“The Empty Tomb” : Paper Plate Craft

“The Empty Tomb”
Paper Plate Craft

1. Cut a paper plate in half.
2. Cut a half circle out of the bottom of one of the paper plate halves.
3. Staple the two halves together.
4. On the inside, behind the cutout half circle, write the words, “Christ is Risen!”
5. You can use markers or crayons to color the outside of “the tomb” or glue pieces of a brown paper bag to the surface, making it look rock.
6. Crumple more of the brown paper bag into a rounded shape, so it resembles a boulder. (You can stuff it with more paper if needed and tape it closed on the bottom.) Place the “boulder” in front of the opening of the tomb.
7. Tell the story of the myrrh-bearing women visiting the tomb. Move the boulder to reveal that “Christ is Risen!”

Making Lent Great For Your Family

Reprinted with permission from the March 2003 issue of "The Messenger," a monthly resource publication of the Office of Religious Education, Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA. For subscription information, please contact Rev. Deacon Joseph Kreta, director, at jkreta@erols.com

Making Lent Great For Your Family
By Philip Mamalakis, PhD 

Our neighbors returned from a weekend away at a resort with their two teenagers.  They described to us the wonderful food buffet at the resort.  The brunch buffet, they reported, had everything, the meats, the scrambled egg bar, tremendous fruit spreads, all the pancakes and toppings you could think of, ten different types of dishes, salmon, croissants, you name it, they had it.  They couldn’t hold back their dismay as they told us how their two boys came back from the buffet with a bowl of Captain Crunch cereal!  “They can have that at home any time,” they exclaimed.  They could have anything they wanted, a feast fit for a king, and they passed it all up for a bowl of cold cereal. 

Lent is a time that we are invited to change our lifestyle in preparation for Easter.  Like anything else in life, the more we understand what is happening, the more we indulge in the banquet, the more we will experience God’s healing presence in our lives.  I won’t be able to highlight all of the delicacies that are laid out before us during this Lenten season, so I will highlight three of the dishes that families can partake in as a way of connecting to the banquet ourselves and teaching our children to partake.  Notice the first connection, though.  The most effective way to teach our children the joy of the liturgical life of the Church is to embrace it in our own lives. 

Make a commitment on how you will fast during Lent

As Orthodox, we fast from food to be able to fast from sin.  And it is our sin that keeps us from experiencing God fully.  This connection between how we eat and how we sin is what the Fathers of the Church are clear on.  This connection is also something that is lost in contemporary society.  In America today, we don’t hear a lot about how fasting can help a marriage stay together or how a family can learn to love God through fasting.  As a therapist, I see marriages fail because people cannot control how they act towards each other.  Essentially the more we indulge ourselves in whatever we want, the more we become enslaved to our desires, rather than free to love.  Fasting is not magic, but when we feast at the banquet of our souls through fasting we see God transforming our worldly desires towards His Kingdom.  Opening up our marriages and families to fasting opens up our hearts to be filled with the Grace of God and be truly free. 

Fasting rules for families is a personal thing.  Each family will do it differently.  In consultation with your Priest or Spiritual Father, consider following the fasting guidelines of the Church.  Consider what you did last year, and take a step further this year.  For some, this might mean fasting from meat and dairy the first and last weeks of Lent.  For others, it is time to fast from dairy products during every week of Lent, or on Wednesdays and Fridays.  Learning to partake of fasting from the buffet of the Church during Lent means letting go of control of our diet and giving this to God.  Fasting is not just about food, but also about healing our souls.  It is a challenge for us today, but like any sacrifices we make in faith, God’s blessings that come from it are uncountable. 

Before Lent starts, decide as a family what your church service schedule will be.  Families do this all the time at the beginning of the soccer, football, or basketball season.  Families look ahead to commit their evenings and weekends to the sport schedule.  The coach demands it and families do this.  We do this for earthly rewards: a championship team or to help our kids develop their sports skills.  Planning in advance that you will go to every Wednesday night Pre-Sanctified service, or Friday night Salutations service, or Saturday night Vespers is a commitment towards heavenly rewards of peace and healing.  Planning ahead what services you will commit to is a way of setting your family’s Lenten journey within the life of the parish; right where it belongs. 

