Thanks to Church School teacher Karin Breedis for passing this on:
This animated remake of "The Ten Commandments" in animated form is meant to introduce kids to the story of Moses -- a great way to connect the various stories of Moses life into one narrative.
Plus check out the link to the music video below the preview!
Here's a link to a cool music video from this film!
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1157300505/
Monday, September 28, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Away on retreat next week
I just wanted to let you know that I will be on retreat next week from Monday, September 28th through through Friday, October 2nd. Each year I take a week of time for a spiritual retreat at a monastery, a practice that really helps create space and time for intentional living. If you need Church School assistance next week, please contact Susan Jackson Roer at the church, or any member of the Church School Committee.
Parish "Book Night" Potluck!
Last night we had a "Parish Potluck Book Night" discussing William Paul Young's book, "The Shack" and how it challenges our understanding of and relationship with God. The thirty or so of us who attended had a wonderful evening listening to passages from the book, hearing reflections, and then having discussion with each other. We had such fun that there was universal agreement to do this again -- in late winter with a different book. So, if you have suggestions for another parish-wide reading book, please post them here or send them to me via email by November 1st!
Chris
Standing Up for What's Right (Sun. Sept. 27th)
This Sunday, K-5th graders in church school will be exploring Moses' encounter with Pharaoh that leads to the liberation of the Hebrew people from their oppression in Egypt (Exodus 10-14) It's a very accessible story for kids -- lots of action, clearly defined good versus evil, cosmic elements of divine intervention, miracles involving the parting of the sea. These are wonderful details that help children remember this story, one of our faith traditions most important memories of God's liberating power.
But I think sometimes in all our songs about the various plagues and choruses of "let my people go", we forget that what made this incredible moment of liberation possible, was Moses' willingness to stand up for what was right, even to people who were more powerful than he was. Where did this shy, silent type get the strength and courage to risk his own safety for the sake of values he knew to be right and holy? Perhaps it was from his mother, that courageous woman who risked disobeying the law to save his life, as we learned about in last week's Church School story. Or perhaps it was from the encounter deep in the wilderness at the burning bush, when God called Moses to stop hiding out, laying low, and to use the moral strength he had been given for a purpose. Or perhaps it was when Aaron, his brother and friend, agreed to assist him, to be his friend even if it meant he would be risking his life, too. Maybe it was some of all of them, but whatever it was, Moses made the choice to stand up for what was right.
Kids today don't have many public role models when it comes to standing up for what is right, even if it costs you something. It's often so much easier to select role models because they are successful, or beautiful, or rich, or talented. Even when we look up to celebrities who are doing good works around the world, we are still so often as enthralled with their celebrity as we are with their charity or works for justice. Their calling out injustice in the world is important and good, but it is not the kind of personal risk-taking for justice that our world so badly needs. That is what this story is about: this possibility of moral courage and the good to which it can lead.
Moral courage is about standing up to things that are wrong, hurtful, or evil; about standing on the side of the vulnerable, even becoming vulnerable to challenge injustice. This does not have to be a global struggle -- in fact, moral courage is most fully expressed in our local communities and environments (because the closer the relationships, the more that is at risk for the sake of doing the right thing). I wonder where our kids see unfairness in their lives? What seems unfair to them? Not just unpleasant (like having to eat vegetables), but actually unfair. If they chose to stand up against this unfairness, what might happen to them? Are they willing to do it?
Throughout the Bible, God promises to be with those who are vulnerable: youngest children, widows and orphans, prisoners and those who are sick. And God especially promises to be with those who CHOOSE to become vulnerable, to speak up for those whom the world has made vulnerable (through poverty, through disease, through oppression). In fact, God is not just with but IN those who take this kind of risk, because that is the same risk God took in Jesus: to become vulnerable for the sake of those who had no choice except to be vulnerable. When we stand up for the bullied kid or the last one picked for the team; when we share our lunch with a kid whose family couldn't afford to send dessert; when we refuse to enjoy special privileges because not everyone can participate; we are allowing Christ within us to shine, and the liberating power of God to come into and transform the world. This is how Moses, sustained by God's presence with him, brought freedom where there was injustice, and how we, working with God in us, can do the same in our communities.
