Building Family Relationships- Kid's Edition

In previous weekly posts, we have suggested ideas of how to have some summer fun and build family relationships. Those ideas all came from adults. This week, we turn it around and take a look at those topics from the kids’ points of view.  In July, we held Vacation Bible School at St. Stephen’s with 28 children age 3 through 5^th. grade in attendance. The following question was posed to them: What do you like to do with your family in the summer time? The answers were not surprising, and they all involve fun, building relationships and creating priceless memories. Are any of these on your summer “To Do” list?

Camping

Swimming

Go to the beach

Visit cousins and grandparents

Go to Disneyworld

Go to Waldameer

Play water games with the hose

Fly kites

Go to the zoo

 

Lord, let me look at the world through the eyes of a child. Help me to give myself permission to have fun. Let me spend money as well as save it. Let me feast as well as fast. Help me to rediscover each day that you have crammed the earth with surprises. Let me use all of my senses to experience and enjoy the life you have given to me.

 

 

 

Environmental Stewardship

Earlier this year, our Diocese sponsored a day long Mission conference centered around Stewardship. Julien Goulet, one of our parishioners and spouse of our priest, presented an educational and thought provoking segment on environmental stewardship. This week’s stewardship message is just a small portion of the information he presented.

 

God of unchangeable power, when you fashioned the world, the morning stars sang together and the host of heaven shouted for joy:  Open our souls to the wonders of creation and teach us to manage faithfully the riches of this good earth, to the honor of your glorious name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 

●     Americans buy an estimated 28 billion plastic water bottles every year.  Nearly eight out of every 10 bottles will end up in a landfill. (earth911.com)

●     Americans use approximately 14 billion disposable coffee cups per year. They are NOT recyclable themselves due to plastic content used to protect the cup from liquid leakage.  It is estimated that coffee waste accounts for 40% of all solid waste going into landfills. (sustainablelafayette.org)

●     In the summer and Fall of 2011 the largest algae bloom in lake Erie history took up nearly 1/5th of the lake’s surface.  It sucked oxygen from the water, clogged boat motors and washed ashore in rotting masses.  Reports suggest it could happen again due to the warming climate and modern farming practices where phosphorus-laden fertilizers are swept from corn and soybean fields during heavy rainstorms.

●     350.org a group raising awareness about global warming reports that: 350 parts per million is what many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments are now saying is the safe upper limit for CO₂ in our atmosphere.  We are currently at 400 ppm.

 

The Holman Bible Dictionary states that environmental stewardship is “utilizing and managing all resources God provides for the glory of God and the betterment of God’s creation.”  We are called to be collaborators in the work of creation and to use God’s gifts wisely.  The Rev. Sally G. Bingham formerly from Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and the founder and President of Interfaith Power and Light  says it best: 

 

“If you are a Christian, you are an environmentalist.  As a Christian, you and I are called to be caretakers of God’s Creation. Care for Creation is central to Christology.  If people of faith don’t take on this role, how can we expect others to? It is our responsibility. Furthermore, I must remind us that our baptismal vows denounce forces of evil that destroy Creation. Every one of us and every one of our behaviors matter. Our choices matter. The clothes we wear, the food we eat, the coffee we drink the electricity we use and the cars we drive. These behaviors all affect someone else and in many cases, these behaviors affect others adversely...  We are de-creating what God has made.  Overuse of resources, pollution and destruction of natural areas continue to threaten life on the planet.  The environmental community is not doing a very good job protecting Creation.  The human race has only one, or perhaps two generations to rescue itself.”

 

It is up to us (not our children, not future generations) to do something.  So what can we do...

 

Along with making personal changes (such as changing the light bulbs, driving less, turning off our computers, eating locally...) Interfaith Power and Light (http://www.interfaithpowerandlight.org/) suggests becoming a Cool Congregation (http://www.coolcongregations.org/)in order to make changes as a community faith.

 

Gracious God, you have given us much this day.  Send us out now to care for this fragile earth, our island home.  Grant us the wit and the will to transform the toxic, irreverent ways we live, and the saving presence of your Son, Jesus Christ, who goes before us and calls us into this world you love.  To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit be honor and glory, now and forever, Amen.

Strengthening Our Families

Last week MJ Radock gave us some ideas for having summer fun with our children. It is easy for us to recognize God’s call to us to be stewards of our children. It is a rewarding stewardship practice as they love us so generously and freely in return.

In this week’s thoughts on stewardship, let’s push that bubble to include not just our children, but all the members of our immediate families. God calls each of us to live in a family unit – however your particular unit may be defined. He calls us to be good stewards of that unit, each of us loving and caring for the other members. With the pace and stresses of our busy lives, it is easy to forget that we must take time and be intentional in the stewardship of those sometimes fragile family bonds.

