Happy New Year!

Started word searching "new year" but decided I'd do better looking for "first month" and look what I found! A very cool birthday present! :)

"It was the first day of the first month of Noah's 601st year. The water had dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering from the ark. He saw that the surface of the ground was dry." (Genesis 8:13 NIRV) As I say, a pretty cool birthday present even if they didn't celebrate birthdays. It's always fun to see things in scripture I'd never noticed before.

According to Ex. 12 Passover became associated with the first month of the new year when the Hebrews left Egypt. If you're into word studies, some other interesting things transpired over time during the first month of the Hebrew calendar. It's just interesting, if you think of God starting a new year.

Anyway...all this just to say "Happy New Year." May you keep growing and knowing Emmanuel, God-With-Us, in life changing ways and in ways that you've not known Him before.

Psalm 90

"A voice ...in Ramah...weeping..."

I've been pondering this story from Matthew 2 (NIrV) as a scripture about children.

I wonder:

~ You're asked to go in the opposite direction from your home, family, work into another country. I wonder how Joseph and Mary felt traveling with a new baby and all these riches. What challenges worried them most? And I wonder how the Egyptians felt about Jews settling in Egypt?

~This is the part that gets me. When Mary and Joseph heard about this massacre how did they feel thinking that all these children were slaughtered because of their son? How did they feel about going back to Nazareth? How did Joseph and Mary face their relatives? When Jesus later heard about this - as a boy or as a man (flesh and blood) how did He feel? Were there boys his age to play with?

~Were they just grateful to be alive? Did they carry this incredible guilt? Did they say, "Oh well, it was God's will"? All those boys Jesus' age weren't alive to be men when he was 33 but their parents and families were. How did they feel about Herod? How did they feel about Jesus? How did they feel about God? And the children who lived through the ordeal or heard the stories? How did those children feel about Jesus?

The scriputures tell us that after Herod died, Joseph had a dream while he was still in Egypt. In the dream an angel of the Lord appeared to him. The angel said, "Get up! Take the child and his mother. Go to the land of Israel. Those who were trying to kill the child are dead."

-but surely the memories lingered among those who journeyed to Bethlehem for the censes, and those who lived in Bethlehem and around Jerusalem.

This is from our PTSA newsletter and MCC . Feel free to pass this along. Our local school district is offering a lot of workshops for parents right now. This is from the local community college. You may have similar resources in your own community. Doing things you have in common with people who don't go to your church or taking a friend from church with you to activities in the community is a nice place to build relationships inside and outside your faith community.

From the newsletter (Rev. Margaret Scott, communications VP):

The internet is a wonderful place, full of endless amounts of information and resources. However, some people have used the internet to promote things we do not want our children to be exposed to. Homeland Security Management Institute of MCC is offering a course entitled “Cyber Skills to Protect Our Children”. Learn what certain phrases such as, MySpace, IM, blogging, just to name a few cyber words mean and how you can help protect children at home, school or wherever they may have access to a computer.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding this important course or visit us at www.monroecc.edu/go/hsmiand click on classroom course. Hurry, seats are filling up quickly! Registration deadline is January 5, 2007.

If you know someone who might be interested, feel free to pass this along.

Artisan update

You can find Pastor Brian's children/family moment podcasts and the family worship folder at the Artisan website under worship. There was talk of a forum about kids. I don't know whether that's in the works or not. George and I have stepped back a bit this season.

But another wonderful and interesting development at Artisan, that in some ways is very Rochester: Rochester has a large community of deaf and hearing impaired, particularly at RIT. And we have a School for the Deaf. One of the largest city high schools offers ASL for foreign language/regents credit. Unusual, but I'm guessing that Spanish and ASL are the primary 2ndary languages in this town and learning either is a useful tool for students in this particular city. Artisan has had a number of RIT students coming all along and that number has included more and more deaf and hearing impaired students partly perhaps because Artisan uses multimedia and various tactile, sensory tools so we have a very visual/sensory as opposed to a mostly auditory presentation.

Lyrics are on overhead. Not unusual. But, apart from lyrics, I wonder what a visual (not auditory) musical presentation would look like with color and movement and ways to feel the beat... interesting possibilities...

Anyway, sharing an ASL class will help bridge the language barrier and foster community in fun and unique ways. A unique community for children.

Index

Look! A real live index of labels with links and everything!

(The initials are initials for book titles that earned more than one post. You'll find other individual books under "resources.")

IC Invisible Child by Katherine Paterson

CS Children's Spirituality Donald Ratcliff ed.

RKRF Real Kids, Real Faith by Karen Marie Yust

YCIW Young Children in Worship by Sonja M. Steward

4/07 WWTK Where Were the Kids? - not a book, just thoughts looking through scripture for children

7/07 CHMT Children Matter by Scottie May, Beth Posterski, Catherine Stonehouse, and Linda Cannell.

2/08 LCW Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

12/08 TCITB The Child in the Bible edited by Marcia J. Bunge


Emerging Kids yearly anniversary is May 31!

The One Anothers post - Tuesday, November 08, 2005
PLFC - Paul's Letters for Children

2/27/10 LFK: O & Q & KFW Looking for Children: Observations & Questions & Kid-Friendly Words

7/2012 CRT God and World in the Old Testament: a Relational Theology of Creation by Terence E. Fretheim

Crescent Moons

Backing up again, this is the random reason why I was thinking about holidays this morning. In our part of the hemisphere one of the things I look forward to this time of year is the crescent moon hanging in the sky. Funny, I only noticed it a couple of years ago. I don't know how far away you can be and still see the same phase of the moon, how many states, how many countries. I was admiring it again this morning at 6 am when I took the dogs out. It's always so much like a cradle hanging in the sky - a cradle to rock a baby. Sometimes you might be able to see a really bright star but I think the cradle's always there. Something for kids. Sometimes planetariums do programs at Christmastime about the Bethlehem star. This morning the cradle moon disappeared behind the clouds as I was going into the house, but it was still there.

Random, Roots, and Holidays

Haven't posted a really long post, in a while...so here goes.

My husband grew up pretty liberal Episcopalian before they were liberal the way we know liberal. One of his grandmothers was Russian Orthodox from Ukraine, his grandfather from Macedonia. His grandfather went to church, too. One of the most powerful gospel messages we ever heard was in their church one Palm Sunday. It was very simple but very powerful in it's simplicity without leaving anything out or watering anything down. Sorry, I don't remember the details, just the effect.

His other grandmother was Swedish Finn. All three came from Revolutions that took close family members. His Finnish grandmother remembered running with her mother from soldiers on horses and hiding in a church. She was Lutheran. His grandfather from Germany came over between the wars. His mom went to church. His dad didn't, but their art was rich with religious themes. Sadly, we really didn't notice that (or they didn't display that art) until after they passed away. His parents were first generation here. He grew up in Manhattan, started very poor but went to private school. His mom taught art there. He was a strong math/science student and stayed in private schools. His German grandfather died before he was born. His orthodox grandparents lived half-way across the country but they were always an integral part of his identity.

My family's been here longer than you want to know- Reformed and Presbyterian rooted in most of the non-Mediterranean, non-Scandinavian countries of Western Europe. My dad was a farmer. We went to public school. We were always part of a church. All of my grandparents went to the same church we did until we moved at the end of 8th grade. No longer visible parts of who we are but essential parts of our identity and the identities of our children.

George and I were born-again, baptized in the Spirit, etc, etc, in the early 70's, spent a lot of years as part of two non-denominational charismatic churches - one with ECC-Presbyterian roots and one with Church of Christ roots, a very short season in a very small traditional ECC church and then we agreed to help support an ECC postmodern church plant. Not visibly so, but part of who my children are. The roots of a church and our own family roots affect us whether we want them to or not. When holdays come, for better or for worse, it's hard not to think about church and family if you've had any ties that way. You can probably consider those who've gone before you the unseen community you're part of, for better or for worse. You usually don't see roots either but they hold the tree up, or not.

For a brief year or so we visited churches just because we had never done that and being in a bit of a spiritual walkabout we thought it was worth doing. Actually, that's a really good word for it- a spiritual walkabout. George called it recovering from a spiritual heart attack. We visited churches where we knew people and places we wanted to explore. We even visited the Orthodox church, read Franky Schaeffer's books. We were frustrated with The Church but still after God. Exploring the orthodox church was a really interesting thing to do. It probably left us more open to post-moderns than if we hadn't openned and explored that door. I'm assuming God had a hand in it.

