SUNDAY SCHEDULE
- Children’s Sermon in the 9:00 service
- 9:45 Children’s Programming Begins
- 10-11 Children’s Formation Classes
- 11-11:30 Sunday Singalong
- Children’s Sermon in the 11:15 service. Kids who are at Singalong will come to you at the peace.
How are we settling into our formational year?
The Spirit has breathed new life into our formation time together. And though it has felt chaotic and exuberant in some moments, the kids have begun to connect with one another and find their way in their different formation classes. I am so happy to see our children in community.
We have made some minor adjustments since my last post, and I want to lay out the final program for you, so you know what is really happening. Each year we have different kids in formation, and even our same kids grow from year to year, and their needs change. For this reason, we have been flexible and willing to work at it until we found a pattern to fit our specific children. Thank you for your patience as we found the right fit.
We begin each Sunday with check-in and breakfast between 9:45 and 10:00. This happens outside room 152, in the foyer by the playground. We have a cart with muffins, fruit and bacon for nibbling. The pews have little cafe tables for gathering and welcoming before we split up for classes from 10-11. We have two full Atriums for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd this year, Joyful Journey with Rex & Elaine for our littler kids, and a Junior Journey for older elementary aged kids that meets in 152 with Elizabeth & Kari. Right now they are taking a Journey through Egypt. After formation, we meet back in the foyer by the piano for Sunday Sing-along around the Campfire with Mr. Thomas and Ms. Jenni. This means that your kids are engaged from 9:45 until 11:30 so that you can also have time to be fed and be in community yourself, or just take a break and regroup for the week.
While they are with us, your kids wear lanyards with their specific Kid Card. The card gives us important information should we have questions when you are apart. When you drop them off, you get a Parent Card that gives you a way to contact us while you are upstairs, in case you need to tell us anything. When you come to get your child, you simply turn in the Parent Card and you’re all checked out. This means that when we go from breakfast to class to campfire to chapel, we know that we have everyone moving to the right places. I am so grateful for our incredible team of volunteers who show up every week to love and form our smallest disciples. They have been instrumental in building our children’s ministry and formation, and we quite literally cannot do it without them.
I also want to let you know that Brick Bible on Wednesday nights has been so, so fun! We have explored so many different bibles and argued with the translations of most of them. We have finally found one that we love called The Book of Belonging. Each week we hear a lesson from that Bible and wonder about it while we build. Then we lower the lights, light the candles, and listen to Holden Evening Prayer while we wrap up our builds and clean up. This has been a rich opportunity for the very beginnings of Theology to emerge in our youngest children. I adore it.
Looking ahead to the rest of the semester, I want to put a few things on your radar. We will have the Blessing of the Pets on October 2nd at 6:30. Please bring your four-legged friends for Puppuchinos and Photos in Sumners at the 5:30 dinner hour and then join us for the service that will follow. We will not have Brick Bible that evening.
Creation Care Fair is on Sunday, October 6th. This doesn’t disrupt our formation schedule, but there will be some animals and kid activities, and we will visit during the Children’s Sermon time. So I want you to know that it’s happening.
Trunk or Treat is on October 26th on the surface lot. We will need families to volunteer their trunks, and I have kits you can use if you’re not feeling creative. I know that was always a barrier for me! This is a nice morning activity
In November, we will partner with Community Engagement to do a Farm Day that I cannot wait for! We will be visiting Barking Dog Ranch to spread the seed balls we made on Earth Day. We will also visit the Refugee Collective to see where our CSAs come from. They are doing amazing work on that farm. Before we head back, we will stop for some of Texas’s finest BBQ at Black’s in Lockhart. We will ride out there together on a chartered bus for maximum fun and fellowship. Please resister if you would like to join us!
Thank you for trusting us with your kids. Thank you for being part of our church family. We are so much better with you among us.
Much love,
Fr. Kristin
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