News and Resources from the FGC Religious Education Committee
Issue 10 / Autumn 2005
In this Issue:
Family Meeting for Worship in the Monthly Meeting. By Christel Jorgenson
Adult Religious Education in Evanston (IL) Friends Meeting. By Roger Hansen
Quaker Blogs. By Peterson Toscano
Review of Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins (Carole Boston Weatherford, paintings by Jerome Lagarrigue). Reviewed by Beth Collea
Review of New Peace Curriculum Practicing Peace:Testimony in Action-- Lessons for Preschool to 4th Grade (Jean McCandless). Reviewed by Joan Broadfield
New, Noteworthy, or Newly Discovered: Resources for RE
Family Meeting for Worship in the Monthly Meeting
by Christel Jorgenson
What a challenge our form of worship is for children! Even if you just consider the visuals--"still forms on every side"--it looks like a room full of adults either falling asleep or being punished with a "time out!" How can children be helped to feel the depth, the quickening, the opportunity to encounter God that draws us together?
I would like to share what many of us at Friends Meeting at Cambridge have found helpful. For many years we've had what we call "family worship" the first Sunday of each month, held in the social room at the same hour as traditional unprogrammed worship in the meetinghouse. First Day School is not held that Sunday; the preschool through sixth grade children and their parents, along with any older youth or adults who wish to come, are invited. It serves as a chance for families to get acquainted, and for the rest of the meeting to have an opportunity to interact with children and families. It's also a monthly break for First Day School teachers, since family worship help is recruited from outside the teacher pool.
When I volunteered to be the new coordinator of the family worship, I knew many teachers and parents were hungering for help in developing their children's unprogrammed worship skills. How can we help children understand our worship? Can we use a program to enhance the unprogrammed experience? I also wanted to have an active time with children, giving them a space to praise and rejoice with body and voice, to use their eagerness and sense of wonder and imagination. I had in mind the work of Jerome Berryman and Godly Play™. His premise is that young children can be immersed in the mystery of scripture in their own, concrete-thinking kind of way, using their bodies, imagination, and play to relate to God and their worshipping community. I share his sense that our Christian heritage has deep stories to tell. I wanted our children to hear them, to experience them as much as possible, in a way that invites them in. I also wanted something that adults might also be able to enter experientially.
When I say these words, I wonder how close we have come to this ideal. I know that we have had moments. Does it work for everyone? Probably not. Not all parents and kids participate. But I feel that if it's done with love and care, it might be significant for many. I don't feel required to please everyone, but to be faithful as God leads.
Below is a rough outline of our themes and activities for the past year, followed by a few words on the way we carried them out.
October--Welcome. Zaccheus story (Luke 19:1–9). Participate by being in the play. Simple worship intro.
November--Being thankful Corrie Ten Boom story acted out. Small group sharing.Worship intro by Ministry and Counsel member.
December--Light. Advent wreaths and Hanukkah: candle and rug; candles to hold; guided meditation about light and love. Decorate candles at the end.
January--Gifts for God Feast of the Three Kings (Matthew 2:1–12).Tell the story with crèche figures on the floor. Art projects (crowns and gifts) or discussion. Worship using candle and rug and small pieces of wax to hold.
February--Love and Connection Story of Moses and the Ten Best Ways to Live. Ref:"Young Children and Worship," by Sonja Steward and Jerome Berryman.Tell story with cardboard tablets, ten cutouts. Everyone makes own eleventh commandment on paper as a link in a chain.Worship using rug, candle, and a ribbon connecting us.
March--Images of God Story told with _In God's Name_,by S. E. Sasso. Make collages/ pictures of images of God, string on clothesline. Worship using rug, candle, surrounded by pictures.
April--Spiritual Journey Story of The Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35).Tell story with flannel board. Introduce finger labyrinths. Worship using rug, candle, and finger labyrinth. After worship option: decorate one's labyrinth.
May--Caring Story about birds in scripture (especially the dove in Noah's ark), caring for birds. Everyone makes paper birds to hang on a tree in the room. Worship using rug, candle. After worship option: Making bird feeders.