Why did I start this post? Holidays. Church holidays. The Orthodox calendar includes seasons of fasting. Having followed my husband through more diets than you ever want to hear about I thought there's probably alot of health wisdom to have seasons of fasting but scripture doesn't really lay it out like that or maybe it does if you go back to the Hebrew seasons and holidays. More roots. God in His wisdom. . . even food wisdom. The discipline of.... and the freedom from...another paradox. Old roots, new roots. Old memories, new memories. Another paradox. A baby born into poverty and God's king. Yet another paradox. But kids don't think abut all this stuff.

Random, Roots, and Holidays

Haven't posted a really long post, in a while...abit overdue.

My husband grew up pretty liberal Episcopalian before they were liberal the way we know liberal. One of his grandmothers was Russian Orthodox from Ukraine, his grandfather from Macedonia. His grandfather went to church, too. One of the most powerful gospel messages we ever heard was in their church one Palm Sunday. It was very simple but very powerful in it's simplicity without leaving anything out or watering anything down. Sorry, I don't remember the details, just the effect.

His other grandmother was Swedish Finn. All three came from Revolutions that took close family members. His Finnish grandmother remembered running with her mother from soldiers on horses and hiding in a church. She was Lutheran. His grandfather from Germany came over between the wars. His mom went to church. His dad didn't, but their art was rich with religious themes. Sadly, we really didn't notice that (or they didn't display that art) until after they passed away. His parents were first generation here. He grew up in Manhattan, started very poor but went to private school. His mom taught art there. He was a strong math/science student and stayed in private schools. His German grandfather died before he was born. His orthodox grandparents lived half-way across the country but they were always an integral part of his identity.

My family's been here longer than you want to know- Reformed and Presbyterian rooted in most of the non-Mediterranean, non-Scandinavian countries of Western Europe. My dad was a farmer. We went to public school. We were always part of a church. All of my grandparents went to the same church we did until we moved at the end of 8th grade. No longer visible parts of who we are but essential parts of our identity and the identities of our children.

George and I were born-again, baptized in the Spirit, etc, etc, in the early 70's, spent a lot of years as part of two non-denominational charismatic churches - one with ECC-Presbyterian roots and one with Church of Christ roots, a very short season in a very small traditional ECC church and then we agreed to help support an ECC postmodern church plant. Not visibly so, but part of who my children are. The roots of a church and our own family roots affect us whether we want them to or not. When holdays come, for better or for worse, it's hard not to think about church and family if you've had any ties that way. You can probably consider those who've gone before you the unseen community you're part of, for better or for worse. You usually don't see roots either but they hold the tree up, or not.

For a brief year or so we visited churches just because we had never done that and being in a bit of a spiritual walkabout we thought it was worth doing. Actually, that's a really good word for it- a spiritual walkabout. George called it recovering from a spiritual heart attack. We visited churches where we knew people and places we wanted to explore. We even visited the Orthodox church, read Franky Schaeffer's books. We were frustrated with The Church but still after God. Exploring the orthodox church was a really interesting thing to do. It probably left us more open to post-moderns than if we hadn't openned and explored that door. I'm assuming God had a hand in it.

Why did I start this post? Holidays. Church holidays. The Orthodox calendar includes seasons of fasting. Having followed my husband through more diets than you ever want to hear about I thought there's probably alot of health wisdom to have seasons of fasting but scripture doesn't really lay it out like that or maybe it does if you go back to the Hebrew seasons and holidays. More roots. God in His wisdom. . . even food wisdom. The discipline of.... and the freedom from...another paradox. Old roots, new roots. Old memories, new memories. Another paradox. A baby born into poverty and God's king. Yet another paradox. But kids don't think abut all this stuff.

Backing up again, this is the random reason why I was thinking about holidays this morning. In our part of the hemisphere one of the things I look forward to this time of year is the crescent moon hanging in the sky. Funny, I only noticed it a couple of years ago. I don't know how far away you can be and still see the same phase of the moon, how many states, how many countries. I was admiring it again this morning at 6 am when I took the dogs out. It's always so much like a cradle hanging in the sky - a cradle to rock a baby. Sometimes you might be able to see a really bright star but I think the cradle's always there. Something for kids. Sometimes planetariums do programs at Christmastime about the Bethlehem star. This morning the cradle moon disappeared behind the clouds as I was going into the house, but it was still there.

Helping Hurting Kids

You probably already have access to this kind of material or you've had training in this area but I appreciated the attitudes towards the children and family and the relational focus (worker to child/worker to family) in this material. American Humane Society: Protecting Children.

It's a challenging thing for people who work with kids to look out for kids and still value the child's family and the important role it plays in a child's life even if the people involved don't have it together. Sometimes it's hard not to jump to conclusions that can do serious damage. It's hard if you're a sensitive parent, especially if you have hard kids and you know that everyone is watching you. The other extreme is a parent who thinks that what happens between you and your child is never anybody else's business.

If you have other resources that you particularly like, feel free to share.

Yeah!

That was quick. C'est fini! The tags are done! Merry Christmas!

You'll just have to really watch out for the posts that have more tags than words in the post - though very very rare, they do exist.

It's pretty interesting to do tags because you begin to see the themes that keep coming up in your work in contrast to the truly random. Yes, puppies, though they have their own tag are truly loved but on this blog, they are also truly random. :)

Hopefully, all the links are fixed. If they don't work, comment!

Merry Christmas!!

More resources

You might find something here that you haven't seen before. Especially if you scroll down.

Christmas Stories

Of all the stories in scripture you have four gospels and multiple chapters telling the Christmas story over and over with varying emphasis. I suppose the Easter story is like that too. Who do you know who likes to hear the same story over and over?

"And tell me the part where..."

Of the 55,000+ children's books on Amazon 22,000+ are about Christmas. Random trivia. That was free. :)

One of my favorites and a rather unique Christmas story is Only A Star by Margery Facklam published by Eerdman's Books for Young Readers. Apart from the wonderful artwork and the natural science of it, Marge Facklam celebrates creation's participation in the birth of our Lord.

I also really like theThe Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
and other versions of a similar Tolstoy story based on scripture.

When we were little, the older kids in our church used to do a Christmas play where the little boy took a long trip to bring his tiny offering to a church where the chimes or bells never rang and they rang for him. I don't remember the name of it, but it left a lasting impression on me at the time (I think they used the chimes on the organ which made it that much more dramatic). Sometimes we get into George MacDonald stories. There are Christmas stories and legends from other countries, too.

Can't find it so I can't give you a title but when the kids were little we had a book from one of the real-people-Christmas- nativity movies with photographs and just scripture. The actress who played Mary also played Juliet in one of the Romeo and Juliet movies but I don't remember her name.

George loves the old version of "Miracle on 34th St," "It's a Wonderful Life," and the story-song "Good King Wencleslas". I tend to like the Christmas carols that rarely get sung and I'm partial to story-songs.

Assuming the nativity story is up on top, do you have a favorite Christmas story? a favorite Christmas song? a favorite Christmas memory from your childhood?

Random Thoughts about Preparing for Christmas

So unfortunately, Christmas is the shopping season, the time of year when we're most apt to try to fill that God-shaped space, intentionally left for Himself, with the more tangible things around us - stuff and people and . . . the list goes on. Unlike my very loved and organized sister-in-law who always finishes her Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, I barely manage to get presents in the mail before the following Easter. I could tell you it's the spiritual way, but I'd be lying. For some reason I don't plan ahead or stick to my plan even if I do plan ahead in December.

When I was little we had Christmas at our house, then at my grandparents next door, then in the afternoon we went to my other grandparents for dinner and stayed into the evening or went back to my grandparents next door to see my aunts and uncles and cousins.

Our very first Christmas together we had no tree, no presents, no festive food, no decorations. We went to a movie and didn't even have cash so even that was a bomb. That was the year I realized that Christmas is what you make it. You do and you give because it gives you joy to bring joy to someone else.

When the kids were home alot we read the Christmas story all the way through in the different gospels. We spent the Christmas season making crafty things for extended family and food to give. It helped focus the season on making and giving instead of shopping and getting. Now, they have a tiny bit more spending money than they have time, but they're still giving and their giving is relatively simple and always creative.

We walked through fields to cut our own tree until everyone was old enough to walk without being carried, and lost interest lol! Ok, maybe we lasted longer than that. The problem is when you wait until two days before Christmas and go looking for a tree and walking and walking and walking it's not fun. :)

We made ALOT of Christmas ornamants. When we made origami ornaments I understood why Japan has so many engineers. You have to be an engineer to do origami but for some reason they were among the more rewarding crafts we made. One year we used juice can lids, poked a hole in them with a nail for the metal ornament hook and cut and glued photos or magazine pictures on them to remember something God did that year. We hung them on the tree. I still have them and the memories. One year we made clothespin dolls to hang. Tory probably made a soldier or something. Another year a group we were part of exchanged hand-made ornaments with photos on them.

