Ordinary Time

I wrote a reflection on ordinary time for Grow Christians that was posted yesterday.  You can find it here.  (Also, it is a really fun site to browse!)

Christ the King Sunday

We needed an errand after church while Jonah was at pageant practice. And since it was Christ the King Sunday a cheesecake was in order (because I'm fairly certain cheesecake is the official cake of the coming Kingdom.) Pumpkin cheesecake with a little chocolate drizzle and a paper crown added was just the thing.  Neighbors walked over (and saved us from eating a whole cheesecake). The boys ran for birthday candles and I thought it was a great use for the pile of pink candles that keep accruing in a house full of boys.   That said, the three year olds were singing "Happy Birthday dear king" so we may pass on birthday candles next year and avoid confusing Christ the King and Christmas. 

I am a bit in denial that advent begins next Sunday.  The weeks in this last stretch have flown by and I'm grateful but also eager to slow down, which is a perfect longing as we enter Advent.  Here's hoping it actually feels that way. 

Happy Christ the King Day!

Telling Time Together

There was a helpful question in the comments on my post Teaching My Children to Tell Time.  In short, the question was: what does it mean to live the church year if it isn't part of your tradition?  Is it something you need the church to support or can it be something you do alone?

The answer to this question is quite complex and something I would love to delve into at some point.   But the short answer is that while having a church community celebrating the church year together is ideal, I do believe it is something a family can do on their own.  I know families who are in churches that only celebrate Christmas and Easter; and yet these families live out the church year more fully at home.  Faith development happens primarily in the home and not at church.  The church is an important, even crucial part of faith development, yet home is the space where most of life happens and the foundations for faith are laid.

Our church is Episcopalian, but is also evangelical; so it is made of a unique mix of people from various backgrounds.  The banners change colors in front of our church, but many congregants would look at a circle of the church year and have no idea what they were looking at or why it would matter.   Others are outright skeptical of adding this extra-biblical element to the life of our church.  And while I love the church year, I don't think you need the church year.  It is fine to go through your spiritual life without it.  It simply has been the best tool I have found for orienting our lives around the biblical story and I cannot imagine life without it at this point.  It works so very well for us and we love the connection with the historical church. 

I am truly blessed to have friends at church who are also excited about living the church year intentionally.  And I am also blessed to have friends who are intrigued, happy to learn more and who will come along for a craft night, even if they aren't sure what it is they are making.

A friend organized a little get together to make wall hangings of the church year for in our homes and one for the godly play room.  Seven women came and with some good coupons and sharing the expense they cost around $5 a banner.  It is certainly a project where many hands make light work.  Some women cut while others glued and ten of these came together in a couple hours.  It was a lovely night of being together and working at something that will hopefully be meaningful in our individual homes and our life together as a community. 

Crafting Notes::

The burlap (we used a blue tone) is cut into 24 x 21 inch rectangles.  After the top is turned over to make a casing for a stick to hang the circle the completed banner is a 21 inch square.  I used a running stitch with embroidery thread to make the casing, others used the machine.

The tan wool-blend felt is cut in an 18 inch circle.  It is important to use felt so the arrow will stick in place while hanging on the wall.

The wedge shaped pieces that represent the weeks of the year are cut of wool blend felt.

The arrow is black wool-blend felt with a button hole cut at the end.  The button hole goes over a button you sew to the center of the circle.

We used clear tacky glue to put everything together.  Do be careful though if you use burlap as it goes right through.  Don't let your banner dry to the table.

The stick was found in my yard and the hanging string is off a large spool of jute twine that is an essential item on my crafting shelves.

*If I were to do it again I would make the wedge shaped pieces that represent the weeks slightly smaller and put them about a cm farther in from the outer edge of the circle.  I would then use a running stitch or blanket stitch to attach the circle to the burlap.

Happy Crafting!

Repost:: A Circle of the Church Year

I hope no one is tired of the church year yet, because I have a couple more posts to come.

Here is a re-post of a beautiful circle of the year a friend made.  I love the button, the embroidery, and the four arrows.  A group of friends from church gathered recently to make some wall hangings inspired by this circle which I'm excited to share in this space soon.

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 My friend Corey emailed me a picture of the circle of the church year she made to use with her children a while ago.  It was so lovely I asked if I could share it here.  I'm inspired and do believe many of you might be as well. 

While I love the church years with all the wooden pieces (like this one I painted for our church in St Andrews), it simply isn't practical in a home with small toddlers.  This is a lovely alternative.  I'd love to have something like this on our godly play shelves.  (That is if I can ever find some shelves that will work; on this one item the thrift stores have left me empty handed. I may just have to make them myself.)

