Out of the mouths of babes, part the thousandth.

As we were learning about the Christmas story in the older Sunday School group, I decided to make some Old Testament-New Testament links by using the book The Animals' Christmas, which makes links between the Nativity and Isaiah 11 (the Peaceable Kingdom).  The book concludes with a group of animals, both predators and prey, around the manger (see picture).  I finished reading, and started the wondering questions by saying "I wonder what you can see in this picture."  I hoped they would start naming the animals, leading us to a discussion of the fact that there were animals both eating and eaten around the manger, and thus to a discussion of Jesus as the prince of peace.

This is what happened instead.

"God," one kid said.

"You can't see God," someone else said.  "How do you know he's there?"

"Can you see love, or hope?" I asked.

"Maybe the beam of light is God," the original child responded.

Safe and happy.

Last Sunday, we did the story of Jesus and the teachers in the temple in the older Sunday School group.

The kids had some wonderful ideas about what Mary, Joseph and Jesus would have been thinking and feeling at different parts of the story, as well as why Jesus would have chosen to go to the Temple instead of somewhere else in Jerusalem.

One child suggested that the Temple was where Jesus felt "safe and happy."  So I grabbed on this and used it as my theme for introducing our activity (which was to use the various art supplies that were out - clay, paint, felt tips, craft sticks, pipe cleaners, etc., to make a picture or model of a place that is special to us.)  I told children to make or draw "a place that makes you feel safe and happy."

Several children made very elaborate paintings of their own houses.  One did a brightly coloured painting of the trampoline in her back garden.  One did her grandmother's house and told me her grandmother had died last year.  I happened to be doing a painting of my late grandfather's house as well, so this gave us a chance to talk about bereavement, which was unexpected but pastorally important.  Two boys, who are brothers, made sculptures of each other (a person can be your safe and happy place, can't they?).  And one boy did a 3-d model of the Garden of Eden.

People, this is why I do this job.

New term, new post!

Hi there, everyone.  Sorry for the summer break - I was in Thailand for a few weeks, then running a very intense Summer Programme (see pictures of our children making a Narnia film here!), and then getting ready for the new year, which hasn't left much time for blogging.

But I'm back and ready to share this coming year with you.  Lots of things are happening - since it's the inter-regnum, I'm now doing assemblies at Hawkesdown House School every week, instead of every other week, so I'll have some assembly ideas for you all.  We've also started our Youth Group, with a group of seven 11-to-13-year-olds, who are all wonderful and amazing in their own ways.  We're doing the New Testament in our older group and the Old Testament in our younger group, so we'll have some lesson plans and craft ideas, as well as reports on "stuff kids say in Sunday School."  And finally, as the publication date of my book, There is a Season: celebrating the church year with children comes closer, we'll have promotions and contests and proposed cover images for you all to comment on.

But to start with, I wanted to reflect on the two and a half years I've already spent here, and the changes that have happened in that time.  This job revolves around ritual and the building of communal tradition.  Looking over old photos, I began to realise how many new traditions have already become a part of our work and worship with children at St. George's.  Some of these were my own idea, some came from Father Michael or Father Robert, some were compromises worked out over several staff meetings, and some are transplanted traditions from my own childhood, which I am now passing on to the children at St. George's.

But here they are:

1. Blessing "Bread for the Journey," which has been made by children at our Family Days or in Sunday School, at the end of our All-Age Eucharists.

Our congregation is very attached to the use of wafers, rather than real bread, as communion bread.  However, the children bake bread as a part of many of their celebrations together, and I wanted it to be used in our worship together - bread is a symbol of community and the Body of Christ, and so having the children's bread be used in a liturgical setting was important for reinforcing this.  I didn't want "their" bread to just be sent home with them - I wanted it to be part of our life together and a sign of God's presence among us.

So Father Robert suggested that on these occasions we adopt the Orthodox tradition of blessing bread "for the journey," which is handed to the congregation at the end of the service.  This way, the children themselves can take charge of the distribution, and, more importantly, partake of the bread, even if they don't yet receive communion.

2. Holy Week and Easter (3 traditions).  Many of our children are away over the Easter holidays and don't celebrate Easter itself with us.  So on the first Sunday back, after the holidays, we celebrate Easter together by acting out the stories of the Great Vigil of Easter, reading out the sermon of St. John Chrysostom, and, shouting "CHRIST IS RISEN!!" going into the Sunday School room, Hallelujah chorus blasting from the CD player, and eating cake together.  (This liturgy is included in the book, by the way.)

But even before that, we have two traditions during Holy Week itself - on Palm Sunday, the children carry a banner and lead the procession into the church, then go upstairs and, while the adults read the passion, we act it out.