In this stewardship message, Dr. Jan Warburton, a licensed psychologist and member of our parish, writes about strengthening our relationships with those people who are closest to us.

 

Strengthening Our Families

Creating a working partnership among family members means developing a complex system. The system needs to establish somewhat fluid ways of helping and nurturing each other, while minimizing demands. Sometimes, it’s difficult to avoid internal friction.

A research study done decades ago arranged to have users of a pay phone either conduct their call as usual and then move on or find over a dollar’s worth of change in the coin return after making their call. (Readers under the age of 30 are likely to have no idea what this contraption called a pay phone is all about!) A researcher disguised as an older woman struggling with her grocery bags walked by the phone booth as the users exited. The bags were rigged so the woman could make the groceries spill out the bottom of the bags onto the sidewalk. Overwhelmingly the folks who had found money in the phone helped her, but those who did not find any change mostly avoiding “seeing” her.

We are most generous when our needs are fulfilled. Of course, this can be far more complex than is simply stated in this brief commentary, but basically looking for ways to give in to things that are more important to your partner, delighting a child with your time and attention, and spontaneously giving of kindness all around—these are some of the best places to begin strengthening your family.

  

Creator God, Thank you for the gift of family. May we celebrate with each other in joy, support each other in times of sorrow or pain, forgive each other’s thoughtless actions, and love each other unconditionally as you have loved us. Help us to look into each other’s eyes and see your presence residing there. Amen.

Summer Fun

Summer vacation – that long stretch of time that our children enjoy because it provides a break from the daily schedule of classroom learning.  However, their young brains are like dry sponges, and even without a formal school lesson, they are soaking up information and experiences. This week MJ Radock, a member of our parish who is also an elementary teacher in the Fairview School District, provides us with some fun suggestions for watering those thirsty brains until fall.

Here are 5 fun ideas to help your child maintain those hard-won skills from this past year.

1. Read to your child- no matter what the age. You are modeling good reading skills as you stimulate the imagination. Ask who, what, where, when, why and how questions. Why did the bunny do that? What do you think will happen next? And so on.
2. Have your child read every day- at least as long as s/he plays video games! It can be a paired, group, or silent activity. Children can lose up to 6 months reading level during the summer. Daily reading should become a child's pleasurable choice. My mother would let me out of a chore until I was done reading!
3. Practice math facts. Those basic facts are necessary for math success. Practice can happen any time- even on the way to soccer practice. Parents all out a fact and the child answers. We are talking single digits here: 8+4 or 6 x 8. Let your child quiz you, too. To make it fun, you can use digits from a license plate or a billboard. Later, you can break out the playing cards and play Fact War. Remove the face cards first but leave in the Jokers- they are zeroes.
4. Get outside. Look for evidence of the life cycle of a bug or fruit. This is the summer of the cicada so look for their husks. If you are lucky, you will find a live one- a sight to remember! Go creek walking and look for fossils or interesting rocks. Look them up on the internet if you don't have books to identify them.
5. Map your backyard. You can even hide an apple or other snack and mark it on the map. If you are going on a trip, print out a map and have your child follow along and tell you when to turn.

 Dear God, I thank You for the gift of this child to raise, this life to share, this mind to help mold, this body to nurture, and this spirit to enrich. Let me never betray this child's trust, dampen this child's hope, or discourage this child's dreams. Help me, dear God, to help this precious child become all You mean him to be. Let Your grace and love fall on him like gentle breezes and give him inner strength and peace and patience for the journey ahead. Amen.

 

Preserving God's Work in Creation

At this week’s Vestry meeting, during our opening prayers, a question was posed to us. What will we do today to preserve God’s work in creation?  Several of the answers included eating more fresh fruits and vegetables and eating more locally produced foods.

            In a world where many go hungry each day, and many live in areas in which the land cannot produce enough (or any) food, we in this part of Pennsylvania are blessed by our Creator with an abundance of local farms and farm produce. Taking advantage of this local produce exercises stewardship in at least three different ways:

1.     We become better stewards of our bodies and our health. Everyone knows that eating more vegetables and fruits improves our health and helps protect against some diseases. Local produce is fresher, has more taste, and contains more nutrients than food which has traveled a distance or been processed or preserved.  Interested in eating seasonably? Check out  http://eatseasonably.co.uk/what-to-eat-now/calendat/

2.     We become better stewards of the environment. It is estimated that the average American meal travels 1500mi. from farm to table. This uses almost 10Kcal. of fossil fuel energy  for every 1Kcal. of energy we get from that food. For other interesting food/environment facts, go to www.cuesa.org/how far does your food travel

3.     We become better stewards of our local economy. As we support the local farmers they will in turn be able to support their local supplies and other local businesses.

What will YOU do today to preserve God’s work in creation?