We often picked traditional Christmas crafts or recipes from another country. Christmas carols come from different countries, too, you know. We usually made food for neighbors. We try to see extended family sometime over Christmas week.

My mother-in-law was always surprised that the kids didn't fight or argue over presents. It's probably because we tried to pick something that they had individually and uniquely expressed interest in all year. We focused on tools for exercising their creativity or for doing something they already liked to do taking it to a new level.

Cleaning, decorating, baking, all birthday things. We're remembering the birthday of our Lord, His incarnation. As I say, sometimes my planning ahead for birthdays isn't all it could be, even for Him.

Google searches

Every once in a while I google my name or my husband's or kids to see what's out there. I have to say that if you find anything with my name on it about shopping, it probably isn't me. I HATE to shop!

Fixed Links

I fixed the links that didn't work on More Children's Ministry Blogs 2 (11/28)
Sorry about that!

Keep Smiling!

Welcome to December!

We were watching a Christmas movie last night and it turns out one of the channels will have family Christmas movies running every night for 25 days! You probably already know that.

But doesn't it seem like a good excuse for not going to any adult meetings or gatherings for 25 days? Like Lent (a fast from meetings).

Or we could call it professional development for those who need to stay in touch with the child-in-you for professional reasons : )

How's that for random. :)

There was an old poem my father used to quote by Rudyard Kipling, "If you can keep your head while all of those around you are losing theirs and blaming it on you..." but I can never remember the end of it*. I'll look it up.

Reminds me of the Beatitudes. Sounds like a new definition for "meek".

Keep finding things that make you smile and laugh this season. Don't let all the clamor steal this opportunity to enjoy your kids and the wonder of the season. Dig your heels in.

Much joy to you.

*Kipling's thinking will seem flawed to some but you get the heart of it.

A Board Book Worship Resource

I found this looking for something else. Funny how that happens.

: )

I've not held these books in my hands to look at them and Amazon doesn't have them rated but they look like an interesting resource. Julie Stiegemeyer has written a set of board books published by Concordia called The Church Book set. This set of four books includes Colors I See in Church, Things I Do in Church, Things I Hear in Church, Things I See in Church.

She's written other books, too, but the set above and these (Things I See at Baptism, Things I See at Christmas, Things I See at Easter) lend themselves to sharing the traditional community worship experience with young children.

Craft activities, books, puzzles - having resources available to children during service, that tie in to what's actually happening at service, to draw their eyes and ears back to the action is always a plus.

Giving Blood

Lots of random posts on this blog, lol!

My seventeen year old daughter gave blood for the first time about a month ago. There's a blood drive at her high school every year. After she gave blood, she was so excited. She amazes me. All my kids amaze me but she doesn't care if I tell stories about her. Her dad and her brother have given lots of blood, too, so it's in her genes. Just not in my genes. :)

The rest of us give once, pass out, and then avoid needles. The day I picked up one of my girls at school after a blood drive she was sitting on the floor very white. I told her one of my first dates with her dad was after a blood drive because he knew I was going to pass out and he waited for me. The folks at school thought that was very sweet.

So now we have all our blood types with one hold-out but those of us who avoid needles at our house are in the majority I'm afraid. It turns out we have everything postive except O. Finding out everyone's blood type is fun if no one's worried about surprises.

I was surprised and thrilled that my youngest was so excited about giving something like her blood. She got a note with her blood type card telling her that the blood she gave could save as many as three people. She was so pleased. She can give again as early as the day after Christmas and she can't wait. Go figure!

I always liked pre-school best for the wonder mixed with new thinking and communication skills but as my kids have grown and matured I'm continually awed the way every age has it's wonder-filled moments.

Disappointment revisited

Some years (maybe every year) the Christmas season seems to set us up for disappointment. Did I post something similar last year?

One pre-Christmas season, when the kids were little, for some reason I got thinking about Mary, the mother of Jesus and I started listing all the disappointments she must have faced that first Christmas when her baby was born. My list ran page after page after page.

Maybe you have to be married and pregnant to appreciate all of this but stay with me here.

You're 9 months pregnant and your husband says "the IRS says we're taking a trip to the city my relatives came from. We can walk but the good news is that we have a donkey you can ride." Did you ever ride a donkey? Ever ride a donkey for a long time? Ever ride a donkey 9 months pregant?

You have to leave behind all your baby preparations, your extended family who would normally be there to help and oogle over your baby, and you'll be walking all day or riding a donkey right at the end of your pregnancy. Forgot how many days and miles the trip is from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

You finally arrive at your destination and all the rooms are taken. We had that happen once after driving until midnight with 5 little kids. All the motel rooms an hour's drive in every direction had "No Vacancy" signs. Would we have slept in a barn if I were 9 months pregnant and ready to deliver? I wasn't pregnant at the time, but even though I'd grown up with barns, I would have probably said "no barn" because I had a track record for complications. When I was pregnant we were among those who gave thanks for medical technology. Anyway, the year of the "no vacancy" motels we were so frustrated that we kept driving the 2 1/2 hours home.

You take the barn accomodations that someone graciously offers you and discover that you're ready to deliver your first baby and you're alone. I grew up on a farm. Lots of creatures live in barns (not just livestock). Hay isn't soft, it's pokey. And there are barn smells and sounds. Two millenia ago they didn't have running water, let alone HOT water. And Mary and Joseph were city people, after all. Smells, dirt, creatures, insects, spiders, dust, no light except moon and stars, night sounds, not clean-let alone sterile ...more disappointment?

So who comes to visit? A bunch of strange men: scraggly, dirty shepherds and their noisy dirty smelly sheep telling wierd stories about stars and music and angles...sorry...angels and LIGHT filling the night sky in the middle of nowhere. If the custom is to offer hospitality, what do you have to offer to shepherds and their sheep a few days after your baby is born in someone else's barn?

Rich kings brought some lovely gifts and more stories but Mary and Joseph were poor. What are they going to do with these amazing gifts? How will they get them back home without drawing attention to themselves? You probably don't have to worry much about thieves and robbers if you're traveling poor but traveling with gifts like these? How will they spend them without the authorities thinking they stole them?

The list goes on. You can probably put yourself in their shoes and think of more disappointments. I didn't try putting myself in Joseph's place...but there you'd have yet another point of view.

We take all the elements of the Christmas story for granted. If you sit and prayerfully ponder some of the human detail and "wonder..." it can add new dimensions to the stories of scripture.

That was my point in the Advent post talking about couples getting ready for a Christmas baby, an unwed teen expecting a baby, couples wondering how they'll be able to financially support a new unexpected child, a couple who has to take a long trip at the end of their pregnancy, toddlers with new babies at home and all the multi-sensory, experientially meaningful experiences of life that tie into various details of the Christmas story - the universal experiences, the joys and hardships that God is so in touch with generation after generation.

More Children's Ministry Blogs 2

More Children's Ministry Blogs. Have I posted these?

Multi-site Kids

Children's Ministry Insights

Children's Ministry and Culture

Kidscreen (about reaching children through entertainment). You may not be a fan of entertainment as a tool in Children's Ministry but this is an interesting resource if only because the entertainment industry plays such a huge role in the lives of kids today. It may not be huge in the lives of the regulars in your church but it will probably be playing a huge roll in the lives of new faces you meet.

Puppy Break: More Dog Theory Evidence

If you really search this blog, you'll find scattered posts about my now adolescent 18 month puppies. In keeping with tradition...

Thanksgiving week I walk downstairs in the morning and both puppy beds look like this recreated scene. Were my puppies playing cards in the middle of the night? All the college kids are home.

Notice the cards with chewed corners. They weren't there the night before. The picture of Ellie's nose on the table watching us play cards* earlier that day was too dark to print, sorry.

I offer this as further evidence that puppies chew, trying to do the work they see us doing, LOL!

And the tie-in to kids? Kids try to do what they see us doing, too. As our littles ones grow in our family groups (critters or people) we teach them to do the work we do. As little people pretending trying to do the work we do, they're doing real work. As they approach adulthood, meaningful work helps them use hormone-driven energy constructively, (hopefully) adding to their sense of purpose, growing skills they didn't have, and giving opportunity to work alongside adults doing adult work.

Getting paid is a perk, too.

