A year ago, when writing the report for the year 2019, I talked about how it had been a year of transition for the church’s Christian Education program, with the CE director and a long-time board member both retiring after many years of service. I hoped to swiftly move through the period of transition and quietly settle into my new role as the Christian Education director. Well, obviously that was a nice, but unrealistic dream. As the whole world discovered, 2020 would be a year that would test us in many ways, particularly in our ability to flexibly pivot to new ways of doing things.
We started the year 2020 by continuing to use the curriculum from Progressive Christianity. We had a plan to look at a number of people whose lives could teach us lessons about how to live in community with others, including Wangari Maathi, Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, Greta Thunberg, and others. We did have a plan….really. And then March 2020 happened, and everything changed.
When the decision was made for our church to move to a remote system of meeting, Peter and I did much thinking about how to make this work for our church school children. After a few technological stops and starts, we have settled into a moderately successful system where I lead a separate Zoom meeting with children while their parents are worshipping in the main Zoom service. While this is obviously not ideal, and I can’t wait to see their faces in person, it has allowed us to have some great discussions about the events of the world, and how those events affect each of us personally.
When discussing the theme for the current CE year which would start in September, Peter and I decided to focus on “Story.” Stories are relational; they are what make us human. All the major religions are built on stories. The Christian bible is “a collection of intense narratives about the biggest stuff in human life.” (Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal) Our church children started the new church school year by talking about the structure and purpose of stories. We looked at a number of American Black folktales from the slavery era, such as The People Could Fly. Our reliance on technology actually became a benefit, as we were able to watch and hear a number of wonderful professional storytellers right in our Zoom meetings. After studying a number of these, the children then started to write and illustrate some stories of their own. One of these, The Wild, Wild Woods, was shared with the congregation during a service. We ended the calendar year 2020 by bringing to life perhaps the greatest story in Christianity – the nativity story. Thanks again to everyone who helped to make our Christmas pageant video possible.
As I write this, we have no immediate plans to change to an in-person system of meeting. We will continue our year’s theme of “Story”, with an initial focus on Native American stories. Be on the lookout for more creations from our church school children. Who knows what 2021 will bring! Sincere thanks to Peter and the Board of Christian Education – Kritsin Wolf, Ben DeJong, Dan Senning. None of this would be possible without you.
Here are a few of the highlights of our church school in 2020:
- Ash Wednesday/Lent
- The children led the congregation in a litany for Ash Wednesday in which they asked for our help to make the world a better place. Then they marked us all with “Stardust.”
- During the first few months of the pandemic lock-down, church school children drew pictures and wrote notes to send (anonymously) to congregation members.
- The church school children wrote and illustrated an original story, via Zoom. We put it into video form and shared it with the congregation during the Sunday service Story Time. Kids would draw pictures, hold them up to the camera and I would take a screenshot, which then got put into a slideshow, which then became a video. Ah, technology!
- Peter and I began meeting regularly, via Zoom, with a new confirmation class of six confirmands.
- We met the challenge of presenting a Christmas pageant, in spite of our remoteness. Each family was given a scene to perform and film. The spirit with which all met this challenge was truly inspiring. Thanks to all!
Respectfully submitted,
Lori Morse