June--Celebration Share about the worship tools of the year, the themes, recap of songs. Worship using rug and candle.
Regardless of our theme, love is always our topic.
The program takes into account the meanings of physical symbols and children's physical reality.Taking care with these things is a practical way to express love to the children.
We provide consistency and continuity.
We use the same format, more or less, for each session. It usually takes about 70 minutes, which puts us in sync with the other meeting for worship which goes for an hour plus announcements and introductions. Each segment of the program is short and movement is encouraged between them ("get up and stretch") if the activity itself is not physically active.
Here is a description of our program format:
a. Welcome and greeting each other. After a welcome and review of the format by the facilitator, everyone is asked to get up to greet someone else, with one's name and some bit of conversation, like a favorite something, tied in to time of year or meeting theme. One time we did clumping, which is grouping with people for whom the answer is the same, such as "favorite thing to do in snow."
b. Singing.We repeat some songs month to month."Praise Ye the Lord," with its up and down movements and loudness, is our classic opener.We always have some action songs plus some songs to tie in with the theme. At the end of this past year, we did a reprise of many songs learned during the year.We use a flip chart in front, which records our repertoire.
c. A story.This is often a very simple retelling of a biblical story employing any of the following: a visual aid like a story board or flannel board, actors, representative figures on the floor, or someone telling their own story (as when two people talked about their family experiences of advent wreaths or of Hanukkah candles).
d. Response.We invite a response to the story, such as an activity, art or craft work, or something verbal. Most times options are offered.
e. An introduction to open worship time. After a couple of daunting experiences using long, here's-how-you-might-think-about-it introductions, the introduction is kept short and as physical as possible. A rug to sit on in the center, a small chest where a candle is set and lit, and dimming the lights, together form the continuity of experience.
f. Unprogrammed worship.This may be fairly brief, something between ten and twenty minutes. Sometimes there is verbal guidance.The point has not been to make the time longer (though that would/could be a worthy goal), but to develop a sense of a worshipping space that we're all in together. (Often the youngest end up being taken out by parents when they get chatty or restless.They have had a time of community and preparation which may yield fruit later in being able to sit longer.)
g. Reflections from worship. One may need only to ask,"Is there anything someone would like to share from their experience?" Attention is hard to get for this, however, since the children are usually ready to jump up from their places as soon as we begin shaking hands at rise of meeting.
h. Announcements and snack as service opportunity. A snack provides an opportunity for children to be of service passing food around. Children are also asked to help at other times when something needs handing out for the program.
Should you decide to do a similar program, I offer these tips:
1. Share information: Post the agenda and refer to it each time. Send mailers to families.This helps newcomers and creates the security of repetition for the children.
2. Use singing.
a. Use song posters, not sheets or books.We're all looking up at the same thing, thus the song leader gets our eyes.
b. Repeat songs and use some action songs.These facilitate learning and understanding, especially for the youngest ones.
c. Think about singing--self expression within a structure, unity, harmony, emotional connection, relationship to theme.Allow the music to help you; the mood of a song can help with the transition to the next portion of the program.
d. Don't be afraid to clap or cheer (often a spontaneous response to a rousing song).We can express our reactions.
3. Create a physical environment that makes quiet worship time special.
a. Allow kids to sit on the floor. Remember that on chairs they usually can't reach the floor with their feet and so are "ungrounded."This is where children play. Consider the earth as a reliable foundation, a place to make a connection. Make the floor space special with a rug and give the children a worship posture to facilitate centering down. We explain to the children,"If you sit on the floor, it's with your bottom on the floor, legs crossed, not touching anyone unless you're with your parent."This choice gives freedom while serving to remind the children that this is not ordinary time or space. One of our hopes is that the children will develop an appreciation of how discipline can be helpful in arriving at a spiritual goal.
b. Light a candle--the light of Christ, the light of God, inside and outside us.You can close your eyes and it's still there.
c. Dim the lights in the room.This creates intimacy and cuts down on outside stimulation and distractions. It also gives a visual clue to slow down and be contemplative, and can be an invitation to try to see with "different eyes."