Chris
But I think sometimes in all our songs about the various plagues and choruses of "let my people go", we forget that what made this incredible moment of liberation possible, was Moses' willingness to stand up for what was right, even to people who were more powerful than he was. Where did this shy, silent type get the strength and courage to risk his own safety for the sake of values he knew to be right and holy? Perhaps it was from his mother, that courageous woman who risked disobeying the law to save his life, as we learned about in last week's Church School story. Or perhaps it was from the encounter deep in the wilderness at the burning bush, when God called Moses to stop hiding out, laying low, and to use the moral strength he had been given for a purpose. Or perhaps it was when Aaron, his brother and friend, agreed to assist him, to be his friend even if it meant he would be risking his life, too. Maybe it was some of all of them, but whatever it was, Moses made the choice to stand up for what was right.
Kids today don't have many public role models when it comes to standing up for what is right, even if it costs you something. It's often so much easier to select role models because they are successful, or beautiful, or rich, or talented. Even when we look up to celebrities who are doing good works around the world, we are still so often as enthralled with their celebrity as we are with their charity or works for justice. Their calling out injustice in the world is important and good, but it is not the kind of personal risk-taking for justice that our world so badly needs. That is what this story is about: this possibility of moral courage and the good to which it can lead.
Moral courage is about standing up to things that are wrong, hurtful, or evil; about standing on the side of the vulnerable, even becoming vulnerable to challenge injustice. This does not have to be a global struggle -- in fact, moral courage is most fully expressed in our local communities and environments (because the closer the relationships, the more that is at risk for the sake of doing the right thing). I wonder where our kids see unfairness in their lives? What seems unfair to them? Not just unpleasant (like having to eat vegetables), but actually unfair. If they chose to stand up against this unfairness, what might happen to them? Are they willing to do it?
Throughout the Bible, God promises to be with those who are vulnerable: youngest children, widows and orphans, prisoners and those who are sick. And God especially promises to be with those who CHOOSE to become vulnerable, to speak up for those whom the world has made vulnerable (through poverty, through disease, through oppression). In fact, God is not just with but IN those who take this kind of risk, because that is the same risk God took in Jesus: to become vulnerable for the sake of those who had no choice except to be vulnerable. When we stand up for the bullied kid or the last one picked for the team; when we share our lunch with a kid whose family couldn't afford to send dessert; when we refuse to enjoy special privileges because not everyone can participate; we are allowing Christ within us to shine, and the liberating power of God to come into and transform the world. This is how Moses, sustained by God's presence with him, brought freedom where there was injustice, and how we, working with God in us, can do the same in our communities.
Chris
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Blessing of the Backpacks (this Sunday!)
Just a reminder, don't forget to bring backpacks and lunch boxes for the annual "Blessing of the Backpacks" at Church on Sunday. We'll do the blessing right after the announcements, once kids come in from Church School!
Baby Moses (Sunday, September 20th)
This Sunday, K-4th graders will be learning about the story of Moses' birth (5th grade is skipping ahead to the burning bush!). It's the beginning of several weeks on Moses, and perhaps a good way to start is to try and think together about the various things we know about Moses. If you brainstormed and made a list with the class, I wonder if anyone would say anything about his birth.
We tend to forget about Moses' birth story because the other events in his life (burning bush, confronting Pharaoh, crossing the Red Sea, the 10 commandments, manna in the wilderness, the Golden Calf, all seem so much more important. But all of these these stories, and indeed the liberation of all the Hebrew slaves from their oppression, almost didn't happen because Moses almost didn't survive his birth.
Pharaoh's fear of the people he was oppressing caused him to become violent and demand the death of all male Hebrew children -- an attempt to maintain political control with limited resources. It was the faith of the women around him, his mother, the mid-wife, and their companions, that gave them the courage to disobey an unfair law to save Moses' life. It's not just a coincidence that these women in choosing to struggle against oppression to save the life of the baby Moses allowed the greatest story of liberation ever recorded -- the Hebrew slaves escaping Egypt -- to happen. With God, our small acts of risk-taking for the sake of justice and reconciliation, can become magnified, leading to "thy kingdom come" (the kingdom of justice, liberation, peace, and reconciliation).
For older children, this can lead to a conversation about knowing when to follow the rules and when there is a higher purpose served by breaking them is an important conversation to have. I bet there is a wide range of opinions over what rules are ok to break and under what circumstances! What makes it ok to break a rule? Does it matter if we're breaking a rule to help someone in need versus to get something for ourselves? Does it matter what we imagine God would think of our actions?
