Sunday mornings - the choice of activities is growing!

Sunday mornings used to be devoted to church going (or sleeping in).  Now the choices are many!  Just recently I noticed classes for children advertised at my gym, a bike race for children, and of course countless sports activities. 

As you consider how to spend these precious hours without school and work (for most of us), I urge you to think about how you could be nurturing your child's spiritual well-being.  It could be Sunday School at the Synagogue, or Church School at one of the local churches.  As we see the rate of teen suicides rising, particularly in communities like our own, we need to be mindful about how we help children as they search for meaning and purpose in their lives - beyond just being the best at a sport, a musical instrument, or at  school.

Let me make a personal plug for Godly Play, a unique approach to Christian formation offered at All Saints' Episcopal Church right here in Belmont. 

Godly Play is the product of a lifetime of research ad practice by thelogian, author and educator the Rev. Dr. Jerome Berryman.  It began with the proposition that children have a natural sense of God and that what they lack is the appropriate language to help them identify and express it so it can be explored and strengthened.  The Godly Play approach teaches classical Christian language in a way that does not block or distort the child's authentic experience of God but enhances it so it can contribute to the creative life of the child and the world.  Research indicates that as children participate in Godly Play, their spiritual well-being grows stronger and stays stronger, even as they enter their teen years. 

All Saints' offers Godly Play free of charge on Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m. during the school year.