Our Christian Education programs are overseen by a small committee of volunteers and led by Lori Morse, a former teacher and longtime member of the church and resident of Duxbury. The philosophy behind our Christian Ed activities is to develop a curriculum that links to the bible as well as to our lives. The curriculum can adapt to questions and events that arise over the course of the year.
Church school in the fall of 2021 will look a bit different. Please read this post about our plan for the fall to keep our children safe and engaged.
Here’s how that currently looks:
- Church school – for children in grades 1-6, Church school meets during worship and aims to organize activities and projects that will provide opportunities for kids to explore and understand their world in different ways. This fall, for example, students discussed the meaning of Psalms, the poetic verses, and created banners with both verse and illustration. The spring session will feature a puppet project with renowned puppeteer Barbara Paulson, who leads the kids in designing puppets, props and set for a culminating performance.
- Confirmation classes – held every other year for 7th and 8th graders to take the conversation with middle schoolers to another level. Students meet with group leaders for about 20 hours, visit different kinds of churches, and have an overnight retreat.
- Youth group – for high school-aged students, to provide continuing connection to church members and activities, and to plan a service trip to help others in need. Local activities include day trips around Vermont, movie nights, etc. Every few years, students have the opportunity to go on a mission (which is a church-y word for community service or service learning) trip to New York City.
- Adult ed – we facilitate periodic conversations for adults using bible study, book groups, and guest speakers. We currently meet on Wednesday mornings at 10 AM. While we are serious in our explorations, this is a relaxed and fun-loving group of conversationalists! Join us on Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82785756651?pwd=QklvRzFRZnVNbmJzeUptcDhvWVFJQT09
Units
Fall Semester, 2021
Christmas Pageant (12/20/2020)
Spring Semester 2021
Church School – Children’s Day Reflection – 5/30/21 by Lori Morse
As we celebrate the end of a surprisingly successful church school session, I would like to say a little bit about this crazy year. As you know, our year’s theme has been “Story” – the purpose of stories and the power of stories. We started the year looking at Black American folktales and also Black African folktales. Then, after Christmas, we began looking at Native American origin stories. We learned that these stories had multiple purposes. They explained the origin of something in nature, and they also taught lessons about how people should act. Our kids then decided to write some original stories in this style.
We first thought about what was around us in nature. The brainstormed list included things in our immediate world, such as:
The land/water,
Camel’s Hump, Mount Mansfield, Crossett Hill, Cobb Hill, Winooski River, Mad River, Crossett Brook, Dowsville Brook, Lake Champlain
Trees
Sugar maples, Pine trees
Animals
Deer, Cows, Beaver, Chipmunks, Squirrels, Cougars, Rabbits, Moose, Horses
Birds
Chickadees, Blue jays, Woodpeckers, Owls, Hummingbirds, Crows, Fish, Brook trout, Rainbow trout
Other
Clouds, Air, Snowflakes
When we thought about lessons regarding behavior, we looked at the banner that has been hanging above the door between the sanctuary and the chapel, the Be the Church banner. The phrases on the banner became the lessons that we included in our stories: “Forgive often”, “Fight for the powerless”, etc.
We spent a few months writing stories, by committee, on Zoom. Not as easy as it sounds! If you have not written stories by committee, with children ranging in age from 4 to 14, and done it over Zoom, have you really lived? When it came time to film the stories, the kids had one request – that we do it together, in person. It wasn’t simple, but it was possible, and it was important. As you can see in the finished videos, we tried to keep family groups together and used masks when non-family groups were together in the same scene. My apologies for the occasional muffled sound quality due to masks. Initially I wished we’d had the time to reshoot some of the scenes, and perhaps spend a bit more on costumes and scenery. However, I realized that after the year we have just had, it is not really that important that the blue tarp/water made a lot of noise, or that we could occasionally see kids and adults who were not supposed to be on camera. I am charmed by the final videos. As it says on the Be the Church banner – “Enjoy this life.”
I need to thank a few people. First of all, Peter, for working with me every step of the way. Thank you for being okay with the fact that we never explicitly mention the bible, but helping me to realize that our stories are biblical, nonetheless. I look forward to planning together for next year – hopefully, a year without Zoom meetings.
Thanks to all the parents, who week after week, helped to log their kids into our Zoom meeting. Also, thank you for the help on filming day. From holding the tarp that doubled as a river, to providing sound effects such as email notifications and nose-blowing, to standing in for kids who were not there and reading parts, your help was, as always, immeasurable and greatly appreciated.
Most importantly, I want to thank the children. Throughout this insane year, you have been rock stars! You showed up week after week with smiles and positive attitudes. This was in spite of the fact that you had often spent much of your school week on Zoom. I’m sure the last thing you wanted to do on Sunday morning was to be in front of a screen, at least with me. But you did so, happily. Thank you for introducing me to your dogs, cats, rabbits, chinchillas, etc. Thank you for your humor and creative energy. Thank you for forcing me to look at the year in a glass half-full way. Instead of focusing on what we don’t have, thanks for encouraging me to look at how lucky we are and how much we really do have. Thank you for reminding us what it really means to Be the Church!
Love and peace,
Lori