By Sara Gross Samuelson The thing about rhythms in my life is that they only become so when they arise repeatedly, either by purposeful practice or mysterious accident. Often, the rhythms I find most grounding are the ones I stumble across accidentally, the ones that rise up out of the necessity of the calendar or of creation. This is how I found myself suddenly stumbling into sacred space around my yard bin on Saturday morning. I was trimming back my summer garden, gloved hands, garden clogs, scrubby jeans and a yard bin that I had now stomped down twice because I can’t manage to spread my gardening work out over a reasonable space of time. My fall list builds until one day it finally bursts and I blitz through the needed tasks with reckless abandon, all the while silently apologizing to my long-deceased Grandpa Mac for letting such things go for so long without paying attention or anticipating the changing weather as I’m sure he would have in his own garden so many years ago. The raspberries, in particular, seem to have elicited a particular sense of duty in me of late. My earliest memories are of my Grandpa Mac’s prolific raspberry bushes and learning how to tell exactly when the best berries were ripe for the picking. By last Saturday my raspberries had fallen into a sorry state of post-summer over-ripeness. Half of the berries were now molding on the vine and drooping heavily on the twine that once neatly held them back. What had once held the promise of summer bounty was now just a sad mess. So I began the work of pruning the bush back for it to lie in rest over the winter season. When you prune raspberries, you’re supposed to cut the vines “back to the wood”... that is, cut them back to the strength of what was established before summer even began. As I reached into the viney mess searching for the point at which to cut each vine back to, I found myself suddenly pulled in to this metaphorical wonder. The rhythm of getting my produce ready for dormancy required that I look for their last point of established strength. Their last point of growth that “stuck” and bore some level of permanence. This is how the vine is able to become gradually more and more rooted in the soil around it. It’s taken three summers now for my raspberries to grow and root themselves deeply enough to fill out the 4’x8’ raised bed in which their 2’x2’ starter was first planted. All the while, I have tended each fall to helping them lie dormant in a way that will root them more deeply. Because my raspberries need these rhythms of restoration. And you know what? I do too. So when my friend Ryan brought a similar idea to our community grounding the very next day, I found myself in awe of the confluence of the need of both the created world (ie, plants creatures, etc.) and the peopled world (ie, humans) for this pause as part of our natural rhythms. During our time together on Sunday, Heather called it a holy pause between the goodbye of one thing and the hello of another. Like when we say goodbye to summer and hello to fall, there’s a threshold where we pause and take time for that transition. (Relatedly, I definitely ordered the children’s book she read our kids to add to my kiddo’s shelf: https://www.powells.com/book/-9780544798755) This thing, that both Ryan and Heather grounded us in, is sabbath. A pause. A break. Between one season and another. Between one thing and another. Between one day and another. It’s sacred space. AND…. as Ryan affirmed, it’s space that all of creation needs. I’ve been lax in my NPR consumption of late (#momlife) but I encourage you to give this a listen/read: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4969048 Sabbath is a rhythm. It’s a rhythm I stumbled upon in my garden last weekend in the midst of my raspberry bush. It’s a rhythm I noticed my body forces upon me sometimes when I pretend that I’m “not sick” for so long that I just can’t pretend any longer. It’s a rhythm that I think I should probably notice rising up sooner than those too-late sick days. It’s a rhythm…. Not one that I should “work for” or “achieve”, but one that I should practice for the sake of my work. For the sake of my spouse and my son. For the sake of my community around me. For the sake of creation. And… while it is indeed biblical, it’s also - as the NPR piece Ryan brought to us so aptly points out- quite plainly, human. If you’re finding yourself in need of stumbling upon sabbath, you’re in good company. We’ll be digging into this again on October 20th at the LAB gathering. AND… it’ll probably continue to be something that rises up for us in community and communion with one another again and again. We have a fun activity to celebrate your "Super" dad, followed by a liturgy written by Rev. Emmy Kegler to ground us in a celebration of the fathers in our midst and fathers in the history of our faith. Super Dad An activity for littles and creative bigs! Use construction paper to create a “Super Dad” uniform: design your Dad Doll based on things that you love and are grateful for in your dad, your grandpa, your neighbor, your uncle…. All those who “dad” in your life! What are the qualities/words that you think of when you think of your dad? Now, use those qualities to design the uniform. If your own dad is in the room, be sure to include him, because he might have some qualities of HIS dad that influence