See Appendix A for a discussion of the use of symbols in family worship.
4. Welcome the arts, inviting responding without words. Use pictures and symbols. Consider self expression as part of the holy. Offering options increases the sense of freedom.Think about appealing to all the senses and what different forms response to a story can take.
5. Have no one segment longer than 15 minutes and provide stretch breaks. Respect attention spans and remember that young bodies need to move.
6. Invite adults who are not parents to be present. Children are usually expected to adjust to adult environments, but in family worship the adults are given opportunities to make any necessary adjustments. Entering into one another's environments is a sign of love and caring. Can we be open to it, even if it means compromising the purity of one's worship time?
7. Prepare as thoroughly as possible. Work out a detailed outline. Practice saying everything. Check times allotted to each activity to see how it all fits in the allotted time. Share the outline with your team.
8. Strive to develop a team, a few as the core group, some just for a particular task. Look for a variety of people of different ages and gender to present. Find ways to let kids volunteer. Be somewhat realistic about what people can take on. I have always felt it ideal to have some "regulars" greet people at the door, but parents with children often don't arrive until the last minute or later.
9. Don't expect consistent success, either from your ideas or from the response. Kids' responsiveness varies. Sometimes they're cooperative and fully engaged, and some days they're "off" and nothing seems to work. Kids tend to be more expressive of their inward state than adults.This comes with the territory. Don't let one negative experience with a child give you anxiety.Work on relationships, finding things to praise, looking for the kinds of activities that children will most enjoy. Don't let a "heckler" throw you off course. Think about ways that the more active children might work off a little energy before entering the room.
10. Work the program. Expect a shake down cruise. People will be anxious at first--including you, the facilita-tor--and that will likely make people antsy, cross, or confrontational. Don't take it personally.Try to ask for feedback and use it for future planning, with a healthy dose of evaluation on your part for whether it improves the experience.
11. Get input, especially from parents. How was this experience for them? How was it for their child? What kinds of activities does their child enjoy the most? Let parents know how they can develop more worship skills at home.
See Appendix B.
12. Get help. Go to Ministry and Counsel (or similar committee) to report and ask for advice. Make sure there's prayer support from them, both in meetings and from committee representatives in worship with you. Personally ask good pray-ers that you know to come to worship. And, of course, pray yourself! Divine guidance is essential.
Appendix A: On Symbolism in Family Worship
In helping children to understand worship, I have looked for physical metaphors. I realize that that is dangerous territory for a Quaker, since we have long appreciated George Fox's admonitions to avoid empty symbolism. Our meetinghouses are, generally speaking, devoid of traditional church symbols.Yet we also try to make our physical surroundings consistent with our principles, which will be symbolic on some level. Our lack of a steeple, stained glass windows, or of altars and the prevailing simplicity of form speak to what we believe.Yet there is also symbolism to be overcome: how can we overcome the "sleeping" or "time out" connotations of sitting in silence? How can we exemplify what is going on inside?
At family worship we use:
* a rug for a special place, connection to the earth;
* a candle for light, inner light, God's presence with us;
* dimming lights to shut out distractions and suggest seeing with different eyes.
At times, we have also used:
* a multicolor, shiny ribbon to "wrap twice around your hand and pass it on," which connected us all, like the spirit of God in worship;
* a tree with our personalized bird cutouts hanging on it, like us, separate and unique, but all supported and sustained by the Spirit, one family;
* a finger labyrinth, to find the way to the center;
* image of God collages made by each person, showing how God may appear differently to different people.
Personally, I found the ribbon to be the most powerful.The corporate sense of worship is a mystical reality that can be elusive.We don't come together just to hear messages or to sit in silence; we hunger for the sense of the sacred space and connection that is made by our presence together listening for God's voice.When the kids come into worship for the first fifteen minutes (as ours do), they may miss this sense of mysterious communion.