Now what should we do if our kids don’t want to go?  Or maybe we have mixed feelings about going.  Attending the services requires a commitment of our time that will pay off in transforming our hearts and lives towards receiving God’s Grace.  God’s Grace heals the ills of our souls, but services don’t have to be boring.  Spend time as a family to make it meaningful.  Learn about the service.  Ask your Priest to teach what is happening to you and why.  Participate in the services by learning the hymns and prayers.  Suggest coordinating a potluck or discussion group at Church after service for families.  This could mean coordinating activities for kids and discussions for adults.  Do a family activity following the service that everyone will enjoy, like a family night at home.  Like many good things in life, until we learn to love the medicine of worship in our lives, a teaspoon of sugar helps it go down.  There are few things as boring as an Orthodox Church service that you are not connected with and there is nothing more transforming than living a life of worship. 

Make a commitment to family prayer at home during Lent

Kids are more likely to feel at home at church if their home feels more like a church.  While I am not suggesting that we walk slowly and use quiet voices at home, Lent is a great time to build your family icon corner, or come together before your icon corner in prayer.  Mom and dad must be taking things seriously if they are lighting a candle before the icons and bowing their heads in prayer.  If we are singing Church hymns at home, our kids will feel a familiarity when the hymns are sung at Church.  Lent is a time to consider coming together as a family before the icons instead of before the television.  If you don’t think you know how to do this, talk to your Priest about how to start to pray or find people to teach you about this. 

Consider specifically incorporating the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim as a family.  Each evening, following dinner, or before bedtime when everyone is together, gather at the family icon corner and say the prayer all together. 

O Lord and Master of my life, give me not the spirit of sloth, faintheartedness, lust for power, or idle talk.  (prostration) 

But grant me, your servant, the spirit of moderation, humility, patience, and love.  (prostration) 

Yes, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to judge my brothers and sisters.  For you are blessed to the ages of ages.  Amen (prostration) 

After each verse, do a full prostration, or bow, in front of the icon of Christ.  This is the same prostration the Priest does at the beginning of services.  Nothing shifts a family prayer time like doing prostrations together.  Christ is present as we gather, and through the icons.  Bowing down to Him makes it real and requires a step in faith.  Paradoxically, it strengthens our faith, which is what we need as we try to turn our lives towards Him. 

So the Lenten buffet is laid out before us to nourish our souls and prepare us to receive Christ at Easter.  We can partake of fasting, church services, and prayer in the home.  I have not mentioned many of the other ‘dishes’ available like confession, forgiveness, almsgiving, reading the scriptures, pilgrimages, reading the lives of the Saints, or memorizing scripture or prayers.  The banquet is set for us to partake as much as we desire. 

The goal or purpose of Lent is not to fast or pray.  The goal of Lent is to experience God directly.  Helping our kids ‘get more out of Church’ means helping them experience God directly.  Lent is a time for families to reorient themselves towards God, but it takes a commitment to open our families to the life in Christ and open our homes to God’s saving Grace.  The feast is there for us to partake of, but we can also walk right by, grabbing a bowl of cold cereal.  Remember, though, that after a bowl of cereal you will be hungry again in an hour.  But God promises those who partake, that “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

Name Games for Church School

Name Games for Church School

1. Have each person place the name of a Biblical character in a bowl. The person drawing the name must either tell or act out the character’s story.

2. Play Scrabble, using only the names of Bible characters, places, or events.

3. Pin on the back of each person the name of a Bible figure. Have him or her ask yes or no questions about “himself” or “herself” (the Bible figure) of the other family members. See who can guess their identity first.

Reprinted with permission from “Little Falcons” magazine, Vol. 6, No. 2, 1999.

For subscription information call 1-847-223-4300 or write to Little Falcons, P.O. Box 371, Grayslake, IL 60030

Nativity Word Search

Nativity Word Search

Click Here for a Printable PDF version of a Nativity Word Search

or

Here to view it on the screen.