Sometimes it helps them bypass the negatives of the inbetween. Sometimes the pressure's on to grow up before they're really ready, but giving teens opportunity to do the things they love or to try a variety of things, to learn work-related skills getting involved in a world beyond themselves and their peer group can only help.

In part I was kidding when I first started this puppy chewing & work theory but hey! Not only am I convinced, but maybe it's really really true. :)

*Ok, the benefits of card playing are controversial.

Preparing for Advent

Most of you are probably already do this, but we never really embraced the liturgy or the church calendar as opportunity to "consider Jesus" - His life, His being man, His being God - putting His life in the context of a yearly cycle of seasons, the ordinary and the extra ordinary.

I was thinking that pondering Jesus the child was a good way to approach Advent but if you take the church calendar as opportunity to ponder the life of Christ, Jesus the child doesn't come until a brief moment in the middle of January.

Advent would fill with considering His mother and step-father and their preparation, their musings, misgivings, wondering about all the things that God did preparing for His Son to come to earth.

There might be a couple in your church getting ready for a Christmas baby. You may have an unwed teen expecting a baby. You may have someone who is wondering how they will be able to financially support themselves and an expected child. You may have a couple who has to take a long trip at the end of their pregnancy. . .

Last year we had a couple a toddlers with new babies at home between Christmas and Thanksgiving. Sometimes when you're in the throes of newbabydom you don't think about tying the stories of the baby Jesus to the new baby in your house. That's a pretty multi-sensory, experientially meaningful experience for any age but even to very little people.

Many unexpected God-given opportunities to you as you "consider Jesus" during this season.

Beyond Hosagna

Of all the possible ways that God could have done what He did - a holy God becoming flesh and blood, it's pretty facinating that the Living Word of God came and became a baby.

Someone human had to raise Him. That alone, is profound.

If Jesus died at 33, almost half of Jesus' life on this earth was spent as a child. I never really thought about it that way. Must be God didn't think it was waste of time.

This child-person was God-With-Us just as much as Jesus the adult. He was still God. He was still man.

Among other things, He seemed to know who He was, what really mattered, and where He was going.

He took endless advantage of momentary opportunities without losing sight of the long term.

Being man, He died.

Being God, the Living Word - God Incarnate, dying wasn't the end of Him.

It was just another beginning. A beginning for the rest of us.

What was it...three years of ministry, thirty years previous, three days at Calvary . . . I wonder why the Son of God spent almost half his time on earth as a child.

I wonder why God tells us so little about that time.

I wonder how much of Christ-on-Earth, even as a child, was God and how much was man.

Maybe it doesn't matter.

He called Himself: "I Am who I Am" - a name left unspoken and unwritten for centuries, probably with good reason. And so named He was the same baby, the same child, the same man, the same God - "I am who I am" spending almost half His holy life on this earth as a man-child.

Just seemed like a side of God worth pondering.

Praises, Thanksgiving and Hosagna (revised)

When my kids were growing up we used to say thank you prayers and some years we sang various worship choruses for grace even when it wasn't a holiday. Example, "ho ho ho sanna...ha ha ha le luia..."

Somehow in the process we ended up with something called. . .

Hosagna!!

Yes, it sounds like lasagne -"Ho-SAgna". (It was, of course, the best lasagne ever...just kidding.)

The inevitable place where sacred CROSSes secular.

Sometimes well- defined, sometimes less-defined...Life Incarnate...

Maybe Jesus, Son of God walking the earth as a man, was as much the place where the two cross (and merge) as the actual place of the cross was.

Happy Thanksgiving, whatever country you claim as your current dwelling place!

Blessings to you and your little people!! Many thank you prayers and many thanks-givings to you!

A Random Observation

We were at a rest stop crossing the Ontario/Quebec border this weekend. A mom was changing a baby and all the women around them were talking to her and the baby and making a fuss (in French). In the states when a mom is changing a baby no one interacts with them.

Blessings

I’m left thinking that in it’s simplist form, Jesus blessed the children. Big church, small church, in Jesus name, how do we bless the kids in our churches? How do we bless the kids in our larger communities? How do we bless the kids that God brings into our lives? An evergrowing knowledge of Christ Jesus to you.

just for fun

Yesterday I was standing in line with my teenaged daughter. She needed a winter coat. In front of us was a little girl sitting in a cart who happened to be three. The little girl took something from a box of left over Halloween impulse buys and the mom pointed to the side of the box where it said "4 years and up" .

her mom: "What number is that?"
girl: "4"
mom:"How old are you?"
girl: "3"
mom: "I think it's too old for you"

The little girl put it back in the box. End of story.

I was impressed and told the mom that. She said, "I'm a teacher. So I've learned a lot of little things like that."

I said, "As a mom of five I'm impressed. Really impressed." She smiled.

After they checked out, Jenny said to me, "Yeah, when she's five the mom can say, 'I think it's too young for you.'" That would work if you're more intelligent than your children.

That being true, it gives you until the child turns about 6 when she can read words like "and" "up" . At that point she'll just be excited to read the words but she won't really understand the implications. By 7 or 8 (when she understands the implications) she'll be so well trained (maybe) she won't even notice impulse buys in which case it won't matter whether she can read and understand the age range or not.

On the other hand there is the possibility she could figure out what you've been doing for five years. She could get really upset with you and never trust you again . . .

. . . or she could just laugh.

Cultivating a child's sense of humor would be an interesting topic. . .

You start seeing yourself when older siblings start pulling your tactics on younger siblings. That's when you decide whether it was actually as good an idea as you thought it was.

Anyway, as I say, for the moment I was impressed. :)

learning from glass blowers

Yesterday, we visited an art school in the Southern Tier. After the pre-planned morning info sessions, lunch, and the art tour we spent three hours in the glass blowing studio. We watched some demos - an older more experienced teacher or grad student with the help of undergrads.

As two visiting artists returned from lunch, the workshop filled up with students and grad students and professors and about 10 of these people all at different levels began working (as helpers) with these master glass-blowers. They worked for about 2 1/2 hours, each one seeming to know exactly what they were doing and when to do it.

It wasn't the actual work, though that was impressive. It was the way they all worked together to make something. No yelling, no screaming, no condescension. A few tense moments but nothing too bizarre. The experts came to do their work and share their expertise. The learners came to work, help and learn. All in all, they needed to work together (it wasn't a one person job) and do the work together (it wasn't a lecture) in order to do what they were doing.

Very informal, but so alive! An amazing thing to see.

And yet another!

Lemon Lime Kids with ties to Willow Creek and Group.

More Children's Ministry Blogs

Yet another list of CM blogs at Dave Wakerly's site.

If you're new, there are resources strewn randomly through this blog due to my profound lack of technoability. The most recent ones were

10/11/06
9/29/06
9/27
9/20

12/11 (but now you don't need this because of the new tags :)

service idea

Another community service/outreach activity for kids when you're pondering God's creation or mercy & justice. [for a big or small church]

If your local Humane Society/SPCA/Animal Control organization has a Wish List, kids can collect items or raise money. Sometimes they accept gift cards for volunteers and staff, too.

Something like this might be a non-religious activity that would appeal to friends from school or other people in your neighborhood.

Magazines and related thoughts

As long as we're talking about magazines, there are LOTS of Christian magazines and other high quality magazines out there for kids. They each have a different focus, and they're generally (within about 3 years) age specific .

They cost money and they're consumable but they often appeal to kids who aren't crazy about reading long books. (and Babybug is actually done in a boardbook format for babies.) Many of the stories and articles are relatively short. They're often content specific. They're usually have great visuals. AND you can cut the old ones up and use them for crafts!

Consider a lending library or just a basket of used children's books and magazines specifically for kids. Expect them to get battered, bruised, and used. Some of our libraries in the city have a "Bring one, take one" rack. Probably lower maintainance than a lending library.

I also think Rochester once had a toy lending library.

Just some ideas for communities (large or small) looking to simplify their individual lives, still taking advantage of all the stimulating resources out there.

I suppose it could also work as an outreach tool to the community, open Saturday mornings 10 to 2 or something. (Depending on your neighborhood.)

New Magazine (ages 2-6)

If you're a fan of the magazine Highlights for Kids, the Highlights people are launching a new magazine for kids ages 2-6: High Five (Celebrating Early Childhood).

34 pages. Big. Bold. Colorful. Fun read-aloud stories, crafts and simple movement activities all encouraging the sense of childlike wonder, creative thinking, and life-long learning we've come to recognize as typical Highlights style.

Way to go, Highlights!!

formed...transformed...