And on Good Friday, we have our children's stations of the cross, which is, for me, one of the most profound spiritual experiences of the year.  I look forward to it not only for what it does for the children, who always amaze me with their insights and their willingness to engage with the story, but for me.

3. Ascension Day Balloon Release.  Okay, this can't be called a tradition yet because we've only done it once, but it was so fabulous we're definitely doing it again.  Before the blessing and dismissal, we sang a hymn and processed out of the church - the sidesmen (who were both women) were waiting by the door with bunches of helium balloons (biodegradeable balloons on biodegradeable ribbons) and handed one to each of us.  We gathered outside, read a prayer, and then, as the priest said, "God has gone up with a shout!" we released our balloons!  I'm thinking that next year we might attach cards with the church's name and address to the ribbon, so people who find the balloons will know where they came from.

4. "People, Look East" Christmas pageant. This is a Nativity play we do as the main service on the third Sunday of Advent.  This will be our third year.  It's a dramatised service of Lessons and Carols, and it IS the main Sunday service, not just a part of it or a separate event.  The children have become familiar with the lessons, helping them to put the birth of Jesus in its theological context.  Doing the same play year after year is a liturgical experience - you hear the first line and think "oh yes, this is like Christmas last year - and the year before that."  The play, and its religious content, becomes as familiar to you as the secular traditions that are repeated year after year, and as you grow in understanding, you see more and more depth to the play.

Traditions are important.  They help us mark the year, providing a shortcut, through the use of sense and memory, for our brain to realise, "oh yeah, it's THAT time!"  They also get easier and easier to do, as the congregation becomes used to how they work.  The first balloon release is nervewracking - you wonder if you have enough, if everyone can hear the prayers, if the hymn is long enough to get everyone out, if people will know when to release the balloons, etc. etc.  The second is easier, as people remember how to do it.  The third is a doddle.  It's important not to forget to try new things, but think carefully about what you might already be doing that could become a beloved tradition.  What are the really important times of the year?  How could you mark them with traditions?

1 Simple Thing the Church of England Can Do To Be More Welcoming to Children

      Add a section entitled “Children’s names and dates of birth” to the Electoral Roll form.  At present, churches have no way of keeping track of the names, ages, and contact details of the children they work with, unless someone takes the trouble to hunt down all the parents and get the kids’ contact details from them.  When I arrived at St. George's, I had a list of "people on the electoral roll who have children" - but no information about which kids in Sunday School belonged with which names on the list, or how old the kids were.  You can comb through the Baptism registry for some of this information, but not every kid coming to your church was baptised there.

Final track list for the youth group CDs.

For anyone who's interested, here's the track list.  The CDs will be presented in church on the last day of term this year, as we bless the children for their Sunday School year that's finishing and pray for them over the summer.  We have a special prayer for those moving from Sunday School to Youth Group, and that's when I'll give out the CDs.

1	Dear God 2.0	The Roots
2	River of Dreams	Billy Joel
3	Hallelujah	Leonard Cohen (sung by Rufus Wainwright)
4	Precious Lord	Traditional
5	Sabbath Prayer	From the musical Fiddler on the Roof
6	Let It Be	The Beatles
7	Picture of Jesus	Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama
8	On the Willows	From the musical Godspell
9	Letter to God	Sheryl Crow
10	Down in Yon Forest	Steleeye Span
11	By the Rivers of Babylon	The Melodians (sung by Tracy Wells)
12	Turn, Turn, Turn	The Byrds
13	Finale	From the musical Les Miserables
14	The Lord of the Dance	Sydney Carter (sung by The Revels)
15	Amazing Grace	Sung by Judy Collins
16	Now is the Cool of the Day	Jean Ritchie

Synchronicity!

Yesterday, the younger Sunday School group was doing the story of the Road to Emmaeus.  There was a bread-tasting table, with different kinds of breads on it (naan, breadsticks, gluten-free lemon biscuits, matzoh, granary bread, etc.) and a table where they could make their own "road" by putting peanut butter or Nutella on a row of biscuits and covering them with "pebbles" (big sugar dots) or "dust" (brown sugar strands).  They could then draw the rest of the scene on the paper plate.

But just as the storytelling was finishing - with the words, "Jesus is alive! We knew him in the breaking of the bread!  Alleluia!" the main church had reached the Gospel acclamation, and the whole congregation sang out "Alleluia - Alleluia - Alleluia!" echoing the final word of the story.

You can't plan for this stuff - it has to just happen.

This is all you need to know about my job.

The menagerie on my desk is getting out of control. The two cat sculptures I bought have been joined by a random lost plastic sheep and two Playmobil foxes that became leaderless when the Noah figure who came with them was co-opted to become Jesus in Palm Sunday sand tray storytelling. (Hey, he was barefoot and had a beard and could sit on the Playmobil horse.)