​In Children's Time on Sunday I talked about the way the coins that we share can help children in Syria receive school kits, receive arts programs, and explore the feeling that they experience as a result of the ongoing war. 

Starting now, you'll be able to share the children's time portion of worship either on YouTube (you can subscribe to our channel) or on the SMC Faith Formation website, where I'll post them to the blog along with the Midweek Message.  I know that it's hard - especially after they've had to experience screen learning all week - to have kids sit through worship.  I hope this can be a way that I can keep connecting with them.

This week during the education hour will the be first time that kids have the opportunity to have time together. We'll do a game and a story that explore identity as well as a spiritual practice. 

For now, though this will likely change in the new year to allow each age group to meet more frequently, Elementary, Middle and High school groups are each meeting one Sunday morning per month.  Youth also have an evening meeting once a month. 

Sunday morning Sunday school schedule:

• Children: 4th Sundays
• Middle Grade: 3nd Sundays
• High School: 2nd Sundays

Youth Group Meetings:

• Middle School: 1st Sundays
• High school: 4th Sundays

The faith formation website has resources for you to use with children related to race, justice and the bible.  Another video for kids with a Bible story will be posted the first week of October. I continue to desire hearing from you about your hopes for faith formation and what would be most helpful for your family.

There has been a lot of money talk among my children recently.  With one child who has been receiving allowance for many years and learning how to save it and spend it (more or less) responsibly, my younger child who has never received allowance is now very aware that money is a thing and that it can buy candy. And so the campaign to receive allowance has begun.

I am not against allowance for a five-year-old, although I don't think it started this early with his sister, but I also don't want to reinforce the idea that the money he receives will be funneled straight to the corner store for Skittles.  I want him to also develop and understanding of generosity and that he has the power to share. And so enters "My Coins Count."

We've never emphasized this giving program of Mennonite Central Committee before at SMC because we give in other ways to MCC.  But the Mennonite Country Auction has moved online and our opportunities to assemble school kits or hygiene kits are unavailable so I encourage you to think of this as an alternative.  The money collected through My Coins Count primarily supports hunger intervention, education and water projects around the world.

Here's how you can get started.

• Watch the video (left) of kids talking about why they're collecting their coins.
• Find a jar or decorate a container to use to collect money over the next month or two. If you need a way to structure giving, you could check out or print the water giving calendar or the food giving calendar
• Count what you've collected and send a donation yourself or arrange to bring it to the SMC office (email Marsha, who's here several days/week) and we'll count it and add it to the children's offering to send to MCC water and education projects at the end of October.

Throughout the next month I'll be highlighting stories from Mennonite Central Committee and children in the children's time in worship.  You'll also soon be receiving an envelope with a few things for your family including coloring books which feature images from MCC's work over the last 100 years. 

I'll let you know how our allowance situation develops!

​Hey look! It's me. This fall and winter we'll have an opportunity to engage with resources and materials that help us explore Race, Justice and the Bible.  Since a) I didn't share the invitation widely enough and b) ultimately shared the wrong link info for a faith formation orientation last week, I've hopefully righted that wrong by created a video.  In it you'll see some slides that introduce some resources, see a schedule/rotation for age-based connection online or in person and hear about the way the new website for faith formation operates as a place to hold the resource for ongoing faith formation.  (This one, right here!)

Please let me know what I've missed and what questions you still have.  I hope to connect to families directly in coming weeks to check in and see what's going on in your families in these days and weeks of transitioning back into school/learning mode.

A blessing on your heads as you navigate the tangled web of parenting in a pandemic.