The Church Year Puzzle

A couple years ago I wanted to use my birthday money to purchase a circle of the church year for our home.  I debated and debated whether to buy the godly play one or this more puzzle like version.  I'm really grateful that I chose the puzzle version.  My fear was that the godly play one, which is perfect in a classroom where children are supervised and are old enough to put it back together, would either have pieces lost or would have to primarily be kept up where toddlers couldn't reach it.  The puzzle version has so many less pieces so it can be tucked under the couch and is available for work whenever the boys want.  And my fears of lost pieces were well founded, I have on occasion found the pieces of the puzzle being used as swords or tucked with other toys somewhere in the house, but they are large and easy to find and I'm not hunting down 52 tiny rectangles!   After two years, one piece has a small chip, but nothing is missing.  The puzzle also self checks a bit more than the godly play version as many of the pieces only fit in one way so a young child can work with it alone and be truly seeing how the days fit together.  This is really a lovely resource for the home and a great way for children to play with the church year.  I purchased this puzzle from Faith Alive Resources, but don't see it on their website currently.

I love the shapes as they are an extra reminder of the three great sundays and helps the boys remember what the colors mean when I'm not working with them.

The star piece has a small chip and that piece in particular is hard to get in and out.  I'm afraid one day it might snap when small fingers are trying to get it out, but so far so good.  

My photo helper.  This boy loves the camera!

Clipping the Church Year

I remember taking pictures of this when I first made it.  In those photos it is on moving boxes that are about to be shipped to the US from Scotland.  In searching the blog I've realized those photos, which are on some hard drive somewhere, never made it to the blog.  It doesn't surprise me.  That was a very busy time for us and there are so many things I have photographed and that haven't made it to this space in the past few years.

Honestly, this has never been a popular work option, in Scotland or at St. Matthews (where our home copy is residing on the practical life shelves for the time being).  There really isn't much to it, but I loved the idea when I came across it here.  I used it a couple weeks ago with the children as we began our feast to review the colors of the church year and they really enjoyed taking turns finding and clipping the seasons.  

My version is laminated heavy watercolor paper with water colored clothespins.  

Repost:: Godly Play Circle of the Church Year

This is from the very first weeks of my teaching Godly Play.  I had read most of the theory before this and had been implementing what I could at home.  It is fun to look back and see where we have come.  I'm told Godly Play is still happening at our church in St. Andrews and now we have brought it to St. Matthews.  

And look at that precious three-year-old Jonah at the end of the post.  Isaac is wearing those same trousers today (though they look a lot more worn three boys in!)  This was written three days before Rowan was born; he turned six earlier this month.

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Three weeks ago we began the preschool godly play worship center at church. So far it has gone well. I'm excited about this montessori based curriculum and have been really impressed with the theology of Jerome Berryman, who wrote the curriculum and the book "Godly Play" (in which he has chapters on a theology of childhood and imagination!)

 I've been eyeing up the beautiful wooden puzzles of the church year, but I can't afford them. So for our first week of Godly Play at the church I used two pieces of cardboard and made our own circle of the church year. I loved teaching the lesson on the 'great green growing sundays' (aka: ordinary time), the four purple weeks of advent - waiting for the mystery of Christmas, the six purple weeks of Lent - waiting for the greater mystery of Easter, Easter - which is so great it spills into six more white Sundays and then red hot Pentecost! The kids loved it and Jonah keeps talking about 'hot Pentecost' and has been noticing all the green at the front of the sanctuary for the first time.

Daubing the Church Year

Isaac was given some daubers recently and the boys (and their friends) have been having a fabulous time with them.  It really is a fun way to work with paint when you don't want to smock up and have lots of mess afterward.  All this daubing gave me an idea.  

Generally in Godly Play we don't have crafts that you put together in a particular way.  But, the church year lesson does suggest you have materials for the children to make their own circle of the year.  I've done this in the past by having them glue bits and pieces, but this time we made a work option of daubing the church year.  Bingo Daubers can be used, we used the colors from this set and then used old postage stamp glue bottles dipped in paint for the white.  Alternatively, you can buy a set that you fill with Tempera paint like this.  (One of these sets is now on our Godly Play wish list.)

The prep is a bit intensive.  It took a friend and I two hours to make 15, but we were also figuring it out as we went,.  It would go quicker if we were to do it again (or if we had instructions which I'm providing for you below.)  It doesn't take the students long to finish the circle, and the children who chose this work option seemed to really enjoy it.

My boys didn't chose this work option, so I brought a couple home as I knew they would love making one.  They did!