The ribbon was a gamble: what if the kids used it to tie each other up? Maybe if this was the first meeting, that might have happened. But we'd established some expectations and everyone responded. As soon as the ball of ribbon started with the first child in the center, a deep hush fell as each one waited for the ribbon to come to them. Isn't that like our expectant waiting? There were messages out of the silence that day that were moving and a tender feeling of sharing among us.
Appendix B: Worship in the Home and in the Meeting: A Letter to Parents
A message about Family Meeting for Worship at ______ on the first Sunday of the month
Learning how to enter worship can be challenging for children.They experience so much through play and movement, that sitting still can seem antithetical to their spirit.
Nevertheless, with our over-stimu-lated and distracting culture, it seems more and more important that children be able to find their center and their connection with God's spirit in stillness. (Hmmm. As so often happens when it comes to life in the Spirit, what applies to children applies to adults, too.) Here are some ideas that might help.
Spend some quiet time together at home.
* Take time for some silence in giving thanks before meals.
* Linger for a quiet snuggle after a book is read.
* Reflect with your child about the day that has passed, listening to your hearts.What were the good things, the enjoyments, the satisfactions? What were the hard things, the times of hurt or confusion? Listen together then for a God response.
* When there is a problem or a disagreement, stop for a moment to breathe and pray and let your child know what you're doing.
* When observing the natural world, taking time to stop and listen quietly can lead to new discoveries and can help children appreciate the value and joy of listening.
* Ask your child to join you in a few minutes of a yoga and meditation routine: stretch. Sit down in a cross-legged posture with hands in the lap. Close eyes. Feel breath going in and out of one's center. (A meditation bell is a wonderful addition.)
Think together with your child about how they can be alert to the Spirit when they are in worship.
* What happens when your eyes are open? Have you ever tried to understand what is happening inside the other people at meeting? Have you ever blessed people as they come in the door?
* What happens when your eyes are closed? Is there a "stream" of thought going through your mind? Can you think about beautiful things? I wonder if there are any problems you might ask God to help you with. I wonder if there are things you are thankful for.
* If you had something in your hands (bees wax, play dough, origami paper, a small cloth object), could holding it help you to go inside? I wonder if God might guide your hands. [Though reading is quiet, it is not an activity that provides an opening to the community sense of Spirit. Some people read to prepare and quiet the mind, but reading during worship itself draws the mind out of the corporate worship experience. It is an escape.]
At family worship, we have both program and time for open worship. Singing, story, sharing reflections, laughing, moving, learning, serving one another--these are all part of our time together, a celebration of the community that worships together. It is also a time of learning about unprogrammed worship, trying different ways to help all of us, but especially our children, understand more about the inward process of quieting and listening to God. Some of these ways you may have tried at home, others may be new.We hope you and your child will come in a spirit of openness to experimenting and discovery.
As in the "big meeting," we rely upon one another--bringing our inner lights together in one place is like gathering candles to make more illumination. Our full presence is a real gift we give each other.The discipline of worship is meant to bring us collectively into the Presence. In practical terms, when children are mingled on the floor or playing with toys, they have a hard time avoiding distracting each other. Sitting in a self-contained position, conscious breathing, and parental presence can help. (Parents of toddlers can discern whether their child can stay in the circle or needs to move outside of the space.)
You and your children are precious to the meeting community. Come and share this experience.
Any comments about your family's experience, questions or ideas for themes will be gratefully accepted.
[Here contact information would be given if distributed within the monthly meeting.]
Christel (Chris) Jorgenson, a member of Friends Meeting at Cambridge, New England Yearly Meeting, formerly worked as the New England Yearly Meeting Youth and Education Secretary. For more information or for sample scripts, you may e-mail her at cmjorgens@aol.com.
Adult Religious Education in Evanston (IL) Friends Meeting
by Roger Hansen
Quote and Queries for Reflection and Worship Sharing*
"For it is my understanding as a sociologist of religion that it is common
worship that creates the beloved community for which many U[nitarian] U[niversalists]
yearn. Furthermore, shared values and principles don't necessarily motivate
people to do anything; whereas a vital experience of common worship can send
a congregation out into the world with a determination to see that those values
and principles are put into practice. Of course I know that in many congregations
today . . . worship can be a form of sanctuary, therapy, even cocooning, which
draws people away from the world rather than motivating them to change the
world: it surely all depends on what kind of worship."
