Message from Jeff.....
October 1, 2019
On Sunday we began our fall semester high school Sunday school class on Prayer. This part of our core curriculum was brought up a lot by different people in the church. For that reason we developed a middle school and high school version. This version of it will be much less theory and conversation about prayer and much more actual praying! Our hopes and goals are twofold: to give our youth the tools to pray in ways that come naturally to them and to create a sense of normalcy surrounding prayer. Basically, we hope our youth have a vibrant lifelong prayer life. This series will meet through the first weekend of December.
| Guest | Topic | Description |
|
Steffen Bartschatt, Spiritual Life Commission member |
Traditional Labyrinth | A labyrinth helps direct one's focus toward God. Unlike a maze, which has dead ends and the possibility of getting lost, a labyrinth has a clear path, but it sometimes takes unexpected twists and turns. In this way it resembles the journey of life. |
| Rev. Dave Bray, retired senior pastor of 30+ years | Prayer Walking | Walking is something we're always doing. We do it down the halls of home, school, work and places of play. We do it outside. Since we believe God's presence is everywhere let's take advantage by entering into conversation with God in the mundane moments of simple walking. |
| Mt. Tam Cemetery | Prayers of Lament | Many high schoolers are deeply distraught about the world around them. While visiting a cemetery we consider all the things that scare, worry, and make us indignant including gun violence, the environment, bullying, and simple existential questions of meaning and purpose. What if we followed in the footsteps of those before who "cried out" to God in sincerity, opening our broken heart in prayer? |
| New Life Assembly youth leadership team | How Other High Schoolers Pray | Some high school students from new Life Assembly, a charismatic church in Novato, will join us to lead us in some prayer practices they and their youth group do regularly. |
|
Dan O'Regan, Director of Religious Education, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel |
Tactile Catholic Prayers | Some Catholic prayer rituals go back 100s of years to the founding of Christianity. Many of them are tactile in nature involving beads, smoke, or other things we can see, smell, and touch. |
| ReJesus Labyrinth | Contemporary Labyrinth | We travel through a new style of labyrinth which uses many modern day items we encounter regularly. Walking through the stations affects all 5 senses and heightens our awareness to God's presence in our everyday lives. |
| Create Stations | Our youth begin preparation on our prayer practices for the congregation to participate in. | |
| Outdoor Labyrinth | We finish preparations for our own prayer practice session and lead anyone willing from the community and congregation in it. |
We are looking forward to sharing about all these things with you and inviting your questions and feedback.
***** Upcoming Events***
10/27: Mission Trip Pancake Breakfast - 9:00am - 1:00 pm
12/6 - 12/8: December Fest at Westminster Woods
Chin up!
Jeff Shankle
