Monday, March 18, 2019

March 17, 2019 - Stewardship Work and Play Party





Recap of Kids/Youth Spiritual Exploration

We had a great turnout of kids yesterday.  Thank you!  It really makes the experience richer for everyone to have more of us here more of the time.  I know it isn't easy, but as much as you CAN make it happen, consistency is really helps in so many ways. 

It was also Tristan's first time back in the Children's Chapel (11am) since he's developed vocal tics.  I was really impressed with how the other children were able to focus on whatever we were doing, and not make Tristan feel self-conscious.  He seemed pretty comfortable and we'll hope he comes back again soon!  Please congratulate your child on focusing on the time together, not on the tics.      

Sunday March 17, 2019

Today's focus:​  Work and Play Party​ 
​We followed up with last week's focus on being a steward of places we care about--sharing of our time, talent, and/or treasure (money).  Since kids don't have much money, we focused on having time to donate to taking care of the building. 

Main takeaway: ​Giving of our time to a place we care about feels good, especially when everyone is pitching in together.  

Activities: 
1. We began with the welcome song​ then s​hared names and ​a gem of ​either a Joy/Concern. 
2​. Reviewed that you can be a steward of home, church, your local community, or the Earth/international community.  

3. Despite some dubious looks at first, the kids did a wonderful job cleaning and most got really enthusiastic about it.  They cleaned the marker and paint stains off the tables (9am) and dusted the molding in the Children's Chapel and (at 11am) we broke into small groups and dusted many other parts of the church too.  Preschool and K took care of their classroom--including organizing the supply shelf.  At each service we made time for some games too, including Telephone, Going on a Journey and I'm Bringing... (9am), song withe motions (11am PreK and K) Simon Says (11am 1st-8th)​. 





4​. Rev. Joan joined us at the very end of the 11am time to talk about her journey to Honduras.  


Continue the conversation at home: 
  • ​Did you share a Joy / Concern?
  • What did you do as a steward for the church?  How did it feel to work hard and leave the church cleaner than before?
  • Could our family be stewards together and host the Snack table?  

    Snack volunteer sign-up sheet here.  
    Most kids LOVE helping with this, especially if you let them really help. 
    Details here: How to Host the Snack Table.  
  • For 11am: How did you do ignoring the vocal tics Tristan was having?  What did you notice?  Do you have questions?  (Attached below is a picture of our brainstorm around tics.)
Besides the fabulous hard work of the kids, many thanks to the youth, parents and adult volunteers who helped the service project happen!  

Upcoming Sunday (March 24) ​Tanzania: A Journey of the Heart ​UCM Member, artist, and educator, Irina Markova, will share highlights of her journey to Tanzania in early winter.  She spent several weeks volunteering in a one-room school in a rural village.  She'll share her photos, some objects she brought back, but mainly the joyful stories of connecting with others.  There will be several times for small group interactions to engage the kids.  Small group charades to experience how you communicate without shared language.  What are a few of the most important words to learn in another language when on a journey?  We'll also make rhythms using percussion instruments, which need no words!  
With ​appreciation,
Liza


20190106_100755-2.jpg

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for wanting to post a comment on our page! Since this is a page viewed by children, all comments will be reviewed before being published.

Peace is Something We Do

This piece was written in September 2011, shortly after the floods caused by Hurricane Irene.  I could have written it this week.  At the ti...