All posts filed under: children

Teaching Scripture to Our Children

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One of the reasons my husband and I came to Anglicanism is because of the reverence in the worship. The glad solemnity of our Anglican liturgy harmonized with our understanding of the Scriptures — humility and the “fear of the Lord”  as part of our response to the love and mercy of Christ. As we became parents, it was important to us to communicate that reverence and glad solemnity to our children. We felt it did a disservice to both Christianity and our children to dumb the faith down, but it can be confusing to have that conviction. So many of the books and products available for children are kitsch-y, cartoon-y, irreverent. I don’t really want my children associating Bible stories with talking vegetables… So, we have been very reticent. Going along with our church, we have invited our children into the fullness of our Christian practice. They attend the liturgy with us from the very beginning, learning the service music and hymns. We try to give them what we believe is the truly beautiful …

Candlemas: Celebrating at Home

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Candlemas is a beautiful day — the third “Festival of Light” that rounds out our winter celebrations. Our priest, Fr. Wayne McNamara, wrote a helpful explanation of the meaning of Candlemas. He believes it is important for the modern church to recover this feast: “Candlemas articulates the necessary future of this beautiful Light coming into the world. Our celebrations so far have dwelt on the joyful implications of the Son of God’s arrival, our redemption, salvation, and deliverance. Candlemas reiterates in a pointed way that the coming of the Lord includes difficult things – the persecutions of Jesus in His ministry and the call of the Christ to suffer the Cross. Candlemas rounds out our thoughts regarding the significance of the Word become flesh, and moves us forward to Lent.” This year, Michelle Abernathy made a lovely coloring page printable based upon the painting displayed in the header for Candlemas: you can download a printable pdf here. We also have a Candlemas family liturgy: You can download that here.  In the devotional Celebrating the Saints, I loved …

Saint Brigid Coloring Page

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February 1 is the feast day of Saint Brigid. Michelle Abernathy has taken her beautiful painting of this saint and made it into a coloring page. “When faith’s light of freedom to Ireland first came, You, Lord, raised up Brigid to make known your name. Her proud chieftain father’s wild rage she defied, And followed your way, with the gospel for guide. In silence of fields, while she tended her fold, You spoke to her heart words more precious than gold. White figure of peace, through our country she went, In your loving service her whole life was spent. With keen fiery arrow she set hearts aflame; To live ‘neath her rule many monks and nuns came. The poor and the hungry were fed from her store, For open to all were her heart, hand and door. For Brigid we praise you, our Father and God, We praise Christ your Son in whose footsteps she trod, We praise your kind Spirit who guided her ways, We praise you, blest Trinity, all of our days. (From …

Nativity Artwork for Children (and their Grownups!)

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We have had some time this Advent in our elementary Sunday School class while we practice our Christmas play and music, so we decided to do some special projects to share, because I deeply believe that Advent is for making. I thought it would be fun to share a few step-by-steps for making these simple nativities with children and/or adults.  With a bit of advance planning, we completed these in about 20 minutes, leaving us with enough time for some singing and play prep.  This coming Sunday we will wrap them, and send them home to place under the Christmas tree. Do let us know if you make these!  You can tag us on Instagram @thehomelyhours, or leave us a comment here with a picture. Materials: 8″ x 10″ canvas panel for each person (get them on sale; they are almost always on sale:) Acrylic paint in: white, turquoise, gold, yellow, orange, brown. Paintbrush for each person Paper towels Aluminum foil Aprons and patience! Method: Step 1: Before your class or gathering, prep your canvas backgrounds …

The 22nd Sunday After Trinity

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Collect: Lord, we beseech thee to keep thy household the Church in continual godliness; that through thy protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve thee in good works, to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Saints and Feast Days Sunday, October 28: St.Simon and St Jude, Apostles We know little about these two apostles; St. Simon is included in each list of the twelve in the Synoptic Gospels; St. Jude (or Judas) is included in Luke and and Acts, but is named as “Thaddeus” in Matthew and Mark — they were probably the same person.  Here is what we do know: St. Luke calls St. Simon “the Zealot.” The Zealots believed that the Messiah would come as a military leader bringing vindication to the Jews through force. St. Jude (or Judas, or Thaddeus) is traditionally the author of the book of Jude (though some consider this unlikely since the author of Jude refers to the apostles in the past tense and doesn’t seem to consider …