and support him too! When you’re done, snap a fun pic of the dads in the room with the Super Dad Doll and say a blessing/prayer of thanks together for dads. Have younger kids think of words that describe dads and do a “shout prayer” to shout out one-word prayers of gratitude. A Celebration of Men of Heart Take a moment to meditate on this liturgy or read it together with those around you! One: On this day when across our country fathers and men are uplifted and celebrated, we join our voices both with those who grieve and those who rejoice, remembering the many fathers of faith who came before us. We remember every man who held his newborn child and found it to be the greatest gift and the hardest task of all. We celebrate with you. All: May the God who bears new life in us inspire love in you. One: We remember fathers who, like Jarius the synagogue leader, have sat beside the beds of children who were sick, and cried out to God on their behalf. We pray alongside you. All: May the God who fathers each of us be a source of life for you. One: We remember men who have sought to become fathers and yet, through many life circumstances, find themselves without children to care for. May you, like the Jewish leader Mordecai and the Ethiopean eununch, find that in your faithfulness to God you bear children of hope to the whole world. All: May the God who fathers each of us be a source of life for you. One: We grieve alongside men who, like David and Job, have buried their own children, and alongside men who, like Jacob, have lost their wives well before it seemed fair. We mourn with you. All: May the God who fathers each of us be a source of life for you. One: We remember children who face this day, whether for the first time or for the fiftieth time, without a beloved father. May you, like Joseph son of Jacob, know with confidence that your father’s life is honored and his legacies remembered. We mourn with you. All: May the God who fathers each of us be a source of life for you. One: We remember those who face this day in pain from fathers who did not celebrate and uplift the image of God in their children. We celebrate those who, like Esau the brother of Jacob and Joseph Jacob’s son, refuse to continue the cycle of manipulation and abuse, but instead choose to step into reconciliation and healing. We celebrate with you. All: May the God who bears new life in us inspire love in you. One: We remember and give thanks for men who, like Joseph the father of Jesus, have made a family through adoption and stepfatherhood. We celebrate with you. All: May the God who bears new life in us inspire love in you. One: We remember all those who have found freedom and new life in the difficult process of divorce. We celebrate with you. All: May the God who bears new life in us inspire love in you. One: We remember King David and the poets and prophets, who in their mourning and in their celebrating were unafraid to show the fullness of emotion. We celebrate with you. All: May the God who bears new life in us inspire love in you. One: We lift up all your children, O God, who have reflected, in ways large and small, your overwhelming compassion. Wherever we may be this day, in grief or joy, may we find ourselves turned towards You, whom Jesus spoke of as a wastefully extravagant father, lavishing us with joy and peace. All: Amen. Hey Storyline! One of our local friends and co-collaborators in our work in the community, King of King's Lutheran Church on Theissen, needs our voices! (For the direct action.... download the doc at the end of this article. For background reading.... read on!) King of Kings Lutheran Church has been in discernment about the issue of homelessness in our community for almost three years, spurred by the work of their Social Justice Committee. Affordable housing and homelessness came up in a listening season in 2016 as the issue of greatest concern among our faith community members. Around that same time, folks from King of Kings joined other Clackamas County churches and organizations that belong to the Metropolitan Alliance for Common Good (MACG... of which Storyline is now a member too!) with similar interest in the issue to form the MACG Clackamas Housing Team. The Housing Team started doing research on the issue in Clackamas County, meeting with leaders (County Commissioners, Health Housing and Human Services, Community Service Centers) to learn more about the issue of affordable housing, homelessness, and its relationship to the health and well-being of our neighbor. Leaders in Clackamas County affirmed their explorations, and also affirmed that partnerships with non-profits and faith communities were an important means of addressing the shortage of emergency housing. The Housing Team, including members from other faith institutions, visited other places in Oregon where faith communities were creatively working to reduce the number of people without shelter in their communities. The team found some great models for overnight shelters (Cars, Conestogas, and Tiny Houses) in Springfield and Eugene in Lane County. Along the way, they met interested partners at Providence Health’s “Better Outcome’s Through Bridges” (or B.O.B.) Program who were working to addresses housing as a health issue. Providence offered to help look at creative models to support vulnerable populations and offered to