One of the challenges for children's ministry (probably any ministry) is the desire to see God working in people's lives. I googled "children transformed lives" on Google. Interesting list of transforming influences. Then I added "Christ" and here are some interesting finds for you:

A church where the pastor sees lives transformed. What's interesting here is that the adult focus seems to be transformation and the child focus seems to be character formation. That sounds like fodder for an interesting discussion if you're willing to share your thoughts.

Quote:
"But transformational ministry grows out of people who are being changed. “Transformed Lives” starts with each of us – staff, missionaries, the board ... you."

You can only tell so much from a website but this is a very impressive list of ministries transforming the lives of children and families. It came up because this is on their website: "We believe encounters with Jesus Christ transform lives." Explore the site, the work they're doing is inspiring.

This is an inspirational article for Youth ministry from Group.

This is
Josh McDowell's newsletter . I've not read his stuff in a very long time but he's definately focusing on the transforming power of Christ. But he also sees postmodern thinking as a stumbling block for youth? Any thoughts about this?

Local - this weekend

If anyone is local and interested, this free conference coming to Rochester this weekend. The focus is Community Solutions for At-Risk Students with a focus on family, school, and faith-based organizations working together for the sake of their children.

This is also the weekend of the Rochester Children's Book Festival.

And don't forget the ECC

And of course you can check out the ECC and the Resources for Children and Family Ministy on their website, too. If I remember correctly they have resources specifically for small churches and rural churches but I'm not sure, you'll have to check it out.

Children's Ministry in Small Churches

Someone was looking for Children's Ministry resources specific to a small church. I haven't read the books and I've not read each of these articles word for word but hopefully something in this list will inspire you! If you don't mind inspiration from this side of the ocean. :)

And ok, the links worked when I tried them. If they don't work tell me.

Help I'm a Small Church Youth Worker

Shepherding the Small Church

Scroll all the way down to the article on the bottom. “How
Smaller Churches Can Reach Children”

Article: “The Time Has Come”

Article: "Ideas for how to cope if your church is small"
(this one's from the UK)

Article: “Let the Children Come”

Article: “Small Churches Up to Big Things”

Article: “Life on the edge: a small church redefines its mission”
from (Christian Century, July 12, 2003 by Richard H. Bliese)

Dipping into newer material

I was browsing through information from the most recent children's spirituality conference. I found a couple of interesting articles the other day when I didn't have time to read them.

If you're exploring Jewish Holidays, this also looks interesting.

If you scroll down past the homeschooling stuff. Don Ratcliff has some other interesting material including Experiencing God and Spiritual Growth With Your Child. Apparently it's a free download.

Follow up Book

That's it, folks. There are some rich appendixes and a wrap-up chapter "Looking Back, Looking Ahead," but there's already been another conference and a whole new book's worth of reading material at their website on line.

From what I hear, Children Matter, is a good follow-up book for Children's Spirituality. It's written by some of the speakers from the first conference exploring ways to apply all of this to children's ministry. It will be interesting to see how this affects our implementation.

CS Chapter 23

Sorry, this went out the first time before I finished it.

Chapter 23 "Ministering to Unchurched,Urban, At-Risk Children by Gary C. Newton author of Growing Towards Spiritual Maturity. This is a chapter written by someone who's first-hand experience with these kids surely guided his research. Here are some of his thoughts:

The thinking that ". . . one of the best ways to begin an outreach ministry to a people group of another culture is through its children..." often drives ministry. It's interesting that the successful organizations that he surveyed didn't consider working with parents and families a primary goal. Although they looked for opportunities to interact with and build relationships with families they focused more on leader/child relationships.

For this project he asked, "What are the components of an effective ministry to such children that eventually results in their long-term spiritual growth and development and the establishment of stable families, churches, and communities?" He describes himself as "ministering to the needs of unchurched children and their families living in my neighborhood." (CS p. 383) It would be interesting to track these kids from the organizations he surveyed into adulthood.

To me, his concern with "long-term" and his experience reaching out "in my neighborhood" are significant. He's also been doing this for 34 years. (CS p. 383)

He looked at 15 programs that focus on unchurched, urban, at-risk children across the US and Canada (kids 8-12). He asked pastors and leaders what they considered to be "the most effective children's outreach ministries in each city that seem to have produced the most fruit in terms of changed lives, families, and communities." His students at Huntington College interviewed the leaders of these organizations by phone or questionaire. (CS p. 384)

When you're talking about Christian formation you can look inward or at individuals but when you're talking about long-term change in children that ultimately affects and effects a whole community of people, the way the work of the first apostles did, numbers become significant. Long-term changes in hundreds of people (hundreds of children) and the generations that follow - that's significant. (CS p. 385-388) But I guess that's the goal, isn't it. Or maybe not, but Jesus does that, doesn't he?

The details in this chapter make this is a valuable read for anyone serving or thinking about serving unchurched, urban, at-risk kids. Too many details to blog about, so I won't bore you, but definately worth reading.

Words

After the last post (which doesn't seem to be showing on the first page of the blog) at least on my machine...

My husband and I were talking about stress and kids and he (bless him), as he's know to do, challenged the word nuances.

"cope" appropriate when you're talking about terminal illness but how about other stressful situations? Is it sufficient to help a child just cope? He said there's something called a coping saw that makes fine grooves so two different pieces fit together just right. I think of it as making peace, that kind of making peace. Helping someone make sense of a situation or at least come to some kind of peace.

"deal" we deal with situations. We deal with life. Is that an appropriate expression of faith?

"resilience" I actually like that describer as an outcome of faith

"overcome" Sometimes that's a more appropriate response. Maybe always? Is that what peace is?

What do you think?

More from Chapter 22: Helping Children Cope with Stress

The authors feel strongly that there's a lot more work to do before they can draw conclusions but they make suggestions about how caring adults can help children cope with stress. And I'm adding some of my own comments. Hopefully, I'm understanding what they're saying:

A child's worldview significantly affects how a child faces stress in life. It helps to know to what degree a child's religion or faith influences their view of the world. How does the child perceive God? Does the child see religious or spiritual implications to the crisis he/she is facing? If so what are they? In order to join a child and empathize, the adult also has to assess his/her own view of the situation, and identify ways that he/she is thinking the same and different. (CS pg 376-7)

What spiritual/religious resources are available to help a child cope? (CS pg 376-7)

-a child's religious/spiritual beliefs and activities (routines?). The concerned adult's spiritual beliefs and routines. I'm wondering if they're thinking activities like devotions and prayer as opposed to how-tos but any combination could potentially be helpful.

-the religious/spiritual people in a child's life, relevant religious institutions, their faith community, religious/spiritual texts. They also suggest that it's good to know how the child's developmental level, social influences and the supernatural elements of the situation are affecting the child's potential resources. (CS pg 376-7)

Here's the thing. If you have a terminally ill child, sometimes parents can help a child cope. Sometimes the affects of the child's situation on the parents make them less able to help, but maybe the faith community can help. If a crisis affects the whole faith community, they might not be a helpful resource to the child in this particular situation. If a child is going through parental divorce, the parents may not be the best resources to help them cope. If the faith community or extended family members disapprove of the situation or are otherwise unable to empathize with the child, they might not be a useful resource to help a child cope in that particular situation. If a resource is pulling out lots of negative passages from the scriptures as opposed to comforting, encouraging, empathetic passages about God or if the passages being used say the opposite of what a child is going through, the child might not see this as a useful resource. I think that's what they're implying. All of this will also depend on the age of the child, the spiritual social network around them and what God does supernaturally to intervene.

And when we're talking about outcome, what does positive or negative mean? What does "end result" mean? They will be different for the child who is dying than they would be for a child suffering from relational issues at home.

The key here, is probably growing the ability to see the situation through the eyes of the child and maybe, by the grace of God, through God's eyes, too. It's something multi-dimensional and very relational.

There's an Emerging Women's blog?

For whatever virtual cyber reason, the most recent emergingkids post never seems to come up on the first page for me but other people seem to find it, because they comment. . .hmm. . .while I was trying to make sense of that, I found this Emerging Women Blog from the Pacific Northwest. I haven't read it yet.

Tomorrow - the promised chapter 22 about children coping with stress. It's almost done.

Blog Overhauls and Our Invisible God

The two are actually not related.

If you've ever commented here, you're probably on my blog list. Every once in a while I go through and try to catch up. Baby blogs first 'cause they're changing fast (ok, I'm a mom and I love the stories and the pictures!)

So this is my day to catch up. Artisan is in transition adding forums. I knew that. But today it seems like EVERYONE has changed their blogs. (Nice changes, I might add.) Maybe there's an unspoken rule that you overhaul every 3 years?

