This month, in Mustard Seeds, we are talking about being a child
of God and being in a faith family. We know we have mommies and daddies and other relatives, but a faith family also includes others who help us grown in our faith.
On our first Sunday in Mustard Seeds, we
decorated a candle with multicolored tissue paper. The colors are
similar to stained glass windows we commonly see at church.
Our multicolored candles and the stained glass windows can symbolize how the pieces of
a church and the pieces of our faith family work together as part of a bigger picture:
God. We support each other, work with each other and play with each
other, and together we create a beautiful, complete
picture of what the kingdom of God can look like.
I invited the parents (and you, if you decide to make one!) to light the
candle when they are having some quiet, getting-to-bed time with their child. That moment when, despite all the chaos of
the day, we read a story, sing a lullaby, or tell stories to lull our children to
sleep. When you are done, you can bring
it out of the room, extinguish it and put it somewhere special, to remember that you are children of God. You can talk about how the candle has many
colors around it, like all different people together make up part of what God looks like when
we care for and help each other.
The following Sunday, the children used dot painters to decorate
a paper tree with all kinds of colored dots. They got a little crazy and made many dots! Then
the parents filled in names for each dot of people in their faith family. We all have a “family tree”, but this is
their “faith family tree”, which includes relatives, teachers, special day
care providers, nursery workers, pastors, Sunday school teachers, even
pets. I included Mr. Rogers in mine,
even though I didn’t personally know him, but he taught me so much about love, patience, expressing feelings and listening to part of myself, which
helps me understand right and wrong. Anyone can be in your faith family. Who is in your faith family? Your child’s? Don’t forget to put
your child on your faith family tree. We
can learn so much from our children about God when we listen to and wonder with
them.
Next week, we will be learning about the church sanctuary and go on a look and find tour between
services. The children will be able to look, feel and experience all that our
sanctuary inspires and symbolizes and our children can know that these rituals are for
children as well as adults. See you
there!
