ADVOCATE
Covid Keepers: Ideas to Continue in the Post-Pandemic Church
. When considering how to engage families in the story of the resurrection this year, our team wanted to focus on a family activity that respected our current congregational safety guidelines. I happened to be on the launch team for ‘Twas the Morning of...
Creating More Ways to Engage with the Advocate
As religious educators and learners it is important that we present information and receive information in a way that best suits our ability to offer and receive the information. We have steadied ourselves to embrace the necessary shift from an in-person learning...
From APCE Cabinet to APCE Leadership Council
Growing up, I always wanted to be a cheerleader. Why? Because I so wanted to be part of the “in crowd.” I would secretly attempt to do cartwheels and splits in my basement, but ultimately ended up being elected the President of the Pep Club instead. As a novice...
NEW TRAINING AVAILABLE FOR EDUCATORS IN THE PC(USA)
Are you serving as an educator in your church, council or agency—either as a volunteer or as paid staff? Do you feel like you would like to have a stronger biblical and theological foundation and greater skills in educational ministry leadership? Then the Educator’s...
Sparks and Seeds: Celebrating Pentecost and the Growing Time
After the Party After every big celebration comes the crash. Party guests go home and we collapse on the couch with a headache. The special dinner that took days to plan and prepare is devoured in an hour, leaving only a kitchen full of dirty dishes. The warmth of...
Breathe. Breathe.
How far you’ve come. Ashes to go. Foreheads or hands? Ash Wednesday in a bag. Wilderness sand and rocks on a tray. Buried Alleluias. Virtually. Lenten family practices. We could try coloring. One Great Hour or Sharing. Maybe? Holy Week planning. Palms. Parades....
What Will We Tell the Children?
What Will We Tell the Children? It was a Good Friday service I will never forget. I was perhaps eight or nine years old, and since children in my church rarely joined the adults in the sanctuary for any part of worship, my going to worship on Good Friday was a very...
Communal Prayers through Zoom
Creating space for prayer in community is critical to our faith formation. Lent is the perfect season to come together in prayer. When I think of community, I think of a place where you can come as you are, flaws and all. You develop a bond with one another....
A Year of Lent
This week marks the half-way point through Lent. But is it really the half-way point? This week also marks the one-year anniversary of when many of our church buildings were closed and in-person gatherings stopped because of COVID-19. Early on, there were memes and...
Thoughts on Leviticus 11
When was the last time you sat down and read through Leviticus 11? Or maybe I’m asking that question the wrong way. Maybe instead I should ask, when was the last time you heard someone refer to Leviticus 11? If you are like me, it was probably from someone who used it...