-- Robert Bellah, addressing the Unitarian Universalist Association's
General Assembly, June 27, 1998, and archived at uua.org.
For what kind of worship does your spirit long?
What does this kind of worship require of you?
How have you experienced connections between corporate worship and beloved
community? Between worship and service in the world?
Does any word, phrase or image from the Bellah quote particularly speak to
your condition at this time? Explain.
Central to Evanston Meeting's approach to adult religious education has been finding a variety of ways to nurture new attenders and longtime members. As a meeting toward the larger end of the Quaker spectrum (around 60 to 70 worshipping on an average Sunday) it is important to find a variety of ways of entering and growing in the life of the meeting community.
Two programs have been key in encouraging the religious education of Evanston Friends. First is the Inquirers' Group, which in similar to some meetings' Quakerism 101 classes. (Quakerism 101 is an adult curriculum published by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.) Evanston's groups have met for six sessions on a weekday evening. Meeting in homes has enhanced the warmth of the atmos-phere.The content of the sessions has arisen from our experience, with occasional use of materials from the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting program. Different presenters lead each session, drawing on the particular interests and passions of meeting members, while the host/organizer provides continuity.This format enables the presenters to get to know newcomers a little better, and sometimes longtime members attend to refresh their education in Quakerism and to get to know new attenders.
The Second Hour is a second key program for religious education.The program is offered two Sundays a month, with the other two Sundays usually devoted to meeting for business and the presentation of someone's spiritual journey.The format usually involves either worship sharing in response to queries on a topic, or a talk by a designated speaker followed by an ample discussion period.We try to balance Second Hours devoted to internal spiritual experience with those devoted to outward testimonies and social concerns. Some notable hours in recent times have been worship sharing on spirituality and nature, a speaker on "The Gospel of Thomas: the Quaker Gospel?" and panels of meeting mem-bers/attenders on aging and on being a teenager. Each year opportunity is usually provided for worship sharing on our experiences of meeting for worship.
Other opportunities to meet and deepen the life of the community are the spiritual support program where members are divided into small groups to get to "know each other in that which is eternal," an annual silent retreat, and Friendship dinner groups.While not considered a part of the religious education program, they help in a variety of ways, both intentional and incidental, to nurture our experience as Friends. For us as Quakers our experience of one another, and what we learn from the multiplicity of ways we interact, are at the heart of our religious education.
Roger Hansen is a member of Evanston Friends Meeting. He moved this spring to Milwaukee, where he participates in Adult Religious Education and the Spiritual Nurture Program of Milwaukee Friends Meeting.
Quaker Blogs
by Peterson Toscano
Friends, younger and older, are finding connection and opportunity to share and reflect through blogs and online journals. Unfamiliar with blogs? According to Blog Canada (http://www.blogscanada.ca/), a blog is "an online journal comprised of links and postings in reverse chronological order, meaning the most recent posting appears at the top of the page." In other words it is an internet journal where someone can post articles, essays, observations, photos and links to other sites.
Left: Martin Kelly's Quaker Ranter homepage.
Right: Quaker Ranter
Reader, a compilation of essays posted on Martin's website (available
from QuakerBooks of FGC).
On the internet one can setup a blog through a number of free service providers. On a typical blog, the blogger posts an original article or an excerpt from someone else's blog with a link to the full article. A space is usually provided for viewers to leave comments about blog postings. Some blogs center on specific themes, anything from essays protesting the war in Iraq to light pieces about a summer vacation in Mexico. Others become as eclectic as the blogger.
Many Quaker bloggers now post regularly online with the trend only growing. For a small community like ours, blogging gives us the opportunity to connect at any time through great distances. Through my blog I met Ruth Ann, a young adult Friend from the United Kingdom.We visited and posted comments on each other's sites.We also shared links to other Quaker sites. On a recent trip to the United Kingdom, I had the opportunity to visit her meeting house and her young adult Friends' group.
