at a time to the photos. For non readers, hold the pile of labels and hand them one at a time to the child to match. As you give the label to the child quietly whisper the word in his or her ear. Don't worry if the child doesn't make a correct match. Continue through all of the label cards until they are all matched.

If the child is a reader, he or she might like to read each definition card and match it to it's photo as well. After all the matches have been made, encourage the child to turn the cards over and look at the numbers on each card. For a correct set, the photo, label and definition card will all be marked with the same number.

If there are any errors the child can examine the cards again and make corrections. At some point in the process, encourage your child to look around the Church to find the object or leader pictured in the photo card.

Be sure to have your child return all of the cards to the packet and place the packet back in the basket in the Narthex so that they are ready for the next child who would like to use them.

The children can repeat this process as often as they like, and we know that young children often enjoy repetition! Older children might like to copy or draw cards for themselves.

I hope you've enjoyed this little tutorial and will give the three part cards a try when you are next in worship with your child! Thank you so much to the intelligent,lovely girls who helped me introduce this work to you!

Resources for Worship

Activities for children can be found in the
Narthex, to the right just before you enter Church.

So after reading my last post, "Time to Worship," I bet you are looking forward to bringing your children to Church this summer! Here are a few suggestions - originally posted a few years back, but they are still helpful I hope!

• Sit near the front! Parents are always inclined to sit towards the back to make quick exits if needed, but I encourage you to sit where children can actually see the altar and all of the activity of the service. This lets them know that what is happening relates to them and gives them the opportunity to participate. 
• Be easy on yourself and your children. We don't expect silence in worship. The sounds of children giggling and asking questions helps us to know that our entire family is present at God's table! Take time in worship to snuggle a little one or hold a child's hand.
• Developmentally, young children will not be able to follow the entire service, but they can tune in to particular moments and they can participate more and more as they grow. Whisper a question about something you see happening on the altar. Point out something in the bulletin. Have your child join in on an easy hymn or a simple response. Children can follow the service with the yellow "We Go To Church" cards (below) and older children can follow along in the bulletin. Remember, when children are engaged in quiet activity they still absorb so much! 
• The Nursery is open during the summer months from 10:15-11:45 am for infants and toddlers, and the occasional preschooler who needs a break from worship.
• Take advantage of the quiet activities I have put together for children in the Narthex. Here are some of the things you will find:

I've added this beautiful finger labyrinth to our shelves. Children have used
 labyrinths in atrium for meditation and prayer and they enjoy them.

These from-your-seat scavenger hunts include pictures from
around the Sanctuary and can be done more than once!

There are three 3-part card material packets featuring pictures of the people and sites in our Church for the children to identify. Have them lay the pictures out on the pew. Then whisper the word cards one at a time to your non-reading child so he or she can find the match. Older children can also match the definition cards to the pictures. Also, pick up a yellow "We Go To Church" card and have your child follow the service using the clothes pin attached. Non readers can follow along using the pictures! Flip the card over for more advanced readers.

Books, clip boards, and crayons are always available and popular!

Do you have ideas for other activities that we could add to our shelves? I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below! You could also put together a special bag of books and activities at home that your child would enjoy, and save it to bring to Church on Sunday mornings.

See you in Church!

Time to Worship!

A child creating a collage of all of the articles
we see at the altar.

Summer is here, and with it comes the opportunity for your children to participate in full worship services at Christ Church. During the school year, children who are preschool-aged through sixth grade join our 10:30 service already in progress. This is helpful because it gives us a full two hours together for Christian formation in the atrium, and it allows parents to listen to the readings and sermon without having to attend to children. This also works well with what we know about children and worship - that young children can participate in Holy Communion and find it meaningful. I believe our school year schedule is a nice one.

A child working with the Last Supper Material.

Our summer schedule is different. Without atrium, children attend the entire service. This can be daunting, but there are several reasons why summer is a great time to bring your children to Church. For one thing our service is usually shorter in summer. For another, children come to Church specifically for worship and haven't already spent two hours in atrium. Thus they have more patience for the parts of the service that are less exciting to them. Finally, summer is a great chance for children to experience parts of the service that they have pondered in atrium but usually miss.

Children exploring the parts of the
Service of Holy Eucharist.

In atrium we are always learning about our worship service with the goal of helping children to grow into full participation in the liturgy. Beginning at age three we explore some of the most important moments of our service in isolation. In the early elementary years we begin to synthesize these moments and understand our worship as one great prayer made up of many prayers. In the older elementary years, children make their own prayer books, and learn in great detail about the service - they often know things that adults never even suspected! Summer services give children the chance to know the service in its entirety and integrate some of the learning they have done this year.

Check back soon to learn about resources we have available to help your children as they participate in worship this summer!

**I hope you enjoy this post from a few years back! We all need a little motivation to get our children out the door on these pretty summer Sunday mornings!

Year's End!

On Sunday another program year came to a close at Christ Church. It was a busy day, with our final week of atrium and promotion for children who will be moving up next year. We thanked out teachers and catechists in Church and each received a gift. And we acknowledged two wonderful young men who are graduating this month and who will be moving on to college in the fall. It was so busy, I couldn't take many pictures but here are just a few snapshots of the day.

During our last atrium session, many children decorated an envelope to take home the art work they have completed this year. It is always exciting to look over and enjoy the art work together. I hope you had fun exploring these little gems when they came home! Of course art work is meant to be an extension of our work with the materials in atrium and no art work is proscribed or required.  Some children have made many things while others have not. This isn't a concern for us!

Children moving out of the Golden Thread Atrium received prayer crosses this year. Children moving up from the Good Shepherd Atrium received a mustard seed of their very own, and children moving up from the True Vine Atrium received a small lantern. More about promotion and pictures of these gifts can be seen in a post from last year called Moving Day.

As a gift to thank our teachers this year, I took photos of our Church gardens and made them into 100 blank cards. 

Each teacher received a little bundle of Christ Church note cards with our thanks for their ministry this year.

And as always we enjoyed a special cake at Coffee Hour after Church on Sunday! Thank you to everyone participated in Christian Formation at Christ Church this year! Thanks to our parents and grandparents for bringing their children early on Sunday mornings. And a special thank you to all of our catechists, teachers, and substitutes for a great year of learning and growing together at Christ Church!