I think about changing the template and I almost posted my spider web photo. . .
ok, here it is. I remembered how to load photos. :-)

This is entitled, Spider Web (or why I don't clean my house) - also inspiration for a poem.

When I first saw this, I thought, no wonder people believed in fairies! (the poem is about fairy bridges)

Then I thought about what this delicate creation reveals about God. Do you ever think of God being capable of something so delicate?

Something to do with children. Pick something God has made and just sit and watch and use all your senses. What can you learn about God . . . think about some invisible attribute of God that you can see. . .

from Chapter 22 Coping with Stress

Did I ever post this article about Children in Emerging Churches (2005) from Don Stott's blog. Scroll down his blog to 9.26.06 about children's biggest fears. That's probably enough of a post in itself. When you come back, here's Chapter 22 of Children's Spirituality - research about the spiritual influences that help children cope with stress.

This chapter is written by Sara Pendleton- a professor of pediatrics, Ethan Benore- a doctor in Clinical Psychology, Katherine Jonas - a counselor, Wendy Norwood- who also has a counseling degree, and Carol Herrmann who has conducted studies of missionaries and their children. Alot of this was more clinical than I was willing to wade through but here are some interesting thoughts:

"Children are not just 'little adults.'" (CS p 363) There are three things that often influence a child's coping strategies:

-religious/spiritual development which seems closely tied to cognitive development
-social influences (a child's family and faith community) which can be positive or negative
-supernatural influences - (surprisingly) acknowledged by these particular researchers as a significant factor

It appears that "Children [as opposed to adults?mh] are more likely to rely on God during times of stress rather than avoid God's help and cope autonomously." (CS p. 370)

Children having a model of resilience is an important influence. MK's (children of missionaries) in particular often face the stress of living and traveling between different societies, poor living conditions, adjusting to new people and environments, work-related separation from parents and siblings, political unrest. (CS p. 374) I'd venture to guess that any one of these would be stressors for children who aren't MK's. MK's probably face these stressors more than most. Research has shown the modeling of their parents a very significant influence.

This is an important observation in today's world even off the mission field - a time when both parents are often so committed to their careers, : "When MKs felt valued by their parents and integrated into their parents' mission, they demonstrated a positvie attitude toward their situation, their role as MKs, and their parents' work. . . when MKs felt their parents placed their work first, and spent a minimum amount of time or were minimally involved with them, they experienced and expressed negative attitudes with reference to growing up in a missionary environment." (CS p. 375) The second half of this is probably a good example of faith coping strategies back-firing.

Most of these researchers see children battling serious illness. This is the primary stressor used in the beginning of the chapter. When a child's worldview, the adults in their lives, and God's healing influence re-enforce God's unconditional love for them and His presence with them it leaves the child able to cope in what we would consider a positive way. If a child's worldview leaves him/her asking what he/she did wrong, why God is punishing him/her, or interceding with the expectation of divine intervention, as God's expression of love, only to get worse - this doesn't have a positive affect on the child's ability to cope. I hope I interpreted what they were saying correctly.

"...children who view God as ever-present, benevolent, and view themselves as personally responsible for maintaining a strong relationship with God and strong religious/spiritual life, may in the process develop a buffer against the impact of stressful events. [A worldview like this] along with child and family religious/spiritual behaviours, may foster the style of coping and use of specific coping strategies which are most beneficial to children." ( CS 375-376)

The next section- and a separate post- is particularly for those who work with kids .

Emerging from Merging Worlds Revisited

CS Chapter 22. How long is it taking me to get through this book? I feel like I'm in school again...but I enjoy it when I sit and read it. I have to confess, even though all this is truly worth reading, the primary reason I'm persisting is because I said I would ... If you weren't there to blog to, (I wouldn't be blogging. . .) and I would have never finished this book with all its treasures. Thank you!

I also have to say to all of you who keep coming back, that everytime I visit YOUR blogs I'm reminded that you're very special people.

Reading and thinking about all the things I've been blogging about and being part of a group of people who are mostly under 35, I forget that I'm not fighting the same battles you are. The ground here is soft, at least. You're breaking hard ground with hoes and picks and shovels. It isn't soft. It hasn't been plowed for you. That part of the work is a tough dirty job.

You probably welcome ideas for kids and situations but it sounds like you're crying out for encouragement and the tools to win older generations to new methods so you don't lose the generations you're working with. Trouble is, the older generations run things. They hold the purse strings. So you're caught in a gap with a job to do but, in order to do that job, you have to spend alot of that time building bridges between worlds across deep treacherous chasms. When I talk about generations giving to and learning from each other and working together you probably cringe. Every generation tries to bridge that gap when they're parents but maybe the gap is inevitable because young birds have to fly. If you can keep your friendship, it's a win.

Sometimes scripture is comforting and encouraging and sometimes the human who wields it misses the mark. I hope this is encouraging.

Isaiah 43 (NIV)
18 "Forget the things that happened in the past.
Do not keep on thinking about them.
19 I am about to do something new.
It is beginning to happen even now.
Don't you see it coming?
I am going to make a way for you to go through the desert.
I will make streams of water in the dry and empty land.

Isaiah 43 is full of encouraging passages (and some sharp words too).
But that's my hope for you, that there will be streams of living water for you and that you won't lose anyone.

You're advocating for Jesus. You're advocating for children. Not a popular place to be. You're advocating for using tools that children are familar with to bring them to the one and only Ancient-Yet-Living God who is there for every generation. You're trying to kick the debris out of the road but other people don't see it. They wonder if you're even on the right road.

I'm guessing that if you love Jesus and His Word and you encourage children to know Him and to walk in such a way that He knows them, you're on the right road. It's just a narrow road, a steep road (full of adventure) but steep and narrow. The Lord walk with you.

Check this out!

Check out CLPC Kids and their creative, thoughtful approach to the holiday coming the end of this month.

Assessing Spiritual Formation

In Chapter 21 of Children's Spirituality Joyce Ruppell talks about assessment.

Ms. Ruppell's methods are largely based on watching, listening, and recording. In the classroom this is used to adjust teaching methods or curriculum and to communicate with parents about a child's progress. It's also an active way to get to know our children, to make sure we're meeting needs, engaging them, and that the time spent is meaningful to them. Anytime you parent or teach a small group or a large group it's nice to know that what you're doing is working.

She talks about deliberately watching, listening, recording.

She suggests recording

- how a child feels about him/herself as revealed through a child's participation in planned activities. There are probably also other ways that this can be observed. (Self-Concept)
- (Attitudes towards others) a child's attitude towards others as revealed through a child's participation in group activities
- (Attitudes towards church) a child's attitude towards church as revealed through his/her response to corporate worship experiences
- (Attitudes towards Scripture, prayer, Jesus, God) a child's attitude towards Bible, prayer, Jesus, God as revealed through a child's dialogue and how that reflects a child's understanding

Asking a child questions about a story (is he/she recalling details, does he/she understand what it means, can he/she apply it to him/herself)

Examining drawings, listening to what a child says about his/her drawings or other creations and the stories behind what the child is expressing.

We could probably talk about whether you think these are good indicators or whether you think there are other indicators. Although I think these are really good tools to assess growth, skills, interests in young children I wonder if the way God assesses us is similar.

We call Him, "Teacher". How does He assess us? How well does He know us? What does He expect? How does He determine what we need, whether or not we're growing or "succeeding?" What does that look like?

Does He ever wonder whether or not He's succeeding and change His methods?

Developmentally -Appropriate in a Multigenerational Setting? 2

- a community of children and adults giving of their skills, interests, talents.

- community of children and adults helping one another in simple ways and more complex ways.

- keeping promises to children and to other adults and more - keeping our word. Calling one another on it when we don't. I fall short.

- children and adults learning to listen together.

- opportunities to use all the senses

- providing varying levels of age appropriate challenges

-giving children opportunity for age appropriate problem-solving and critical thinking

-being patient and creative with individual differences.

-displaying child artwork and other visuals at a child's eye level. Taking into consideration a child's eye level when an event is planned.

-considering simple vocabulary when an event is planned.

-look for opportunities to experience something more than an explanation or a moral.

-sharing experiences that a child or family can take home and repeat

-give children opportunities to role play, pretend, and manipulate their environment. This may be an activity for children to do at home or with other children or maybe a playtime after service.

-opportunities for active exploration and interaction. That would be hard unless it's intentionally made part of worship, maybe not weekly but on a regular basis.

-find ways to enable every child to succeed.

We'll look at her thoughts about assessment next time.