A brief list of blogs by Quakers include:
Ruth Ann's Contemplative
Activist
Liz Opp's The Good Raised Up
Jennifer's Aphrodite
Rich's Brooklyn Quaker
Amanda's Of the Best, but Plain
Martin Kelley's Quaker Ranter
Danny's Riding the Whale
Peterson Toscano's blog
Martin Kelley offers an intriguing guide to what he considers the best Quaker
blogs and online ministries, Subjective
Guide to Quaker Blogs. It is chock full of useful information.
Many young friends and young adult friends maintain blogs, although they may not identify as Quaker and may not write exclusively about Quaker issues.The blog search engine feedster.com is a helpful place to search for Quaker-themed blogs. Visit Martin Kelley's Quaker Blog Watch at http://quakerquaker.org for a set of introductory guides to Quaker blogs. At most sites, many Quaker bloggers provide links to other Quaker bloggers. Many bloggers choose to be somewhat anonymous, only posting their first name or a screen name. Also, bloggers do not always reveal their age, sex or location, giving them the opportunity to share their views free of certain prejudices some people might have.
Quaker blogs can be a powerful tool to help keep Young Friends and Young Adult Friends connected in between gatherings and can open the door for deeper fellowship, support and spiritual growth.
If you are interested in starting your own blog, visit blogger.com.
A theatrical performance activist, Peterson is a member of Hartford Friends Meeting, New England Yearly Meeting.
Review of Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins
by Carole Boston Weatherford, paintings by Jerome Lagarrigue
reviewed by Beth Collea
In
Freedom on the
Menu:The Greensboro Sit-Ins (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2005,
ISBN: 0-8037-2860-3), Carole Boston Weatherford gives us a child's eye view
of one chapter in the Civil Rights Movement.The storyline and the beautiful
illustrations make the discrimination palpable and personal and the final
victory joyous and sweet. Connie, the main character, is an eight-year-old
African-American girl. She cherishes the times she and her mother go downtown
shopping together.When they get tired or thirsty, they always go to Woolworth's
for a Coke, but this is 1960 and they can't sit at the counter--yet. As the
story unfolds, we are introduced to Aunt Gertie from New York who won't comply
with the segregation rules and an elderly white woman who cheers the protesters
on at the lunch counter.The reader can feel the excitement, consternation
and alarm of the many characters as powerful social assumptions begin to give
way.
Weatherford deftly weaves many elements of the Civil Rights Movement into this brief story. Dr. King comes to town and preaches a stirring sermon, a voter registration drive takes place, there is a nonviolent sit-in at the Woolworth's lunch counter, Connie's older siblings join the NAACP, the shopping trips downtown stop as the family boycotts local merchants, sister is arrested in a protest, and the sit-ins spread across the South. Finally, the lunch counter is open to all and Connie has her banana split at the counter!
Freedom on the Menu is a well-told story that can be used in a variety of ways in your First Day School. It was probably written for third graders, but it will hold the interest of middle school students. You could create a one-day lesson around the story or use the book to open a whole unit on nonviolence or anti-racism.You could easily use Freedom on the Menu in a unit on one or more of the testimonies.
A guest teacher who had a personal involvement in the Civil Rights Movement would add a rich complement to lessons drawn from the book. Friends in your own meeting may have participated in freedom rides or helped to rebuild African-American churches in the South that had been burned.
Children hunger to hear the service and faith stories of adult Quakers. Personal vignettes about living the testimonies through acts of conscience and nonviolent resistance add a reality and texture to the Quaker faith they are learning about in First Day School.This is Quaker community building at its best! This is the legacy of Quakerism being passed on to the next generation.
As a final lesson possibility, you could make a very large menu decorating the cover with a picture of your meeting and the title Freedom on the Menu. Inside, have your whole meeting help the children add the "dishes" you are serving up in 2005 to keep freedom on the menu. Contact your Peace and Social Justice Committee and Working Party on Racism in advance.They may have minutes to add to the menu.