Preparing for All Saints’ Day

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I’ve been working on an explanation of All Saints’ Day that my children can understand. We’re going to start reading it tomorrow (Thursday) and read a section each day as part of our family morning prayer time. Here are the sections: What is a saint? (on holiness and wholeness) Lots of Different Saints (on the variety among God’s saints) How to Be a Saint (on The Communion of the Saints and the Beatitudes) Welcoming the Saints (on the question, why do so many saints die for Jesus?) Death and the Saints (on why sometimes it’s not easy to want to be a saint) Dealing with Scary Things and Halloween (self-explanatory) Today is the Day! (on doing small things with great love) Here is an excerpt: “You may think that to be a saint, you have to be big and do big things for God. This is not true. You need to do the same things that all of us followers of Christ are trying to do – whether we are old or young, big or …

Everything Tells Us About God

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Back in February,  I received a gift copy of the book Everything Tells Us about God by Katherine Bolger Hyde, from Ancient Faith Publishing. I was so excited  to get it in the mail and open it with my little ones. And then, I was excited to review this children’s book, but several huge events (both good and bad) put a hold on all Homely Hours posts. But now that we are back, here, finally, is our review! Everything Tells Us About God opens with “the world is like a giant puzzle God made to tell us about Himself  the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Every piece whispers one of His secrets — all we need to do is listen.” The rest of the book moves through the “puzzle pieces” of creation, from sun to wind to water to bread to rocks and on and on through schools and games and families, to finally  “YOU. You have hands to serve God, a heart to love Him, lips to praise Him. . . God is talking to …

Advent Plans

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This year, our family is going to take advantage of our Homely Hours preparation and posts from the last two years. Here is how that will look: Jesus Tree Ornament.  Bley designed these beautiful ornaments (pictured above) several years ago.  I printed them out last year in card stock, hole punched the top and added red yarn to hang on our Christmas tree. We’ll do this as part of our family’s little evening prayer time. Additionally, we’ll use our church’s Advent Wreath prayers at dinner time. St. Nicholas Day We may use Bley’s adorable St. Nicholas Day Treat Bags. We’ll see if I can get that together. But I do plan to buy my girls Christmas shoes and fill them with the traditional gifts: gold chocolate coins I snagged at Trader Joe’s, a candy cane, and a clementine. I’ll probably buy The Baker’s Dozen to read and, I’ll definitely print out Michelle’s Advent Saints Coloring Pages. St. Lucy In addition to those coloring pages, last year I printed out two copies of the St. Lucy Crown Printable. …

Advent Saints Coloring Pages

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Are you looking for a simple way to incorporate some feast day celebrations into your Advent this year?  One of our parish members, Michelle, has created these lovely coloring pages for you to print as you will and enjoy with your family.  We are currently in the midst of a very busy season in the life of our family, so this will be about the extent of our feast day observances this year.  I look forward to joining my children in some quiet coloring time!  Thank you again, Michelle! StNicholasColoring StLucyColoring  

How to Survive Your Sunday Shrieker

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 You sit in your pew as the priest begins, “Let us confess our sins unto Almighty God.” And behind you, a shriek, a “barbaric yawp” (as one parishioner described it) rips through the sanctuary. You say to yourself, “Lord, help us and deliver us.. And may I never have a Sunday Shrieker.” But they come to all parents, at the fullness of time, when the moment is  ripe for sanctification and shame. So, we’ve put together a guide on how to survive your Sunday Shrieker, giving you the essentials for how to identify and then react, when you encounter a Shrieker in the wild (i.e. in your own family). The Parrot No worries here — this is the imitation shriek. This is the baby’s drone as they seek to join the congregation chanting the Gloria. Everyone thinks it’s cute, so you can stay put, cheerfully (and pray that it doesn’t go downhill). The Bat This is a friendly and happy kind of shriek. Yes, it’s very high-pitched and may cause hearing loss if too close. …