Another lesson in this story, especially for younger children, is that when we are most vulnerable and scared, God provides for our protection. When I was a young child, say 8 or 9, I felt most vulnerable at large events (like baseball games or going to the movies) when my mother or father would get up and go to the bathroom or to get a soda, and leave me alone to wait for their return. This story is a comforting reminder that even when we are at our most vulnerable, God's hope is that other people will care for us -- recognizing our vulnerability not as our own fault, or as some kind of failure, but as a shared feature of what it means to be human. How else could an Egyptian princess feel moved to take a Hebrew slave as her own child? We often think of princesses as being concerned with jewels and dresses, and we want our own lives to be like theirs. But how can our kids be more like THIS kind of princess, caring, compassionate, taking care of those in need? (In class, you could even make a crown and take turns wearing it as you think of ideas for how you could care for someone in need the way this princess did!).
Whichever activities you select, as you begin and end your class with prayer together, be sure to pray for all children who don't have parents, and to give thanks for the parents of our kids, who care for them more than anyone else, except God!
Have a great class,
Chris
We tend to forget about Moses' birth story because the other events in his life (burning bush, confronting Pharaoh, crossing the Red Sea, the 10 commandments, manna in the wilderness, the Golden Calf, all seem so much more important. But all of these these stories, and indeed the liberation of all the Hebrew slaves from their oppression, almost didn't happen because Moses almost didn't survive his birth.
Pharaoh's fear of the people he was oppressing caused him to become violent and demand the death of all male Hebrew children -- an attempt to maintain political control with limited resources. It was the faith of the women around him, his mother, the mid-wife, and their companions, that gave them the courage to disobey an unfair law to save Moses' life. It's not just a coincidence that these women in choosing to struggle against oppression to save the life of the baby Moses allowed the greatest story of liberation ever recorded -- the Hebrew slaves escaping Egypt -- to happen. With God, our small acts of risk-taking for the sake of justice and reconciliation, can become magnified, leading to "thy kingdom come" (the kingdom of justice, liberation, peace, and reconciliation).
For older children, this can lead to a conversation about knowing when to follow the rules and when there is a higher purpose served by breaking them is an important conversation to have. I bet there is a wide range of opinions over what rules are ok to break and under what circumstances! What makes it ok to break a rule? Does it matter if we're breaking a rule to help someone in need versus to get something for ourselves? Does it matter what we imagine God would think of our actions?
Another lesson in this story, especially for younger children, is that when we are most vulnerable and scared, God provides for our protection. When I was a young child, say 8 or 9, I felt most vulnerable at large events (like baseball games or going to the movies) when my mother or father would get up and go to the bathroom or to get a soda, and leave me alone to wait for their return. This story is a comforting reminder that even when we are at our most vulnerable, God's hope is that other people will care for us -- recognizing our vulnerability not as our own fault, or as some kind of failure, but as a shared feature of what it means to be human. How else could an Egyptian princess feel moved to take a Hebrew slave as her own child? We often think of princesses as being concerned with jewels and dresses, and we want our own lives to be like theirs. But how can our kids be more like THIS kind of princess, caring, compassionate, taking care of those in need? (In class, you could even make a crown and take turns wearing it as you think of ideas for how you could care for someone in need the way this princess did!).
Whichever activities you select, as you begin and end your class with prayer together, be sure to pray for all children who don't have parents, and to give thanks for the parents of our kids, who care for them more than anyone else, except God!
Have a great class,
Chris
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Being Friends with God (Sun. 9/13/09)
Dear Friends,
This Sunday will be the start of St. Andrew's Church School program! The Church School Committee, and Susan and Steve Killeen have been working hard to get all the curriculum, classrooms, and other materials set to begin the year. Please be sure to thank them as you see them around this month.
A few brief logistical reminders for Sunday:
1) Take attendance! (Toddler Room, please record names by hand.)
2) Collect registration forms from parents
(just because they are on the list does NOT mean we have their form).
3) Plan to attend the Teacher Training from 11:30 to 12:30 in room 2
(lunch and childcare provided.)
4) Please remember to photograph each child and teacher with the camera in your room.
5) Don't forget to say an opening and closing prayer with the kids.
Friendship with God
The loose theme of our Church School year is "Friendship with God," and the special first Sunday activities relate to that theme. It's easy for our practice of Christianity to become conflated with doing the right thing (and particularly easy when we have to explain a faith based in mystery to children!). While doing the right thing is an important part of our faith, our good actions are the result of our faith, not the thing itself. At the core of spirituality is developing and nurturing a friendship with God: spending time with God, feeling loved by God, offering love back to God, experience God's presence in your life as affirming rather than condemning. And at the core of Christianity is finding that friendship with God through our friendship with Jesus. In church we have many good names for Jesus: Lord, Savior, Son of God...but we often forget to call Jesus our friend, our brother, our fellow human being. Becoming better friends with Jesus, means knowing him more fully -- not just as fully divine, but also as fully human, full of empathy and therefore able to be our friend.