For this work option you need::

Daubers (and paint if you are filling your own)

Floor Paper from the hardware store (a large roll can be purchased for around $10 - we made 15 and still have most of the roll left)

An 18 inch circle (We traced around a presentation bowl)

Markers in the colors of the church year 

 A white-out pen if you have one (I used a q-tip and white paint)

Red and White card stock for arrows 

Brads (I used a button and thick wire on the ones we did at home)

hole punch

To prepare::

1. Use a pencil to trace your 18 inch circle.  Cut your paper in a generous square around the circle 

2. Dip a dauber lid into black paint and stamp 52 circles on the outside of the circle. (Tracing a quarter would be the same size)

3. Using markers and white-out pen place a small dot of the colors of the church year in the 52 circles (4 purple, 1 White, 9 Green, 6 purple, 7 white, 1 red, 24 green).  With older children you can skip this step and let them follow an example.  

4. Cut two white and one red arrow for each circle.  I made mine 2 cm wide. 

5. Punch holes at the ends of the arrows

During the work time::

1. The student adds his or her arrows by putting them on the brad.  Then they push the brad through the center of the circle (you may need to help with this bit.)

2.  The student daubs the colors on the proper circles (a bit like paint by number)

Teaching my Children to Tell Time

Godly Play Circle of the Church Year

We are temporal creatures so very aware of the passing of time.  It intrigues me to watch each of my boys as they discover time.  Long before they can speak they seem to acquire a sense of past, present and future.  When they do begin to speak, tomorrow means anytime in the future and then at some point they understand that Christmas is not tomorrow and that Easter is even farther away.  Helping them to navigate this temporal development is so very important.  I love the emphasis alternative forms of education place on navigating time together by being in nature and celebrating the seasons, which grounds our children in time by the changing cycle of the natural world.  And along with the four seasons we have been so excited to teach our boys to tell time by the church year.

When Rowan entered K4 last year I realized that he had a hazy understanding of the months of the year.  However, he could easily explain the circle of the church year, telling about how the year begins at Advent and goes through Christmas and Great Green Growing Sundays.  He could explain that Lent was longer than Advent because Easter is an even greater mystery than Christmas.  Easter is so great that it spills into six more weeks and he delights in sharing about "Red Hot" Pentecost (which includes a lot of silliness and ouches as he pretends to be burnt by the heat of this day). 

I've been thinking a lot about the church year and why we have chosen to make it so central in our home.  I think the crux of it is a belief that if I can teach my boys to tell time by the weeks and seasons of the church year, whatever path they chose in life this great story that they are part of will stay close to who they are.  The very passing of time will be tied to God, his great story and his kingdom.  I'm not saying that means that they will chose to walk a path of faith or that the church year is going to make them Christians.  Indeed not.  In fact, it is when I hear stories of prodigals that it gives me comfort to know that whatever rebellious, dangerous or lonely path my boys may find themselves on, they will never enter December without remembering that this is Advent, a time to get ready for the mystery of Christmas; the birth of the Savior.  It gives me such hope to know that when they see plastic Easter eggs in the grocery store aisle they may remember that Easter is such a great mystery that it spills into six weeks of Alleluias.  "He is Risen; he is Risen Indeed" will surface in their memory.  I pray these seasonal changes will jog memories of the warm and celebratory moments our family shares as we walk through the biblical story together each year.  I pray that these memories will stir up the faith and trust I see in their young hearts now, and remind them of the goodness of being part of the kingdom of God, which is already here, though it is not yet fully realized.

So what does it mean to create a liturgy of our days that is tied to this other way of telling time?  How is it that my four year old knew more about the circle of the church year than he did the calendar?  There are lots of little things we do to celebrate the church year. We are intentional explaining why things in our home are changing colors and why new seasonal activities are added.  Over the next couple weeks, I'll be sharing some of the things we have tried. But even more important then the seasonal decorations and activities is my own journey towards a reoriented understanding of time. The church year has truly become the way I think of our days and months falling together.  And because of this,the very passing of time continues to draw me deeper into the great story we are all part of and into the coming kingdom.  

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Pentecost

A friend asked if we had plans for Pentecost last week.  We didn't, so plans ensued.  

Last summer when visiting my parents I went through my Mom's stash of red fabric and cut banner pieces for Pentecost.  Piecing it together was a fun project in spare moments this week, often with Mr. five in charge of the sewing machine peddle and Mr. 3 on my lap managing the backstitch.  We also made a banner by painting with orange and yellow on red card-stock and stitching the pieces to ribbon.  I used the banners in the godly play room this morning (pictures to come) and had fun hanging them in the tree by the tables tonight.  Rowan was delighted with our 'Pentecost Fort' and sat down to write out the lyrics to a song they sang at school this week while I set the tables.

"Tongues of Fire - Tongues of Fire

Rushing Wind - Rushing Wind

The Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit"

 The menu was fairly simple and I wasn't responsible for most of it.  We had 'red' chicken bbq sandwiches.  I made bread in honor of the Jewish festival of Pentecost, which is a grain harvest.  I shaped a large loaf like a sheaf of wheat and for the children's table made birds with a dusting of icing sugar to make them look like doves.  We had a green salad from the garden with radishes and beets for the red color.  Fruit represented the fruits of the spirit and red velvet cake balls finished out the night.