Developmentally -Appropriate in a Multigenerational Setting? 1

Again, from Joyce Ruppell's chapter Chapter 21 of Children's Spirituality

How do we implement developmentally appropriate elements in multi-generational gatherings? Looking at the list she gave for early childhood classrooms, I don't think this is impossible. But we may need to tweek our worship services a little here and there. :-) It might look a little bit like this:

-Leaders of multigenerational gatherings attentive to opportunities to draw in the littlest folk. Multi-layered experiences. If you're telling a story about someone drawing water from a well, or carrying water in a clay jar. Have a jar (preferably clay) to lift and touch. Have water to drink and touch.

-"Giving adequate support and resources to ensure high-quality developmentally appropriate practices for children." Layered learning experiences. Some educational publishers used what's called a "spiral curriculum." They start with basics at K-1 level and add depth and detail each year.

-"considering groups of children as communities of learners in which relationships among adults and children support development and learning." I would include older children and peers here. It's possible to teach a lesson during worship and divide into groups that engage in age appropriate experiences. Using stations as a learning tool during worship. Making time for individual and small group discussions. Some of these things will take more time than the traditional 10-20 minutes. (preferably not more than 40. :-)

-"Acknowledging the importance of meaningful curriculum" You could (possibly) consider a family workbook in sections that even include something specific for teens and adults. When you chose passages that are particularly kid friendly, have a separate handout for adults that will take them deeper into the material during the week. When you have a message more focused on the adults, children can do more with workbook and crafts.

- having a team of people sensitive to developmental differences and able to distract kids (and adults) who aren't engaged into meaningful options. Or better, yet, equipping parents.

- a safe environment

- trustworthy adults

- adults making/taking opportunity for children to make contributions and decisions that are meaningful to the child.

- adults taking opportunities to show a child that he/she matters.

- adults that take time to listen to any child's question.

- adults taking a child's questions, comments, and feelings seriously, (unless they're trying to be funny, then you'd better laugh. :-) We won't talk about the age when they discover "the joke book."

A profound comment

There was a speaker at school recently, Allan Johnson. He probably has a website. I'm not sure. Unfortunately I didn't go because of a previous commitment.

Last night, our principal told us that one of the most profound things he said was that if you're not modeling what you teach, you're teaching something else.

Developmentally -Appropriate

Initially, chapter 21 is one of my favorite chapters:

"In a world of adults, young children frequently confront situations that make them feel incapable, insecure, and sometimes unwanted." She illustrates this with the familiar comments we make to children: "Not now! When you're older." or "That's for grownups, not children." or "Don't touch that! You might break it! (CS p. 343)

"It is true that in the first five years of life children have different understandings, skills, and responsibilities than adults. However children are equipped with an amazing array of capacities that make thoughtful, loving ministry to them a necessity. " (CS p. 343) We don't think much about the responsibilities of young children. Something interesting to think about: your responsibilities when you're 1 or 2 or 3 years old.

Research confirms that a child's environment and the way people relate to the child affect a child's brain development. (CS p. 343)

"Children who are attracted to Jesus are never told they have to wait until they fully understand theological concepts before they can come to Him. He did not preach to them or reprimand them but instead 'laid hands on them' (Matthew 19:15) and told adults to 'turn and become like children' (Matthew 18:3)."(CS p. 343) In other words, he didn't moralize and continually correct them. Instead, He blessed them.

How often, she asks, are adults guilty of giving children misinformation about God that robs them of the desire to draw near to God to know how much He loves them and how much they matter to Him? The most critical element, she says - what kids need most - is "a relationship with caring adults who can lead them to contemplate God's intended plan for their lives. How often are Christian education practices keeping children away from Jesus? The developmental needs of children must be met if adults are to be supportive of their spiritual development and not become a hindrance." (CS p. 344-345)

She also makes some great comments about developmentally appropriate practices (p. 346), preparing teachers (CS p. 347) , giving resources to children instead of leftovers (CS p. 344, 356), developmentally appropriate curriculum (CS p. 350), developmentally appropriate assessment ( CS p. 350-352) , teachers and parents working together. (CS p. 354-356)

What challenges my thinking, what I want to ponder here, is how can we use this if we're not offering age-segregated Christian education but instead, we're gathering everyone together. How do we apply this?

Another bibliography and resources

Before I tell you about the next chapter in Children's Spirituality,if you like to read, this is Joyce Ruppell's bibliography. She wrote chapter 21: "Using Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Faith-Based Early Childhood Settings". I was going to list the couple books she mentioned but it turns out she's made available a much longer bibliography.

And, on the same page, you'll find a link for books that are specifically "research-based" if you prefer that approach. And notice the on-line book for families.

I really encourage you to take a look at this whole page and follow some of the links if you're looking for more to ponder about spiritual formation and children. Just looking at the titles of the papers and presentations I expect you'll be seeing some significant changes in your lifetime. Not sure if they have an e-forum. That would be interesting, wouldn't it!

Scripture with Sound Effects

Well, I forgot to ask which Bible translation the guys at Artisan are using in the family workbook . . .

Not to pick on Artisan but I have to blog about this. (First hand observations and all that. And Artisan is still really working this idea of including the kids.)

Tonight was rather unique. Pastor Brian usually does the moment for kids/families. He also had the sermon tonight. He tried something new. He spent the majority of his sermon time on the story complete with sound affects like last week. You'd be surprised at all the sounds you find in the story of Job. Check out the Artisan ipod download.

We've talked some about exploring faith and scripture with kids through the senses. I hadn't thought about this but the auditory (ok, maybe smell) is probably one of the senses that's given the least amount of attention (apart from music and listening to sermons), probably because it's not quiet and we tend to focus on meaningful activities for children during worship that are QUIET. :-

Interesting? So, he spent the majority of the time telling the story complete with audience generated sound effects and ended with some thought provoking comments for grown ups.

The thinking behind all my badgering about scripture as story is that the Living Word has the capability to tell it's own story complete with all the layers that the Holy Spirit can reveal. Now we get to find out if that's true. :-)

I always read this passage from Isaiah believing that the Word (or story) had to be verbatim (Holy scriptures). Ah, but which translation. I still believe we have to handle the Word with care but it isn't fragile. God's words (God's Word) created the heavens and the earth before it was written down (before He came to earth). This is one of my favorite passages.

Isaiah 55:10-12 (NIV)

10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Interesting that this is followed by:

12 You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.

Sounds like worship!

Internal/External

I think the heart of the difference in focus expressed by the last two researchers is that they're saying a child's spirituality isn't just something internal. All of a child's relationships and the various environments they walk through every day play a significant role in a child's faith development. Is that support for Christian schools? Home school?

Thinking about scripture, if anyone could write a biography about someone from the inside out, God could do that. If I look at the stories of scripture I do see a weaving of environments and relationships. I don't read alot about the internal faith of the people that God uses. I hadn't really thought about it before. Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, are the exceptions - more of the internal workings of faith but apparently David and Solomon were writers - maybe not literally but enough that their thoughts and feelings were recorded. Maybe Paul in the New Testament, too.

The Conference that Children's Spirituality is based on is focused on "spirituality" as a relatively new dimension of humanness to explore in the realm of social science research but let's call it faith. I think the hope is that this research will help us better lead and nurture our children in faith.

If we're talking about faith I don't think we can separate the inside from the outside. I don't think God does. Does He? We can't always control a child's environment or a child's relationships. Some will disagree but I like to think God can, but He doesn't always do it the way we'd like Him too. Maybe it takes us back to giving kids the faith tools and the skills to process life. What are they?

What do you think? Would these realizations change how you minister to children? If so, how?

CS on "Social Dynamics"

The second half of chapter 20 talks about the Social Dynamics of Childhood Spiritual Formation (James Riley Estep, Jr.).

Backtracking a little:
In the first half of this chapter, in my futile attempt to keep it short, I didn't tell you their take on the negatives of using the concept of "spiritual formation" in ministry. They list 4 considerations:
1) It implies a responsibility of people to form spirituality in other people [mh: as opposed to God accomplishing this?].
2) It's often based on a linear model "suggesting that if certain experiences or activities are planned, then specific desired spiritual outcomes will be achieved."[mh: as opposed to growth that may not be based on cause-and- effect?]
3) if you use it as an objective you assume it can be measured and often people who set goals and objectives assume that any goals or objectives that can't be measured are less than adequate [mh: or not important?].
4) it's usually seen as a progressive process in which higher levels of achievement can be clearly identified [mh: which may not necessarily be the case?].

