Welcome  Invite various persons to bring a designated item and use this liturgy to begin your time of learning together.  One:    Come, let us gather around and see how the Spirit will nurture our faith today. All:      Who is with us? One:    Christ, the light of the world. (Place a candle on a table in your gathering place and light it.) All:      Who is with us? One:   The Love of God, who came to meet us in the world. (Place a cross on a table in your gathering place.) All:      Who is with us? One:    The Wisdom of God, who speaks through the Scriptures. (Place an open Bible on a table in your gathering place.) All:      Who is with us? One:    The Grace of God, who proclaims we are children of God. (Place a symbol of baptism – a bowl of water, a seashell – on a table in your gathering space.) All:      Who is with us? One:    Our risen Lord, who meets us at the table. (Place a symbol of communion – a plate and cup, a loaf of bread, grapes – on a table … [Read more...]

For the last few weeks, George Floyd’s voice saying “I can’t breathe” has been playing on loop in my head. It haunts me.  I hear the pain and fear in his words.  Then this week I drove through my small town and heard a group of black and Latinx teenagers peacefully protesting Floyd’s death by chanting these same words.  My heart broke in new ways.  When we listen – really listen – to the hurts and experiences of one another, we can respond with the compassion and advocacy of Christ.  Being able to take the perspectives of others grows over time. Depending on your child’s age and stage of development, this activity may be an introduction to active listening or may move him/her/them along the continuum. Begin the time with your children by playing a modified version of 20 Questions.  Pick a person familiar to your children (like a relative or a friend) and assume his/her/their persona.  Have the kids ask you questions about yourself and answer them as if you are that person.  You may … [Read more...]

Come, Holy Spirit, bring your wind to give air to all those who cannot breathe, who have a knee on their neck while their arms are handcuffed behind their backs. Holy Spirit, you’ll excuse me right now, but with the little breath I have in me, it’s a little hard to talk to you right now. Yet, I know that, through you, somehow God hears my faintest cries, my sighs that are too deep for words. Come, Holy Spirit, blow through the halls of power and scatter the proud, the aloof, those who think they are absolved or above your command to love their neighbors as themselves. I’m mad and you know it.  Why am I calling on you from the same place that my ancestors called for you? Over 400 years later, why am I still here?  I call on you with the same voice of Sojourner Truth, Nat Turner and Denmark Vesey. With my fist clenched and only the protection of my family and community members that have not been taken away from me on my mind, I’m calling on you to move and to move soon. Come, … [Read more...]