At the end of the evening we took out the six left over sparklers from last forth of July and some glow bracelets and read the first verses of Acts 2 before lighting them.

I do believe a Pentecost party has been declared a new tradition.  It was fun, fairly simple, and meaningful; all the pieces of a good celebration!

Our Favorite Advent Traditions

Looking for a new advent tradition?  Here are some of our favorites.

I am so excited to be living in the same home as we were last Advent.  Everything is so much more organized than in years past.  I've been thinking about advent the past couple weeks and am getting a few things ready for our preparation.  We are trying to simplify and do without all the sweets and extras before Christmas so that the twelve days are really special.  This is always a challenge and we certainly make exceptions for parties with friends and a few cultural events in the city, but our longing is for advent to be a time of preparation, fasting and waiting.  We are planning on just having lights on our tree when we put it up in a week or two and then slowly decorate it through the season.

Light in a Lantern  - This is my favorite advent tradition.  I love that This book engages our imaginations and sends us into nature to forge for items to make Mary and Joseph's journey as we travel through advent.  The stories are so whimsical and engaging I love them more each year we read them.
 




Jesse Tree - While Light in the Lantern is my favorite tradition I think the Jesse tree may be the most important.  I love that the Jesse tree reminds us that the birth of Christ was part of God's great story.  Having this as the central focus in our time of Advent is so very important.  I would love to add leaves with each of our boys symbols to represent their small part in this great story and something representing the forever kingdom to remind us that this story isn't over yet.  I've been reading about the history of Advent recently (primarily in this book) and am really wanting add more eschatological emphasis to our advent celebrations.

I was just given Ann Vorskamp's book Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas and have really enjoyed the bits I've read so far.  It has a reading for each day of the Jesse tree.  I think with the littles it will be wonderful to have an illustrated book to go along with the biblical readings and it will simplify things for me.  In the past we've used this website to guide us (though we mostly read the scripture from the bible or children's bibles and didn't use the devotional part much).

You can see all of the felt leaves we use in these posts, but there are printables at this website if you want to get started without all the stitching.


Advent Chain:  I don't know if we'll make one of these this year, but Jonah really enjoyed this study of Jesus' names when his class made it last year at their Christmas party.  We may do something with it on the Feast of the Name during the twelve days of Christmas.  Because it is a free printable it is an easy advent tradition to add.  It pairs very well with Sally Lloyd Jones' book Song of the Stars: A Christmas Story because she weaves the names of Christ through the book.

It is designed to hang and have one loop removed each day till Christmas.  You can then talk about that name of Christ and read the scripture listed on the loop.

I would do this in purple if making for an advent chain.  They made it for a Christmas decoration so it was gold and silver.

Christmas Books: Getting out our collection of Christmas books has always been a big part of our Advent celebration.  We've collected lots of books, some have been gifts and many have been finds at thrift stores.  There are so many wonderful stories that I wan to share, that last year I realized at the end of the season we hadn't read a few of them (though we had read others over and over and over).  So this year I wrapped up a package of books for each day of advent.  Every day has at least one book about the nativity story and then a couple books that range from traditional Christmas stories (The Gift of the Magi, The Nutcracker, The Night before Christmas...) to more modern children's literature (Olivia Helps with Christmas, Olive, the Other Reindeer, Madeline's Christmas...)  I'm excited about this and the boys are already eagerly eyeing the two baskets of books wrapped in brown paper bags.  I also sorted our Christmas tree ornaments last year, so when we read stories about birds we can add a birds to the tree, etc.

















On the Godly Play Shelves: Our banner will turn from the green of ordinary time to the purple of advent.  Our nativity and risen Christ are out all year, but I do find that they are played with more through advent and Christmas.

Playing with the Annunciation and going to Bethlehem Story:


Memory Work:  Our Sunday School finished with Psalm 23 and began memorizing Luke 2: 8-14.  I will try to post on this soon and have a copy of the memory card to share.

Traditional Wreath and Godly Play Advent:  We'll probably light our advent wreath and use our felt Godly play cards and scripts (from this book) each Sunday.
 
Family Candle: I think we'll simply use a purple candle on our dinner table this year.  We light a candle most nights through the year at dinner to remind us that God is with us in this place and at this time.  This is such a simple way of marking the church season.
 

Feast Days in the Fast of Advent: I'm also looking forward to St. Nick Night and St. Lucia Breakfast.

More Ideas:
My favorite books to use in planning advent are Festivals Family and Food; All Year Round: Christian Calendar of  Celebrations; Celebrating the Christian Year: Building Family Traditions Around All the Major Christian Holiday; Let Us Keep the Feast: Living the Church Year at Home; and Celebrating the Church Year with Young Children