provide expertise in medical case management for an overnight shelter program. In the fall of 2018, KOK began a discernment process to see if they wanted to pilot a form of Safe Overnight Shelter (SOS) on their property. After a multi-month process within the congregation, KOK decided to apply for a conditional use permit with Clackamas County to allow up to three cars to remain overnight on their property. Car camping residents would be referred through the county’s Coordinated Housing Access (C.H.A.), would undergo a background check, and would need to follow the guidelines set forth by the congregation for temporary residency. Here's where YOU come in! King of King's is in the community information feedback part of the conditional use permit process. They need US (Storyline folx) to help come alongside them as a contributing voice to Clackamas County's feedback collection. In communities all over Oregon, homelessness is deemed to be one of the most pressing issues of our time. King of King's feels called to find a way that their community of faith can help our neighbor, especially the most vulnerable. Though they are a relatively small congregation, they have a parking lot and are located within a reasonable distance to health care (Providence Milwaukie) and other services. In the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus doesn’t just fix the problem of a hungry multitude for the disciples. He begins the process by saying, “You give them something to eat.” (Mark 6:37). King of King's feels called to not just talk about the problem of homelessness, but contribute, albeit in a small way, to the solution. By piloting an overnight shelter program, a handful of folks will have a safe place to be each night without having to worry about being asked to move along. A handful of folks will have a location where medical case managers and sustainability case managers will be able to find them to help them find more permanent housing. A handful of folks will have a chance to catch their breath. AND.... they may even blaze a trail for other communities of faith and organizations to join their efforts, putting their people and their parking lots to good use as well. HERE'S THE ACTION: At Storyline, we don't have a building of our own, but we do have voices to lend in support of our colleagues and community members who are doing the work of reconciliation and justice. To that end, please take some time in the next week or two to send letters of support to The Board of County Commissioners, especially if you are a resident of unincorporated Milwaukie or the Oak Grove/Oak Lodge Neighborhood. Below is a form letter you can download and make your own. AND.... if you're interested in learning more about housing justice and how Storyline is already putting itself in to this conversation in Clackamas County, email Sara and tell her where your gifts and interests lie.
No matter the size of your household, many or one... consider taking time on Mother's Day to read the Litany below, using as many voices as are able to read. Light a candle and/or lift a glass to all the mothers. Following the litany, there are two activities: one for households with young children, one for adult households. A Litany for Mothers One: Mothers come in many different forms, and today we celebrate them all! Many: Thank God for Mothers! One: Everyone here is either a son or a daughter. Many: Thank God for my mother! One: For those women who have joined God in Heaven and whom we miss dearly here on earth. Many: Thank God for the mothers of the past. One: For every woman who is working day and night to raise her children right now. Many: Thank you God for the mothers of today. One: For all the women who are expecting but aren’t quite mothers yet. Many: Thank you God for the soon-to-be mothers. One: For the women who took in others’ children through adoption or foster care. Many: Thank God for the mothers with hearts so big. One: For those women who have lost a child to death and must carry on. Many: Thank God for the mothers who are so strong. One: For all the women who have desperately wanted to have children of their own, but chose instead to mother everyone else. Many: Thank God for the mothers in spirit. ALL: We thank you, Lord, for the women who have influenced our lives in so many ways. We pray that we will honor them in everything we do. Amen. - Rev. Bonnie McCubbin, Good Shepherd UMC, Baltimore A Blessing for Households with ChildrenSupplies: - heart stickers - your mom - a sheet of paper - markers Time: 15 minutes How to: Gather around together. It's preferable if someone who is not the mother helps lead this activity. :) Light a candle and read the litany on the first page together. Then, have the mother in your house sit in a special place. Using the sheet of paper, draw a "paper doll" outline and then list on the side or all around the paper doll the names of all the women in your household's lives who are mothers or who have a mothering influence. Using the heart stickers, take turns listing qualities about each of those women, especially including your mom who is present, that you love and are grateful for. As you list those special qualities, place a heart sticker on the paper doll for the moms who aren't present (label the quality if you want to be extra decorative) and place the heart sticker on your actual