Church Calendar: Explained

    May 30, 2011 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

When you open the door to my oldest son’s room you immediately read on his wall “stories told here.”  We love stories in our home; stories about kings and queens, stories about wild west heroes, and even stories about a galaxy far, far away. But probably their most beloved stories are the stories of their family.  The boys love to hear their grandmother tell about what it was like when she was a little girl. They love to hear about all the possible family connections to famous historical figures. These stories have shaped our children and have helped to give them an identity.

The traditional church calendar does much of the same thing. Through the calendar the believer’s identity is shaped.  It tells the story of our family. It tells the story of our Savior. The various seasons of the Christian year walk us through and help us enter into the big events of the life of Jesus, from his humble birth to his glorious return. As we enter the story we are confronted with God in the flesh, “God with us” who set aside his heavenly glory to dwell among us, to save us, and to teach us how to love.  The calendar beckons us to live a life of loving God and loving others. As we are pulled into Christ’s story, we also hear about other individuals from scripture that struggled in much the same way we do today. The ancients told and retold these stories and ultimately were formed by them. We too can continue tell “the story” again and again so that our identity as a God’s people might be shaped.

The Dining Table

    April 24, 2011 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

What does your family dining table look like during the Easter season? Many of us go “all out” decorating for Christmas, but do we put any thought into Easter?  The center of our family’s daily time together could become a nightly conversation piece.

Candles are a great table decoration, not only because they look pretty and smell great, but because they remind us of the Light of Christ.

Also try and think outside of the box. An Easter themed table does not have to be full of lilies, but any spring flowers would work just fine. I love having flowers on our table year round. I usually let my son pick out a cheap arrangement from the grocery store floral section and throw them in a vase. Simple and sweet!

Easter Season Gardening

    April 24, 2011 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Our family loves arrival of springtime. We love watching the rebirth of the plants and trees in our neighborhood. It is quite fitting to celebrate the season of Easter as the plants around us begin to come back to life. After all, just when the disciples thought Jesus had left them for good, he returned to them as he had promised!

For those of you with teenagers or older children, have you ever planted a garden together?  Most families I know plant flowers or vegetables simply for personal enjoyment, but have you ever planted a garden with the purpose of giving away your harvest?

The Easter season is the perfect time to begin planning this activity!

The yard at our home isn’t suited for a “traditional” garden so we just usually plant a container garden full of herbs.  This year, we are branching out and trying our hand at carrots, beets and radishes.

(If you need more info on DYI container gardening, just do a quick search online and you will find that there are tons of web sites that can provide instructions.)

After you decide out what to grow, come up with a plan for what to do with the food or flowers that you harvest. If you decide to grow vegetables, perhaps you could donate them to a local food pantry? If you plant flowers, perhaps you could make an arrangement and give them to someone? The options are endless!

Celebrating New Life

    April 24, 2011 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Growing up, I was fortunate to spend quite a bit of time with my grandparents. They loved the outdoors and they taught me about gardening. Ever since I was a little girl I loved the fresh fruits, vegetables and winged friends that the spring and summer brought. Easter, the most important celebration of our faith, is rich with symbols and reminders of God’s love for us. One of the symbols that best says spring and new life to me has been the butterfly. Why not make your own to welcome spring and celebrate the Easter season?

Take colorful tissue paper or coffee filters and color them with watered-down paint. After they have dried, gather the tissue paper or filter together in the middle and secure it with a pipe cleaner. Attach two shorter pipe cleaners to the first pipe cleaner to make the antennae. When you’re all finished, hang the butterflies as a reminder of new life in spring.

You can also plant some flowers in your yard or garden that will attract the real thing!

The Season of Easter

    April 24, 2011 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Christ is risen! – He is risen indeed!

Easter is the most important feast of the Christian year. It is so important that the Church sets aside a seven-week season to rejoice in Christ’s victory over sin and death.  How can a family sustain this “Easter spirit” of celebration all the way to Pentecost? The activities provided on Modern Sacred Family are meant to enrich your family’s observance of the Easter season, by bringing the ‘light of the world’ into your home in a concrete way!

