Children's Ministries Update | January 19, 2023

Hello Families!

For MLK Sunday, we listened to each other and what we have learned about King, wondered what makes people so afraid of anything different from us - color of skin, beliefs, abilities, politics, love, likes and dislikes, and practiced opening our hearts and minds to learn about others. We practiced walking in other people’s shoes- literally. Each child took time to pick a pair from the shoes we collected for Souls4Soles, they imagined who might own them and they walked on a prayer path as they prayed for that person. As parents joined in, we put all the rest of the shoes on our labyrinth path and each picked a spot to stand and pray for the people that will receive the shoes. It was a holy moment as adult voices mingled with the voices of children lifting their prayer words for the recipients of these shoes in Africa - safety, joy, grace, love, peace, confidence, housing and food, clean water, comfort, freedom, ….

Amazing how the Holy Spirit enters in!

***************************************************************

If you didn't get a chance to sign up for helping in Children's Ministries yet, please take a look at the links below

1) pick a Sunday or two to help with Children's Church;

Children's Church Ministry Sign Up

2) join a teaching team for the formation hour this Spring or think about starting in the Fall;

Formation Teacher/Helper Sign Up

3) help with our Faith in Action activities each month;

Faith in Action Sign Up

4) help with VBS June 5-9;

VBS Volunteer

5) help us during our Clean Up Day/Marie Kondo Day - TBD

Peace,

Kathy

This Sunday, January 22

Nursery : 8:30-12:30

1st fl. of the Pritchett Center

Children's: gathering 8:45; service with Holy Eucharist 9:00 - 10:00

Church children will NOT come over to parents

2nd fl. of the Pritchett Center

Children's : 10:20-11:05

Formation 2nd fl. of the Pritchett Center

Parenting with God

Feb. 12th, March 12th

room 307

So sorry I had to cancel our Jan. 8th meeting due to illness, but I can't wait to gather and learn together. Mark your calendars for these two classes. I've been reading The Sandbox Revolution: Raising Kids for a Just World and thinking about parenting with God, with our faith, as an act of activism. Each chapter is authored by a different person and the book is edited by Lydia Wylie-Kellerman. Here are a few quotes from the introduction:

Parenting is the hardest thing I have ever done. It is exhausting, messy, isolating, and often very lonely... We need to remind each other that we are not alone in our fears, our grief, and our hope...We need one another's courage and imagination as we experiment with ways to live humanly.

With a love for this world and a commitment to its future, parenting becomes a radical act of resistance and hope....Parenting and activism are not separate; they mingle and prod us in unexpected ways....It all intersects in the ordinary and extraordinary work of believing in a just world.