Child’s Spirit Blog

Today was another opportunity for the children at Seattle Unity Church to be more visible. Today also was a demonstration of how effectively children can rise to the occasion together and do a bang-up job on an easy presentation with a minimum of rehearsing.

We never know for sure how many children or which ones will join us on Sunday morning.  Therefore a big production that requires extra rehearsals and children taking specific parts is not my cup of tea. Once in a while we do a play when I have a qualified drama person to facilitate the process. That happens maybe once a year.

 But I think our congregation loves seeing the children more often than that so I let Spirit guide me to wonderful quickie magic moments for the kiddos.

Today at the end of the service when we joined the congregation for the “Peace Song” we drummed and sang “Earth Chant” by Stephen Longfellow Fiske*. We practiced for only 10-15 minutes. The children were impressive and we received many compliments.  

My preparation included gathering drums, securing the tape for the children to listen to, making copies of the words, and setting it up with the ministers and staff, especially Erin McGouaghn, our music director.

Our performance would have been special as is but we had an extra bonus. Seattle Unity had just purchased and installed a large screen and the technology to project Power Point presentations onto it. Our beloved Annie Christensen who is the resident communications expert put together a beautiful slide show to go with our singing and drumming. Today was the first time the technology had been used for our congregation. The children were very proud to be a part of it.

One concern I had was how to handle the distribution of the drums that I had collected. I had about six (not enough) and each was different. Jack and Michael (fictitious names) would definitely want the same ones and some of them were heavy and awkward for the children to carry.  Knowing that I didn’t have time to spend on settling who gets what, I was sooo grateful when Annie mentioned that the Men’s Drumming Circle had a collection of drums. She connected me to the leader and he gave permission for us to use their drums. Hooray! They were all the same! And there was enough for all the children.

What amazing drums they were! Many people asked me afterward how they were made. This is really cool. They were large embroidery hoops with heavy parchment paper stretched over them and secured. The handles were covered with burlap strapping and made it so easy for the children to hold them.

I’m not sure if the drumsticks were purchased or handmade. They were narrow dowels inserted into a wooden ball—like the wooden balls you’d use for craft type dolls heads.   

They had great sound with the larger ones sounding deeper. The kids enjoyed discovering this.

I was really proud of the children. They stood on the stage, poised with drums in one hand, drumsticks in the other, watching for me to give a one-two-three-four count. They all started together.  And we sort of ended together too. Because the words were on the screen, the congregation sang along too.

 * “Oh, earth beautiful. Oh, earth beautiful.

We walk on your land, breathe your sweet air.

Drink your life waters, hold you in our hands.

Hold you in our hands.”

              Stephen Longfellow Fiske

One of the many wonderful pluses of doing Youth and Family Ministry at Seattle Unity is experiencing the huge and warm welcome the children receive when they walk/run down the center aisle to the front of the Sanctuary at the end of the service. The congregation seems to be excited and interested to hear what the children have to say about what they did in Sunday School.

Easter Sunday is a day full of extremes—from reverence in our Sacred Circle to great anticipation leading up to our egg hunt* and then giddiness and high energy during it.

Three children wanted to speak on Easter. The children had participated in six stations during part of the class time.

 The first station was making an Easter basket to use to collect the eggs in the hunt. That generated much excitement. The following five stations gave the children opportunities to learn about things that occurred in the last week of Jesus’ life.

At the Last Supper table the children received a small cup of grape juice and a piece of Matzo bread and read the words spoken by Jesus: eat this bread and drink this wine in remembrance of me.

At the Garden of Gethsemane the children prayerfully planted a seed in a peat pot. The label said “From a dried seed comes new life”.

At the Crucifixion table the children colored an oval picture of a cross and placed a heart in the center. “Love overcomes even death”.

At the next table the children chose a word naming something they would like to have rolled away from their lives and attached it to a stone.

At the last table, the children had several choices of butterfly art with the reminder that the Resurrection of Jesus is similar to the transformation of a butterfly from a caterpillar.

The room was filled with chatter and movement as the children traveled from table to table to complete all the projects.

So what did our three have to say about their experiences?

They were each fairly accurate in sharing their stories. However, the congregation especially enjoyed hearing that the children had bread and wine for a snack and was sweetly delighted at hearing that “We did butterfly art because after Jesus died he turned into a butterfly.”

*The egg hunt is a service project lead by our Uniteens (middle school youth). They start a couple of weeks in advance filling plastic eggs with small wrapped candies and toys. The eggs are hidden around our Fellowship Hall during the first part of the service. They tell us how many eggs they filled and we divide the number of eggs by the number of children. The children know how many they can find and when they get to that number, they help another child.

And our amazing 3^rd-5^th grade teacher Louis Mason also leads a smaller egg hunt for his children that help them look at more details about the Easter story. They get special chocolate eggs.

If you found this website, you are most fortunate. Are you a Children’s Ministry Director looking for ideas to enrich your children’s ministry program? Are you a Sunday morning children’s teacher looking for ways to enhance your teaching experience? Are you a parent looking for resources to bring spirituality into your family’s everyday life? If so, you will find something useful here.