mom for the qualities of hers you are thankful for. As you talk about the women whose names are on your paper doll, help you children to think about mothering in some of the ways that are listed in the litany. Be sure to ask your mom who her mothering influences are and what qualities she is grateful for as well! A Blessing for Adult HouseholdsSupplies: - a vessel (cup, bowl, mug, etc.) - small strips of paper (just larger than fortune cookie fortunes) - pens - a candle Time: 10- 15 minutes How to: Gather the supplies and the people with whom you wish to hold space for this blessing. Light a candle and together, read the litany on the first pages. As you read, feel free to pause between petitions and name the women who come to mind at each petition. Consider the vessel before you. For mothers who have lifted us up and been sources of light in our lives, a vessel is an appropriate image for the emotional and physical work that they give their lives to. For mothers with whom our relationships have been hard, a vessel can be an image that helps us remember we are not alone in carrying those hard feelings. For the way that our Creator mothers us and we in turn pour that out onto others, a vessel represents the space inside of me that I carve out to care for those around me. On the scraps of paper, write the names of women who have been mothering influences in you life, write their best qualities and gifts to you and the world, write your deepest hopes for mothering relationships. Carefully fold each slip of paper and place it in the vessel. If you have a mother present with you in your house, read the blessing below to her. If not, read the blessing to your vessel. If its appropriate, close with a celebratory toast to the mothers in your midst. For a Mother
Mother, your voice learning to soothe Your new child Was the first home-sound We heard before we could see. Your young eyes Gazing on us Was the first mirror Where we glimpsed What to be seen Could mean. Mother, Your nearness tilled the air, An umbilical garden for all the seeds Of thought that stirred in our infant hearts. You nurtured and fostered this space To root all our quietly gathering intensity That could grow nowhere else. Mother, Formed from the depths beneath your heart, You know us from the inside out. No deeds or seas or others Could ever erase that. - John O’ Donohue As a faith community, we have been called to come under and around the needs of our underserved local families in our school community. This coming Wednesday, our teachers and educators will be raising their voices for those very kiddos. Join us as we walk among them.
Know before you go. Here are a couple of resources to bring you up to speed on the current crisis in Oregon. * https://www.may8forstudents.org/ * https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-budget-proposal-education-health-care-financial-cuts/ * https://www.oregoned.org/whats-new/a-crisis-of-disrupted-learning There are two options for showing up in person that day: 1) Take it to the MAX - 7am-9am - end of the Orange Line station at Park and 99E. Meet up with Storyline leaders and bring thank-you cards for the educators standing up for their students. Wear RED and bring a sign in support of teachers and educators. North Clackamas District teachers will be actively attempting to educate commuters that morning on the current crisis in Oregon. 2) Downtown Rally and March - 11am-2pm - Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Meet up with Storyline leaders downtown at the rally. Wear RED. Bring a sign in support of educators and public education. Kids are definitely welcome. Make sure you have Megan J (number here) or Sara's (503-367-7439) cell numbers to meet up with us in the crowd. OR... if you can't make it in person. Please write your legislator. (Even if you can make it, write them! Postcards are also a great opportunity for kids to participate in sharing their public voice. Here's an example for an email or postcard from an adult: Dear (Rep or Senator) ________, As a person of faith and a resident of the state of Oregon, I am writing to encourage you to fully fund public education in our state. I'm proud to be an Oregonian, but I'm currently not proud of the state of our classrooms. Our students deserve teachers who are compensated justly and given the opportunity to invest in retirement funding that works. Our students deserve classroom sizes, supplies and supports that lead to better learning outcomes. Cutting funding or accepting the current crisis as status quo is robbing the future of our state rather than tackling the complex problem we are faced with head on. I believe in investing our money in future generations. Please support Oregon schools, teachers and students. Thank you, Postcards from kids can be simple. Have them think about what they love about school and why their teacher is important to them. Writing and drawing are absolutely acceptable and powerful ways of sharing our hopes for Oregon with our legislators. Make sure to sign your child's name and age clearly. You may have heard, we're joining with Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice for their Advocacy Day at the capitol on April 8th. (REGISTER HERE!) This is part of our community work on behalf of our neighbors: to advocate for laws that provide justice for immigrants and refugees.
