Children and our Baptismal vows

"Will you who witness these vows do all in your power to support these persons in their life in Christ?"

People: "We will."

Sound familiar? This is the vow that the congregation makes at every Baptism. Did you miss a baptism or two, stay silent at the response, remember that some of these people were baptized at other churches or in other denominations? Good news, it doesn't matter! We are all included in the vow through our baptism and responsible for the vows through our catholic communion. When St. James Parish responds with a resounding "We will!" we are making the promise on behalf of the church throughout the world. We are also accepting responsibility for supporting people baptized elsewhere, all Christians. The vow is both personal and corporate.

What exactly are we promising? "All in your power to support…in their life in Christ" is both vague and encompassing. 'All in our power' means using whatever talents we have as they are needed and does not depend on being asked directly. It could encompass everything from praying for the person in specific loving ways, to teaching Sunday School, to engaging in conversation about what you get our of the sermon or service. Support can be helping with transportation to church for Mass or choir practice, it can be childcare during meetings, it can be letters of encouragement or recommendations of reading material. It can be reassurance to a parent that their child is welcome in our communion and worship or willingness to answer questions from newcomers about the specifics of our worship. It can be engaging in discussion with other diocese or promoting social justice.

The ways to fulfill this vow are as wonderful and varied as the people in our church, they are as unlimited as God's love.

Do not keep yourself from the joy of fulfilling this vow.

Children at St. James

At St. James we recognize children as full members of the Church. In practice this means that children are welcome in our services, welcome to receive the body and blood in communion, and welcome at coffee hour. We want you AND your children to feel at home in all areas of Church life.

At St. James, we use a three-pronged approach to integrating children into the worship and life of the Church:
Children, who wish to, are welcome stay in the pews for the entire service, but we do not expect or require them to pay unwavering attention. Instead, we offer boxes with legos, paper, crayons, and a pencil for younger children and, for older chilren, “Pew Work”. Pew work is designed for children who can read; it encourages your child to listen to the readings and sermon and to talk about what they have heard and understood. The boxes and pew work are available from the ushers in the foyer. Don't worry that your child will be a distraction to others -- any noise your child makes will sound louder to you than it does to anybody else. Take a deep breath and believe that we all enjoy the sounds that mean we are alive and growing!

Beginning at 10am, concurrent with that hour's service, St. James offers Sunday School classes for children who do not wish to remain in the service. Following the passing of the Peace, children are brought upstairs to have communion with their families, and may remain in the sanctuary through the end of the Mass or return downstairs to clean up. Children may sit with their parents or with the Sunday School teachers during this time. We have tailored our Sunday School programs to lead children to understand and be able to participate in our main services. Each week we start in the Chapel with a procession, candle lighting, a child led reading, prayers of the people, and passing the peace and then we procede to our lectionary based lessons. For these classes, we use “Living the Good News” (LtGN) curriculum from Moorhouse. (http://www.morehousegroup.com/ep_lectbased.htm) LtGN is a lectionary based curriculum, which means that the stories, activities, and discussions follow the same readings used in each week's service and which are the basis of week's sermon.

Additionally, we offer family “Activity and Discussion” sheets as a way of helping you to integrate a life of worship into your own home, and to help you prepare your children (and yourself!) to participate more deeply in the following week's service. These sheets are available each Sunday, and list the collect and readings for the Sunday following, and offer some areas for discussion based on the Bible readings, plus some Liturgical Season-oriented activities (or just plain fun stuff). These discussion and activity ideas are a mixture of original materials and ideas culled from a variety of resources including The Domestic Church books and website. (http://www.domestic-church.com/index.htm) We hope that families will find their daily lives and worship enhanced.

Our official statement

Epistle blurb on children:

Children are welcome in our services, welcome to receive the body and
blood in communion, and welcome at coffee hour. We want you AND your
children to feel at home in all areas of Church life. Children of any age
are welcome in the pews or in the nursery and Sunday School downstairs.

What is it for?

I've decided to blog about kids and their place in church. I've been thinking and talking and living this for about 10 years. If I have these people to talk to or post with and church to live in, why do I need a blog? Well, things are moving and changing and I need a place to gather myself and to work things out. Hopefully, there are people out there who can give me their experiences or hopes.