by Margaret Evans, Director of Lifespan Learning
Renewal, or beginning again, is best achieved when we can notice our own internal conflicts and work with them.
Restart. Remember. Remind. All these words have something in common. They suggest something old that has been brought back to the present. Whether it be through memories, activities or people, emotional triggers brought back into the present can cause a myriad of reactions. Fear, anxiety, joy, sorrow, nostalgia — each reconnects us to a past event, person or experience.
For a parent, a child’s first day back to school can be utterly atrocious as you drag your grumpy, tired and panicked child kicking and screaming through the doorway. Conversely, it can be wonderfully delightful to watch as your son or daughter skips up the walkway with their new backpack swaying side to side as if to say, “Bye, I love you!”
Renewal, unlike many of these other re words, suggests something rather different. It suggests a rebirthing, or reformation — a changing of one’s thought process towards or about an experience. Renewal is a challenge to take our memories one step further along the path to positivity and awakening into a new experience altogether.
This year the Lifespan Learning Program will be experiencing some changes. I am excited to share these changes with you as it is my hope that they inspire a renewal of excitement and energy in the program.
For children ages 6+, instead of programming based on age, we will be offering two different programs each Sunday from which the children and youth can choose; age-based ministry. The programming will vary between dancing to music, and other fun and inspiring activities.
The children have been consulted and ideas have been stored for a wonderful year. Thus explorative play, based on our congregation’s monthly themes, will be the guiding tool for children and youth as their spiritual formation is nurtured.
Whatever your previous notions were or are about Sunday morning programming, it is with excitement and great enthusiasm that I encourage you to join me in a renewed view of our Sunday morning gathering ritual.