The lessons that Susan has wonderfully designed for our elementary school classrooms begin to introduce the idea of friendship with Jesus. I encourage you, as you teach on Sunday, to explore that theme with your classes as fully as you can. What makes a good friend? What things to you like best about your friends? What would it have been like to have been Jesus' friend back when he was on earth? What kind of friend would Jesus have been? Would he have been funny or silly? What would it be like if Jesus was your friend today, in Wellesley?!? (guess what, he is!!!). If you invited him over for a play date, what would you do? No doubt there will be times to return to this theme throughout the year, and this week's lesson offers this theme as a gift to our kids.
And as you prepare to teach this Sunday, you might think for a moment about your own friendship with God. Does knowing God enhance your enjoyment and appreciation of life? If so, how? If not, what is getting in the way of that? Maybe there are parts of your relationship that have yet to be discovered. Do you trust each other -- that is, not only do you trust God, but do you think that God trusts you? As a wise preacher once said, "God's grace is freely given to us, to give us freedom." Our friendship with God is a free gift offered to help us feel more free, not more constrained. What a present indeed.
Well, we're off and running! Thanks for your dedication to taking on this ministry, and my prayer for you is that through the experience of teaching in this community, your friendship with God will grow deeper over the course of this year.
Many blessings,
Chris
This Sunday will be the start of St. Andrew's Church School program! The Church School Committee, and Susan and Steve Killeen have been working hard to get all the curriculum, classrooms, and other materials set to begin the year. Please be sure to thank them as you see them around this month.
A few brief logistical reminders for Sunday:
1) Take attendance! (Toddler Room, please record names by hand.)
2) Collect registration forms from parents
(just because they are on the list does NOT mean we have their form).
3) Plan to attend the Teacher Training from 11:30 to 12:30 in room 2
(lunch and childcare provided.)
4) Please remember to photograph each child and teacher with the camera in your room.
5) Don't forget to say an opening and closing prayer with the kids.
Friendship with God
The loose theme of our Church School year is "Friendship with God," and the special first Sunday activities relate to that theme. It's easy for our practice of Christianity to become conflated with doing the right thing (and particularly easy when we have to explain a faith based in mystery to children!). While doing the right thing is an important part of our faith, our good actions are the result of our faith, not the thing itself. At the core of spirituality is developing and nurturing a friendship with God: spending time with God, feeling loved by God, offering love back to God, experience God's presence in your life as affirming rather than condemning. And at the core of Christianity is finding that friendship with God through our friendship with Jesus. In church we have many good names for Jesus: Lord, Savior, Son of God...but we often forget to call Jesus our friend, our brother, our fellow human being. Becoming better friends with Jesus, means knowing him more fully -- not just as fully divine, but also as fully human, full of empathy and therefore able to be our friend.
The lessons that Susan has wonderfully designed for our elementary school classrooms begin to introduce the idea of friendship with Jesus. I encourage you, as you teach on Sunday, to explore that theme with your classes as fully as you can. What makes a good friend? What things to you like best about your friends? What would it have been like to have been Jesus' friend back when he was on earth? What kind of friend would Jesus have been? Would he have been funny or silly? What would it be like if Jesus was your friend today, in Wellesley?!? (guess what, he is!!!). If you invited him over for a play date, what would you do? No doubt there will be times to return to this theme throughout the year, and this week's lesson offers this theme as a gift to our kids.
And as you prepare to teach this Sunday, you might think for a moment about your own friendship with God. Does knowing God enhance your enjoyment and appreciation of life? If so, how? If not, what is getting in the way of that? Maybe there are parts of your relationship that have yet to be discovered. Do you trust each other -- that is, not only do you trust God, but do you think that God trusts you? As a wise preacher once said, "God's grace is freely given to us, to give us freedom." Our friendship with God is a free gift offered to help us feel more free, not more constrained. What a present indeed.
Well, we're off and running! Thanks for your dedication to taking on this ministry, and my prayer for you is that through the experience of teaching in this community, your friendship with God will grow deeper over the course of this year.
Many blessings,
Chris
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