Give Thanks to the Lord Banner

"Give Thanks to the Lord" Banner

1. Use orange card stock or heavy paper.
2. Punch two holes at the top.
3. Print the following Bible quotation on white computer paper:

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good

(You can use pinking shears or other decorative scissors to cut a fancy border.)

4. Glue the Bible quote in the center of the orange paper.
5. Cut out 4 leaf shapes out of construction paper.  (You can make each one a different color: yellow, orange, green, and brown.)
6. Glue one leaf to each of the four corners surrounding the Bible quote.
7. Get a piece of ribbon and thread it through the holes at the top of the orange paper.  Tape the ribbon to the back of the paper, making a hanger for your banner.

Example:

 (Click to Enlarge)

Why We Are Named After Saints

Why We Are Named After Saints
by Dannielle Ingalls & Vasiliki Oldziey

The Saints of the Orthodox Church are our heroes.  They are the people whom we look up to and model ourselves after.  We are named after Saints so that we will have good role models of our lives.  The Saint for whom we are named after is called our Patron Saint.  On the feast day of our Saint we should attend church services if they are held that day or the next Sunday following that feast day and receive Holy Communion.  Many Orthodox Christians celebrate their "namedays" in place of their birthdays.  Their "namedays" are the feast days of their patron saint.  On this day they go to church for the special services celebrating their saint.  They then go to their homes and have parties offering sweets to all their friends and relatives who come to wish them "many years."

With the help of your parents or godparents, you can find out about your Patron Saint and learn what they did to earn sainthood.  Then you can decide how the lessons of their lives can help you serve God.  For instance, if your Patron Saint is the Theotokos, Mary, you might learn from her example of obedience to God.  When the Archangel Gabriel came to Mary, he told her she would give birth to Jesus.  She was at first afraid but Gabriel reassured her with these words, "For with God nothing will be impossible."  And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."  (Luke 1:37-38).  God gave Mary the great responsibility of giving birth to Jesus and raising Him.  She put her faith in God and followed His commandment to her.  Like Mary we should put our faith in God and follow all of His Commandments to us.

Pick the Saints' Name Game

Below is a list of names.  Pick out the names which are Christian and put a cross beside them.

Amy	Felix	Ian	Isidore
Michael	Katelyn	Kevin	Elizabeth
Tania	Ahmed	John	Justin
Kalliope	Nicholas	Roxanne	Will
Sophia	Phoebe	Worth	Mary
Niketas	Alexander	Elliot	Jane
Theodore	Zosimas	Samson	Peter

Write out the prayer below on a piece of construction paper and fill in the name of your Patron Saint in the empty space.  Make a border with lace, glitter, or crosses at the four corners (use your imagination!).  When you have completed it, put it next to the icon of your Saint.

A Prayer to Your Patron Saint

Pray unto God for me, O Holy Saint _____________, well-pleasing to God:
for I turn unto thee, who art the speedy helper and intercessor for my soul.

A Teacher's Prayer

Dear Church School Directors,
 
A dream is coming true for me. The first book of the revised series, The Way, The Truth, and The Life is being printed, and God willing, will soon be available. It is in the O.C.E.C. catalog as a ninth grade book, but it can be used with eighth graders if you don’t have a high school. It is not intended for students below grade eight.
 
Many teachers have asked if they can begin preparing their students for the program by focussing on certain lessons in the books for lower grades. At this time we are working on a project that will help you do that. 
 
The prayer for your teachers, below, is the one that we have prayed as we worked on the new book. It is from St. Innocent, Apostle to America. The series has been dedicated to him, as he translated the Bible into Aleut and thus was the first to catechize in the new world. It can be printed on decorative-border paper and framed, if you wish.
 
Please give my greetings to your teachers, and recall to them the words of Jesus, “I have come that they may have life, and life abundantly” (John 10:10). We are offering our students the words of eternal life. May God bless our efforts,
 
In Christ,
 
Carole A. Buleza

"A Teacher's Prayer"