Reprinted from the NEYM electronic religious education resource, NEYM REmail, sent March 25, 2005.
Beth Collea is a member of Wellesley Monthly Meeting, NEYM, and serves as Christian Education Coordinator for her yearly meeting.
Review of New Peace Curriculum Practicing Peace:Testimony
in Action-- Lessons for Preschool to 4th Grade
by Jean McCandless
Reviewed by Joan Broadfield
Another new resource from the Religious Education Committee of Friends General Conference is Marsha Holliday's new curriculum, Exploring Quakerism:A Guide for New and Seasoned Friends. Reviewed in the spring 2005 issue of this newsletter, FGC REsource, it should soon be available from Quaker Press of FGC.
Practicing Peace:Testimony in Action--Lessons for Preschool to 4th Grade, by Jean McCandless (soon to be published by Quaker Press of FGC) is a new curriculum to help young people begin to learn about the testimonies, starting with the peace testimony. A carefully constructed process is used, with options for activities and approaches for three age ranges: preschool and kindergarten; grades 1 and 2, and grades 3 and 4.The author explains her concern about educating at these different ages groupings. Clearly, where a meeting has separate classes of children, this would be quite useful. Each lesson has an introduction with preparatory information, and a carefully constructed program which includes reviewing the content of what the class covered the previous week. This review is done by creating a 'logbook' of activity at the end of each class about the lesson, and this process is a great addition to the toolbox of teachers of First Day School.
Another Quaker Press publication, Opening Doors to Quaker Worship (FGC Religious Education Committee, 1994), would serve as a fine companion, a resource to add for some of the activities that are offered in this new curriculum.
Joan Broadfield is a member of Chester Monthly Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. She serves as staff person for Peace and Concerns of the yearly meeting.
New, Noteworthy, or Newly Discovered: Resources for RE
Whispers of Faith: Young Friends share their experience of Quakerism
Edited by W. Geoffrey Black, P. Zion Klos, Claire Reddy, Milam Smith, and Rachel Stacy. Quaker Press of FGC/Quaker Books of Britain Yearly Meeting in cooperation with QUIP, 2005, 164 pages. This inspiring book is a collection of young Friends deeply felt responses to the question,"What does Quakerism mean to me, in my heart?" A wide range of young voices from both the unprogrammed and programmed traditions are heard.This book is not just for young Friends! It can be used in a variety of ways in religious education settings for youth, young adults, and older adults. Available from Quakerbooks of FGC.
www.nrpe.org
This website, recently launched by the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, highlights the environmental justice work of numerous faith-based communities.The site has a wealth of resources, including profiles of faith-based groups, including interfaith groups, engaged in care of the earth; practical things individuals, families, and congregations can do to help the environment; religious perspectives on faith and the environment; education resources; and an amazing number of links to additional sites on the topic.
For the Peace of the World: A Christian Curriculum on International Relations
Ed. by Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos, National Council of Churches, 2005, 87 pages.This study guide, appropriate for younger and older adults, has materials for six sessions. Session titles are: Is America Number One?; Fear, Security, and Love; Is America God's Favorite Nation?; Poverty in a Rich World; Self-Interest and World Citizenship; and Preventing War with Peace. Includes in-depth essays, Bible studies, and ideas for bringing about social change. For RE classes, discussion groups, book groups, and individuals.
Valuing Families
A new (and free!) resource from the NCC's Education and Leadership Ministries Commission, celebrates the amazing diversity of God's creation by encouraging families to honor and prayerfully support families of all kinds.A variety of activity ideas are included. Download Valuing Families free at ncccusa.org/elmc/family2005.
In Dialogue with Scripture
An excellent resource you can download free from the Episcopal Church in America website at ecusa.anglican.org/50534_58619_ENG_HTM.htm.With only a small portion of the text specific to Anglicans, there is much here of use to Friends, including advice on starting a Bible study group, valuing diversity and maintaining appropriate boundaries within such a group, and a wide range of methods for use with small groups. Approximately 100 pages.
