The top priority from our perspective is that you and your family are feeling connected, supportive of one another, and surrounded by God’s love.
If you are looking for something you could do with your kids, say once a week, that would help them continue to develop their faith formation, we have resources for you to do that.
If you have any questions at all, please reach out to Alex He will also be updating this list with more resources as the weeks progress, so please check back on this list often.
Talking to Your Kids about COVID
-The Child Mind Institute has some absolutely terrific articles about supporting kids and navigating parenthood in this current pandemic (scroll down until you find “Coping with the Coronavirus Crisis”).
-Alex created a short document with some guidance on having faith based conversations with kids around COVID:
From Alex – Talking to Kids about COVID
Non-Digital Faith Resources
-A guide to making an altar in your home. Our Bishop has also created a video explaining how to make an altar in your home for Holy Week. That video is here.
-Prayer Walks are a prayer practice you can do with the whole family. I have uploaded on Facebook a video of me explaining this process (you can find that here), but basically you would begin your walk with a prayer…then as you walk family members would notice their surroundings and offer prayers (like “we pray for our neighbor who had a new baby” or “we give thanks for flowers and their beauty”, etc.)
-In the Book of Common Prayer, starting on page 136 there are short and simple devotional services that are designed for a family to practice together at home. There are devotion services throughout the day so pick whichever one bests suites your family. If you don’t have a physical Book of Common Prayer at home, you can find a digital copy here: bcponline.org
-Coloring as Prayer/Meditation: Illustrated Ministry is offering free weekly resources during this pandemic crisis. And the artist Daniel Mitsui has uploaded some free teenager/adult coloring pages as well. Remember, coloring can be a meditative practice for the whole family.
-If you are looking for a new or more engaging children’s Bible, I would personally recommend Desmond Tutu’s Children of God: Storybook Bible. Archbishop retells the key stories in both testaments of the Bible in ways that get to the heart of the story while artists from around the world draw a beautiful mural of each story.
Digital Faith Resources
-Faith @ Home is a collaboration of two major national Episcopal organizations in response to this crisis. They sends you regular e-mailed newsletters that have nationally renowned children faith formation teachers offering a variety of faith formation materials for children. Each newsletter ranges from activities that are highly digital to activities that don’t require any technology at all. Take at a look here and sign up for their newsletter!
-Godly Play on Youtube: At St. Martin’s, your children have already been exposed to and are familiar with the Godly Play style of teaching stories of our faith. You can continue that same
familiar model through Youtube. The Godly Play Foundation has a number of the stories uploaded and they are extremely professional quality. You can find that Youtube Channel here
The Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, OR is also producing great, fun, silly Godly Play videos each week that are following the same order that we were following at St. Martin’s. So if you don’t want to have to choose which Godly Play story to play for your kids, you can follow this channel and get a new story each week
–“Candle Walk” by Karin Sherman is a digital book that takes our Compline service and turns it into a children’s story.
Resources for Contemplative Prayer and Meditation
These resources may not be appropriate for small children, but they could be very helpful for stressed out parents, or for older teenagers struggling with anxiety. The Dean of Chapel from CDSP (the Episcopal Seminary in Berkeley, CA), the Rev. Randal Gardner, has put out an introduction to contemplative prayer and then a guided meditation. I commend them to you as well, and they are below.
Introduction to Contemplative Prayer
Guided Meditation – Sunlight
Other Places to find ideas:
-The Diocese of Colorado has a terrific resources page.
-The National Church also has a stellar resources page.