July 10-12, 2009: Resource-in-residence, Western Episcopal Educator's Discovery Center, General Convention, main exhibit hall. Location: Anaheim, CA. July 19-24, 2009: Spiritual director for Jr. High camp at Wyoming's HR Camp, a Wind and Wings ministry of the Diocese of Wyoming. Location: Douglas, WY.
September 22-25, 2009: Retreat for Adults Who Work with Youth at Holy Cross Monastery with Br. Randy Greve and singer/songwriter Fran McKendree. Location: West Park, NY.
October 2-4, 2009:Youth program leader for Diocese of Wyoming Diocesan Convention. Location: Casper, Wyoming.
October 31, 2009:Daylong Retreat for Youth Leaders, Diocese of New York. Location: Christ Church, Poughkeepsie, NY.
episcorific :a web zine for and by young adults in the Episcopal Church peer ministry: a ministry of the national youth and family institute. plse: a place to explore your call to ministry in the church way to live: explore topics and faith practices important to teens franmckendree.com: singer/songwriter who performs at many Episcopal events. d365.org: daily prayers Pray-as-you-go: download daily meditations to your iPod.
E4GR: learn about how to work toward the MDGs Holy Cross Monastery: a monastery in the Hudson Valley, NY with a commitment to supporting the spiritual lives of youth. Kanuga: Episcopal conference center with summer programs for youth and WinterLight for young adults.
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The Emergent Psalter
A Website for Adult Christian Formation
Praying into Summer with Your Teen
Summer brings a welcomed break from the harried pace of the school year for everyone, but especially for teens. For most, their days have been jam-packed since last September with school, homework, after-school activities, college test preparation, athletic games, church responsibilities, recitals and more. Many study until midnight, and then rise early the next morning to finish before school begins again. Sleeping in on Saturday is rare with sports tournaments and meets, music lessons and other activities. Teens active in a church are up early on Sunday. For the most part, teens enjoy what they do and chisel out time to listen to music, read books of their choosing, and socialize with friends electronically or in person. Even during the summer teenagers today face pressure to continue a hectic pace at summer college institutes, travel sports teams or at study abroad programs. While these are not poor choices, maybe parents and those who work with teens need to help them use the summer months to re-balance themselves and to explore interests and activities that bring them joy. Summer offers an opportunity for teens to lay aside the drive to please teachers, coaches and parents and redirect energy toward unearthing their deepest gladness— seeds that God has sown within. A sure way to become tuned into deepest gladness is through prayer. It enables us to slow down and intentionally quiet our minds and bodies to listen to God. This does not mean inviting teens to spend the summer kneeling or in silence. These are just two postures of prayer. There are many more. The Catechism defines prayer as “responding to God, by thought and by deeds, with our without words” (Book of Common Prayer, 856). That definition suggests many options, including rest, play, creativity and the observance of Sabbath time. Below are prayerful activities for adults to enjoy with teens.
1. Find an outdoor labyrinth and walk it once each week together. Go to labyrinth- locator.com to locate one near you. 2. Fashion colorful prayer beads for yourselves or for the elderly at your church. If you make them for others, pray for the person while beading. Bead One, Pray Too by Kimberly Winston (Morehouse Publishing, 2008) is a helpful resource. 3. Create homemade greeting cards for the sick in your church while you talk about God’s call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and comfort the afflicted. Mailbox Ministry: Greeting Cards that Share the Faith by Sue Banker (Morehouse Publish- ing, 2009) provides ideas. 4. Doodle prayers on paper either by designing your own patterns or by coloring already-drawn mandalas. Praying in Color by Sybil MacBeth (Paraclete Press, 2007) explores how to doodle with prayer; Coloring Mandalas by Susanne Fincher (Shambhala Publications, 2000) includes blank mandala designs. 5. Create a scrapbook of photographs showing signs of God’s presence in your com- munity. Pages of Faith: The Art of Spiritual Scrapbooking by Sharon Sheridan (Morehouse Publishing, 2007) shows how to create scrapbooks of faith. 6. Walk together once a week in your favorite quiet place. Look for walking paths in a nearby park in the cool hours of the day.
Prayerful activities can also help teens embrace periods of unscheduled time, which Pepperdine psychologist David Elkins identifies as missing in the lives of most of our hurried children:
• Unstructured time for the freedom to explore. • Talking and playing games with immediate family members. • Visiting and playing with extended family. • Time for self-discovery through reading, writing, dreaming and creating.
Praying into summer with teens will give everyone a great gift: time to notice, as author Marjorie Thompson calls it, the spark that God has sown deep within each person. After the spark is uncovered from the busyness of our lives and given oxygen, it is ignited by God’s desire for us. By praying into summer with our teens, they may come to know that they are created in God’s image, both fearfully and wonderfully made.
(Note: This essay first appeared in The Episcopal Teacher (Summer 2009), a publication of Virginia Theological Seminary.)
This article first appeared in the Fall 2008 issue of Episcopal Teacher. Download the article here.
SCALLOP SHELL
The scallop is a traditional symbol for pilgrim. Medieval pilgrims wore a scallop on their clothing to identify themselves as people on a journey. They would show their scallop to churches, monasteries and Christian homes and be given lodging and food for the night. We are all on a journey-- a journey inward to know the person God made us to be and an outward journey to use our gifts to fulfill God's dreams for creation.