Easter Story Cookies

    April 19, 2011 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Thanks to  DLTK Kids for this activity!

Easter Story Cookies

To be made the evening before Easter.

1 cup whole pecans
1 tsp vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
zipper baggie
wooden spoon
tape
Bible

Preheat oven to 300 degrees (this is important, don’t wait till you’re half done with the recipe!)

Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces.  Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was Beaten by the Roman soldiers.  Read John 19:1-3.

Let each child smell the vinegar.  Put 1tsp vinegar into mixing bowl.  Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink.  Read John 19:28-30.

Add egg whites to vinegar.  Eggs represent life.  Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life.  Read John 10:10-11.

Sprinkle a little salt into each child’s hand.  Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl.  Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’ followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.  Read Luke 23:27.

So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing.  Add 1 cup sugar.

Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us.  He wants us to know and belong to Him.  Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.  Explain that the color white represents the purity in God’s eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.  Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.

Fold in broken nuts.  Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheet.  Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus’ body was laid.  Read Matthew 27:57-60.

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.  Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.  Explain that Jesus’ tomb was sealed.  Read Matthew 27:65-66.

GO TO BED!  Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight.  Jesus’ followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.  Read John 16:20 and 22.

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.  Notice the cracked surface and take a bite.  The cookies are hollow!  On the first Easter, Jesus’ followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.  Read Matthew 28:1-9.

Bread of Life

    April 18, 2011 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Living a balanced, healthy lifestyle is very important to our family and that is one of the reasons we love this activity! Bake bread as a family, and discuss why Jesus called himself the Bread of Life.  Just as bread gives us nutrition and sustains us physically, Jesus offers us eternal life and sustains us spiritually. Put the bread in an Easter basket, add some fun, Easter goodies and one item that shares the message of Christ. (We like to use a homemade card that we designed together). Aas a family, deliver the basket to someone this week, sharing the good news!

Paper Branches

    April 18, 2011 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

In Jesus’ time, palm branches were used in celebrations or to honor dignitaries. This is a great activity to teach your child about the significance of Palm Sunday.

Read John 12:12-13 together.

Have your kids make palm branches out of green paper and decorate the dinner table with their creations. Place extra “branches” on a path from the entryway to the table to mark a path of honor. Before dinner, discuss the meaning of Hosanna, which could have been an appeal for divine help or salvation, or a way to praise Jesus. Ask your children what they might shout if they saw Jesus coming down the road today.

The Season of Lent

    March 9, 2011 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

We’ve encountered many Christian parents who face the same struggles that we do when it comes to knowing how to raise kids who love Jesus and live the kind of life that he modeled for us. Lucky for us, there have been Christian parents who have been trying to figure this out for centuries, and there’s a lot that we can learn from their examples as we think about raising families in the modern world. That’s why we call our site Modern Sacred Family. We’re learning lessons from the sacred traditions of the church and applying them in creative ways to our very modern family lives.

We’re launching this site as we enter into the season of Lent. Lent is an ancient season of the church’s year set aside for self-reflection and repentance as we prepare ourselves for the celebration of Jesus’ passion and resurrection. Lent can be a deeply meaningful time of spiritual formation for our families if we will approach it with expectation, dedication, and dependence upon the Holy Spirit to do his work of making us more and more like Jesus. We’ve attempted to provide numerous activities and ideas for families with kids of all ages that are designed to help you and your family enter into this season and experience the beauty and transformation it has to offer.

Sugar Cookies

    December 22, 2010 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

My son’s favorite hobby is cooking, so he really connects with this activity.

To help all of our children understand the joy brought to Bethlehem by the angels’ announcement we look forward to making angel sugar cookies together. We use our favorite sugar cookie recipe to create angels as well as other festive shapes.  We package them up and share them with our neighbors — spreading the joy to those around us as well.

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