As part of the 2019 legislative season, IMIRJ is also inviting its partner communities to play BINGO..... immigrant-justice style! Storyline has challenged itself to complete a diagonal, pictured here, by the end of the legislative season in June. (Spoiler alert... it's also a goal that will help us get to know more avenues for future justice work!) WE CAN DO THIS! The first step and square one for us is the show up for Advocacy Day. (Did I mention you can register? AND bring your kids?) In the coming weeks, we'll have more information on how you can help us work towards our BINGO set... so stay tuned. Written by Anna Hoesly Leader/Pastor/Organizer, Storyline Community up..This week my kids and I did this 5-minute Lenten activity: The Purple Practice of Waiting, and it ended up going in a direction I did not see coming... Because that's what happens when little people play with big ideas! For the record, even though it took literally 5 minutes, we didn't get to it until a ten days AFTER the official start of Lent. Also, one of my children was all-in because it sounded like a science experiment, and the other announced that she would not be participating, as an act of protest, because she'd rather be watching My Little Pony. But she ended up joining us... because I am really good at parenting. Orrrrrrrr maybe it was because I told her if she joined us, I'd let her watch said show. All of which I tell you because I think moms owe it to other moms to be honest about these things. We mixed red and blue food coloring in water to make purple (the traditional color associated with Lent). We talked about how we would leave this glass on the table and check on it at dinner every day, and that it would take about 40 days (the length of time of the Lenten season) for it to evaporate. (This led to a lot of evaporation-related questions, which I could definitely answer because I'm an adult. In unrelated news, here is an evaporation educational video that I totally didn't have to google). What are we waiting for? We talked about all kinds of things we wait for in life (like when mommy tells us "not right now" yet again after we've asked her to play Uno for the approximately 987th time"). And we talked about how by the time the water evaporates, it will be Easter and we will have a giant bonfire and 'smores at the Saturday night Easter Vigil. And we talked about how 40 days feels like a loooong time to wait for such exciting things. We talked about how we might feel discouraged or wonder if it is ever going to happen, but slowly, very slowly all of the water will evaporate, even though we can't see it happening. What are our neighbors waiting for? And then we asked the final question of the practice, about what things our neighbors in our community might be waiting for. I did not have a preconceived thought about this and honestly thought we would probably move on quickly from it. But then, as I thought about what it is like to desperately hope and wait for something, a face popped to my mind. It was the face of one my local neighbors who was recently telling me about something she had been waiting a VERY long time for. My neighbor, who is not yet a citizen, has been waiting a very long time for a driver's license. She recently told me with tears what that means for her and her family. It means she is constantly afraid of the moment her daughter gets sick and she cannot drive her to the hospital. It means basic tasks like getting to the store to purchase groceries for her family, or getting to work to earn money to buy those groceries, can become giant obstacles. It means she lives afraid. I told my kids about this conversation, thinking these would probably be concepts they would not be able to wrap their heads around. Instead, my six-year old looked at me with a gasp and alarm on her face and said something I thought I would never hear her rule-loving, rule-following little self say, "MOM, that is a VERY bad rule". "We need to call the police right now and tell them to change it!" I loved that her immediate reaction was one of empowerment, that we could speak up about this rule on behalf of our neighbors. And even more than that, I loved that particularly at this moment in time, she is right. NOW is the time to speak up for our neighbors. Did you know that the Oregon House is considering a bill to make drivers' licenses available to all residents? (Not just citizens). This is HUGE news for our immigrant neighbors who find themselves in dangerous and debilitating situations just trying to care for their children and create safe space for their families. This burden is very real, and these stories are often untold. Recently, Storyline leaders were able to be at a community organizing event where story after story was shared in a safe and private place: individuals afraid to take their children or ailing parents to the doctor because they do not have a license and fear being separated from their family. One woman who was pulled over on Christmas Eve and was already trembling with the anticipation of the police officer possibly detaining her and taking away her young son in the backseat. Countless others who refuse to drive at night because the statistics of getting pulled over show raised instances of traffic stops that might lead to them being found out. As people of faith, we know that fear is no way to live... and that love of neighbor dictates we hear their stories and share them forward to people in power, like our legislators. I loved that I could tell my daughter, that we CAN use our voice to speak about our community's "rules", when those rules hurt our neighbors. I was able to tell her about some things Storyline is doing this month to use our voices. Join us for Advocacy day (and beyond)! Storyline is participating in Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice's (IMIRJ) Legislative Campaign season. First up, IMIRJ Advocacy Day April 8th at the capital in Salem. Storyline leaders are going! Register here to come with us or email Anna or Sara to let us know you are interested. It can be a space where you get hands on (IMIRJ is putting together educational tools for having conversations with our legislators, set up all the meetings and host spiritual grounding before and after our actions. There are some great resources here on their website if you want to learn more in the meantime!)... OR it may be a space where for now, you join a fun road trip with us and observe and just begin to get comfortable in that setting. It's an all-day event, but it's also a no-school day for NCSD and PPS, and there are a few other faith communities who are bringing adults, youth, and families who want to lend their voice or their ears. Together at Storyline, we're going to begin to practice telling the story of being called to God's work in the world alongside our children... so if your kids can handle a day of conversation and wandering the capitol building, lets grab our snack packs and books for the car ride and be village together doing God's work! Watching the water as we wait! In the meantime, as a family we have chosen that each day at dinner we will look at our purple water, and wait for it to evaporate even though we can't see it happening. We will remember our neighbors who are waiting, and wait alongside them as together we "hope for what we do not yet see". Lent is the time that the ancient church set apart for getting ready for the mystery of Easter Sunday. We take time during the season of Lent to be in a Wilderness space…. A space set apart that looks and feels different than the rest of our day to day lives. Kind of like how when we go on a hike, or to the beach, or spend time in the mountains it feels different. We engage new disciplines during Lent to turn ourselves back towards our spiritual and physical roots. Here is an earth-friendly challenge that can turn your habits toward earth-care! (Or check out our 5-minute kid-friendly option or our simple pantry practice option here!) Join the MovementThere's a movement this Lent amongst many churches to step up to the challenge of a plastic-free Lent, that you may have seen published amid several of our national news organizations. Originally a Lenten Discipline of the Anglican Church in Canada and the Church of England, some local Methodists adapted it to our NW context and ministry. Read more about giving up plastics for Lent HERE and HERE.
