Ash Wednesday

One more little blurb:

As I mentioned earlier, we did a dry run the week before Ash Wednesday to allow kids to ask questions about Lent, about the service, about the ashes, about the sanctuary--everything! As always, they kept me on my toes with astute questions.

We also talked about the importance of a holy, sacred space, and I encouraged them to find something sacred to them to focus on before they even walked in the sanctuary, to remind them of the holiness (akin to taking shoes off before standing on holy ground). At the service itself many of us sat together (although some kids preferred to sit with their parents), and the kids received ashes. I was moved by their solemnity and the energy they put toward looking up the scripture passages and writing out their sins on the flash paper (later dropped in the urn at the altar).

After it was over, several of the kids came up to me and said, "Ms. Kim, it said on the bulletin to enter in silence, but some of the adults were talking. Don't they know it is a holy place?"

In SS, we've been discussing Jesus calling the children, so I reminded them that Jesus called children examples of the Kingdom of God. What examples they were that night!

Pilot starts March 4

It's almost here, the Children's Worship Pilot. We're doing 4 weeks and studying how to worship God with your heart, soul, strength, and mind. We've also got a technology group to put together multimedia presentations.

Also, we've got a children's worship leadership group called Exalt who meet once a week to plan leading worship. They will lead during the pilot and will also lead alongside adults in all three regular Palm Sunday Services.

Ok, more on this later. It's 10:30 and I just got out of Session meeting! I'm probably repeating earlier posts, so forgive me!

APCE and Vday

The conference was jam packed with activity. I don't have much to share from the seminars--at least not anything I haven't learned in past workshops. The plenaries were outstanding, though--Frances Taylor Gench.

Valentine's dinner was spectacular. We reached capacity and had a nice mix of ages. The older adults and other non-parents were so complimentary of the kids, and it was nice for them to get to see how hard the kids work in this church and to see how much they love serving. And the kids had fun! It was awesome bc they would come up to me and ask if it was ok to do this and that, and their ideas were amazing! Truly it was a success.