Random notes:
Apparently, social scientists over the past decades haven't paid much attention to social, cultural and historical influences on human learning and development. Researchers are beginning to accept that these influences are just as important as genetics, biology, and environment. (L. Vygotsky) (CS p. 334)

Another different way of thinking (L. Vygotsky) is that the ability to learn isn't based on developmental level but the process of learning facilitates cognitive development. Learning requires that the child process the socio-cultural context in which he/she lives. (CS p. 334)

"[intentional] teaching facilitates learning that in turn advances the process of cognitive development" which comes as a child appropriates his/her socio-cultural context. (CS p. 334)

"The community of faith is an essential and primary element for spiritual formation. Spiritual formation is dependent on conducive relationships that help advance faith. . .Childhood faith is a dependent faith, dependent not only on individuals as care-givers and spiritual role models, but on the community of faith as a preservative of the corporate tradition of spirituality it embraces and embodies." (CS p. 337)

"Spiritual formation is not simply an internal process, but begins with the process of acquiring the spiritual tradition of the community of faith in which the individual engages."(CS p. 337)

"...spiritual formation in the child is not simply to be seen as an age-related, staged and sequenced phonomenon, but as an individual journey taken in the company of others that may or may not be strictly tied to age." (CS p. 337)

It is holistic. It is "not linear or unidirectional." They prefer to use zones, as opposed to steps or stages. Spiritual growth occurs or faith growth occurs when the community communicates the message and when the child experiences the message of faith in ways that are social, psycho-motor and behavioural. (CS p. 338)

They see acquiring spiritual vocabulary as an essential tool for spiritual formation, definately for talking about it. (CS p. 339)

"More-mature-others and deliberate instruction are essential for spiritual formation" particularly in the cognitive realm. This includes older children working with younger children and other forms of mentoring. (CS p. 339)

"Spiritual maturity is a life-long process." It's seen more as a spiral than as a line with a beginning and end. The hope is to transform instinct and lower thought - process to higher, spiritual, Christ-like thinking. (CS p. 340)

The focus is more on spiritual formation (application), less on defining "spirituality." Not neccessarily new to our experiences but apparently a new approach to Learning Theory as applied to spirituality and spiritual formation. I tend to say, that if we look at the scriptures, much of this is there. Interesting?

CS: the Ecology of Childhood Spirituality

More from Children's Spirituality. Chapter 20. "The Ecology and Social Dynamics of Childhood Spirituality" by James Riley Estep, Jr. and Lillian Breckenridge. I'll try to keep it short. Bits and pieces from the first part from An Ecological Perspective-Lillian Breckenridge. I hope this makes sense:

The author says we must understand the spiritual growth or "spiritual formation" of children not only in terms of what is going on inside that child but the individual child in the context of his environment. The environment that affects a child's spiritual growth isn't just home, school, church, etc but also the way these influences affect each other and the ways they're connected. Example: the child's experience at school (a child's ability to read) influences his/her experience at church (having to read and write to learn about Jesus.) (CS p. 325)

"...development never takes place in a vacuum but it is always expressed through behaviour in a particular environmental context." [Brofenbrenner, 1979] (CS p. 329)

"If spiritual formation is viewed as permeating every aspect of the individual, it should be understood in a way that is consistent with general principles of human development...at the same time there is a basic difference. One's spirituality is greater than the sum of the other areas of development...fundamental to human experience.. ...all of one's humanity and more...it eludes measurement. . . (CS p. 329)

As children deal with life and grow in spirit, they adapt and change. This affects every part of the child's life. If life is the context for spiritual development, the process of spiritual formation as seen in Sunday school is "development-out-of-context." True spiritual development takes place where all the systems interact in context. (CS p. 331)

"Spiritual formation is experienced in terms of ability to adapt spiritually to increasingly complex life experiences as one ages." Our spiritual development is part of our identity. As life gets more complex our identity grows and develops. (CS p. 331) Breckenridge suggests that maturity is the ability to be self-directed and self-supporting while staying connected with others and God. (CS p. 332)

It takes some vigilence to notice how different experiences affect a child and it takes wisdom from above when they need help to process these things as they relate to God through these experiences. The comment that our spirit and the Spirit of Christ in us doesn't exist in a vacume - I think "vacume" but I didn't realize that I think that way. But, of course, Jesus didn't come to earth and live in a vacume or a monastery even as a child. Does recognizing the multi-system context of a child's life and it's affect on that child's faith affect how parents, teachers and Christian educators lead, guide, and nurture them? If so, how? What's different? What's new about this kind of thinking? Some interesting things to think about.

Artisan Moves

Artisan moved to the German House, an old party house. Very cool, if you like old buildings. And it's close to downtown.

We were able to have all ages in the same room, a corral for walkers and round tables where the kids could work and parents could listen and watch toddlers all at the same time. Putting the kids under the balcony helped send the noise down instead of out and to tell you the truth the kids were really good. Most of the sounds were barely noticable.

Before Jason preached from Esther, the kids stayed at their tables and Brian dressed up with a cape and mask and told the story of Purim and invited kids and adults to boo and hiss and use noisemakers when he mentioned the name of the villain. He told the story. Yay! Then they ate three-cornered cookies. Quite fun!

The kids made masks at the table.Each table has a green plastic table cloth, a reserved-for-families-with-kids sign and a plastic shoe box full of supplies. It worked nicely. (The adults got chairs and tall bar tables on the side but no craft supplies :-) It's a building full of nooks and crannies on a city street, no green space, so we have to watch our little ones more closely but they're still little and less apt to explore the wide open spaces. It's great to have everyone together and there's lots of grow room. It worked nicely.

NIrV

Bible Gateway has the NIrV now. Maybe it's been there and I just noticed it.

Generations

"For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100:5 (NIV)

". . .To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth."
Psalm 89:1 (NAS)

"The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
The plans of His heart from generation to generation." Psalm 33:11 (NAS)

". . .But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.
For He established a testimony in Jacob
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers
That they should teach them to their children,
That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born,
That they may arise and tell them to their children,
That they should put their confidence in God
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments,
And not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not prepare its heart
And whose spirit was not faithful to God." Psalm 78:4b (NAS)

After I published the last post, I went looking for the word "generation" at Bible Gateway (can you tell?) NAS has a couple more passages than NIV. And there are some passages that surprised me that I should go back to.

It's pretty amazing that the scriptures continue to cross generations, that His story endures, that the God of our faith remains faithful through all the technological and cultural changes that our parents and grandparents faced and that our children and their children have yet to face. It probably helps keep generational differences in perspective. We all have the potential to become a stubborn, rebellious, unfaithful generation. But as every generation passes away, God stays and he doesn't change. His Word remains and He stays faithful. Amazing and comforting!

Emerging from Merging Worlds

Somewhere between my generation and yours real life changed forms, and the communication that used to happen face to face, by written word (snail mail) or telephone between friends, relatives and business aquaintances became communication that happens via internet (blogging) creating a virtual community that can connect people regionally and all over the world. It's real but it's different.

People use the internet today the way we used to use encyclopedias, card catelogues, the periodic guide, libraries, people. People used to write, make phone calls, sit around and eat or talk. Sometimes this amazing technology enables us to get far more work done than we would ever do without it. Sometimes we feel like it's really good stuff but it distracts us from "more important things". You guys will have a very different take on all this than my own generation just because you've been there longer.

How does this virtual world affect the kids you work with? How does it affect their faith? How does it affect the way that you work with them? What do you see in scripture? I'm guessing God had a reason for bringing Jesus into this world where and when he did. This particular era is unique as well. Given these technological tools what do you think your generation can accomplish that other generations couldn't? What about the kids you work with 30 years from now?

Another source for CM blogs

Here is a really interesting resource. It's a google/bloglines version of "people who read _____, read _____." You may have already seen it. Lots of CM blogs. Some of them, you already know about. Some, maybe not.

"A sidebar would be nice," they said.

If some of us were as technosavy as the rest of you, we would know how to list all these links in the side bar. :-)

Ok, so either you have to work harder and go searching for things when you come :-) or I have to work harder to figure out all the things I don't know.

Hard choice. :-)

When life slows down alittle, 5 chapters left. But as it turns out, (you might like to know) that the book Children Matter is the practical application book based on the first Children's Spirituality Conference (the version I've been reading) If you'd like to read what the experts are doing with some of this, that's the place to go.

Another blog

I think I forgot to include Christie's Blog (Days 'Til Sunday), last time I listed blogs. (This is not the Christie who lives at my house holidays and summers. This is Christie from Days 'Til Sunday. :-) Maybe I listed it a while ago. My brain is getting old.
Enjoy!