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| berry bush |
Yesterday I "shadowed" one of the wonderful ladies in my parish who volunteers as a teacher for the children's services in the back of our church, while the adult congregation hears the more sophisticated sermon from the priest up front. It's a time to introduce basic concepts that are central to our faith. I chose the group who have yet to receive the sacrament we call Communion*. That age is a good fit for me as a writer and illustrator of picture books, books made to facilitate a child's development from the pictorial to more text literate.
It was the Third Sunday of Advent, a time spent in preparation for Christmas, or Christ's birth, though it's not an exact calendar match. Roman Catholicism derives its' timetables from pagan holidays and their seasons, easing the conversion from polytheism. As such, our holidays take much from traditional and ancient concepts of the earth's rotation around the sun. The Wise Men of yore found Our Savior through navigating the North Star* across the sky, a star bright in the winter. *http://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/polaris-the-present-day-north-star
The overwhelming commercialization of our holiday is something I've written about before, and it is a good point to repeat, but something else caught my attention. The children's curriculum focused primarily on John, a follower who became known as St. John the Baptist, for blessing converts through water purification, common to many religions of the world, as his custom was derived from Judaism. He was often confused with The Messiah, because he gave sermons of great impact to the crowds who gathered for baptism.
I thought that the best (and most simple) concept of the day was that of sharing. How many of us get cold, hastily bought gifts of gaudy plastic baubles or horrible clothes, that are banished to the backs of our closets and of no use? We all have, and they only serve as sad reminders that the giver is someone not even well-acquainted enough with us to know what we want or need, a dusty relic of the kind of spiritual poverty that pervades so many people's lives.
Take this from the Gospel of Luke, paraphrased for children, that preaches a message of love instead: “Be generous and kind and always ready to share whatever you have with others. Be honest and fair and be happy with what you have.”
From that basic idea, we can derive an easy set of actions for kids to do with their parents, ideas about spreading a love that sustains when that toy breaks two days after Christmas.
- give what we can to local charities,
- bring a card or gift to someone who lives alone,
- give outgrown toys to a local nursery school or child's home in the neighborhood.
Donate, and give, give, give. That's the stuff that survives for ages. Blessings to you during this week!