At Storyline, we recognize that there are many in our neighborhoods that do not have the resources to eliminate plastics from their lives; whether that be time, financial or otherwise. (For example, our houseless neighbors may not have the capacity to eliminate things like single use plastic bags, bottles, takeout containers etc.) So, we practice this practice as we recognize simultaneously our privilege in being able to do so. With that said, some of our neighboring Portland churches have adapted a calendar that originally came from the Church of England. We commit this calendar to you as a guide for daily reflection and action this Lent. You can find the downloadable PDF and more information at www.plasticfreepilgrimage.org from Traci Smith’s book Faithful Families. Lent is the time that the ancient church set apart for getting ready for the mystery of Easter Sunday. We take time during the season of Lent to be in a Wilderness space…. A space set apart that looks and feels different than the rest of our day to day lives. Kind of like how when we go on a hike, or to the beach, or spend time in the mountains it feels different. We engage new disciplines during Lent to turn ourselves back towards our spiritual and physical roots. Here is a simple non-time-consuming practice you can engage in daily with our family using just what's in your pantry! (Or check out our 5-minute kid-friendly option or our environmentally-friendly habit-changing option here!) ALMSGIVINGfrom Traci Smith’s book Faithful Families Giving to the poor is a key feature of most of the world’s religions. In Christianity, giving is especially important during Lent. Almsgiving is one of the three traditional Lenten “pillars”, along with prayer and fasting. This practice is modified for families to be an offering of food, rather than money. Food is a tangible thing for young minds to grasp and it also offers an opportunity to talk about hunger in your community. Materials:
How to:
Everything in Backpack Buddies gets packed into sacks and is supposed to fit in a child’s backpack and be a weekend’s worth of food for that child. While it might feel more economical or efficient to buy bigger things, the goal is helping relieve a child’s hunger over the weekend when their free/reduced meals at school are not available.
Something to think about: Is it easier to just buy all the stuff and gather it and give it all at once? Yes. Our focus in this practice is just that: the practice. The daily act of taking something out of the pantry and putting it in to the box will help create awareness and mindfulness about our neighbors and our call to be neighbors. Lent is the time that the ancient church set apart for getting ready for the mystery of Easter Sunday. Easter and the story of Jesus’ resurrection is such a big mystery that we have to take time to get ready for it. We mark the season of Lent for 40 days… or 6 weeks. 40 days is symbolic of Jesus’ time in the wilderness after his baptism, which was symbolic of the number of years the people of God in the Hebrew bible wandered in the desert before finally coming into the promised land. We take time during the season of Lent to be in a Wilderness space…. A space set apart that looks and feels different than the rest of our day to day lives. Kind of like how when we go on a hike, or to the beach, or spend time in the mountains it feels different. We engage new disciplines during Lent to turn ourselves back towards our spiritual and physical roots. Here is a practice you can engage in with your family that takes about 5 minutes, but will remind you of good things for 40 days! (Or check out our family-friendly giving option, our environmentally-friendly habit-changing option here!) WAITING from Traci Smith’s book Faithful Families. Waiting is hard, for children and adults alike. Sometimes we wait for small things like the bus or our turn in line. Sometimes we are waiting for something that happens slowly and gradually, almost imperceptibly, like water evaporating from a glass. Throughout life we must wait. We wait for healing or for our dreams to become reality; we even wait to understand our faith. This activity is a visual reminder that many of the things we hope for in life come slowly. Materials:
How to:
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