Welcome Back to Sunday School!

We began our new year together in Children's Chapel in the Library, where we set our Prayer Table and read the Summary of the Law (Mark 12:30-31).

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Then we read Todd Parr's "Love the World," which gives colorful images of loving yourself and loving the world. "Love your face, love your space...Love Yourself! Love the World!" Here are some things on the list of “what we love,” as volunteered by the students and recorded on easel paper.

Books, Trees, Yourself and Being Yourself, Doing Science, Walking, Your Pet, Your House, Languages, Vegetables Gardens, Opportunities, What You Make, The Planet and The Environment, Your Nose, Your Clothes, Slime, Family, Friends, Your Name, Your Nation, Hugs, School, Your Money…

So, this list can lead to some further thinking and conversation about what we each love– or what we each think other people might love. Although the book doesn't explain this directly, the author Parr offers things we can love about our individuality, like "Love your giggle. Love your wiggle," and how we can actively share love in our community, like "Love lending a hand. Love making a stand." The wide variety of things we can love can lend your family some guidance when thinking about prayer. If we conceive of God as the source of love, manifested in the magnificence of the natural world, in our relationships of comfort and support, in the persistence of human generosity, then spending time in prayer is as straightforward as spending time thinking about where and how we experience love.

We introduced the book to the students by saying that this is the theme of our school year together: Love the World. It seems to be a simple theme. Is it? For our children, with their natural sense of wonder, our forty minutes naming Love was simple, and also expansive and layered. Amen. May it be so!

To download a copy of our Sunday School calendar, click here.

September Sunday School Resumes - Welcome Home!

Our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program (preK-7th) begins with Children’s Chapel at 10:00 on September 10. We will all head to the service together for the Sign of Peace and Holy Eucharist. During the Coffee Hour, there will be a registration table for all families with CORI check updates and health/photo forms.

Our Atrium time will begin at 9:30 on September 17, with Parents of Good Shepherd (preK-1st grade) and Mustard Seed (2-4th grade) meeting in the People of God Atrium. Students in People of God (5-7th grade) will attend the 10:00 service and meet in the Sanctuary at 11:15 (after a quick snack in Coffee Hour!) for a Welcome Back and review of Acolyte poise and procedures. All Atrium groups will meet at 9:30 on September 24.

Lenten Family Formation

We entered Lent this year with new friends, renewed in-person worship, and Atrium time and special offerings. Although we think of Lent as a spiritual journey for each individual, our St. Anne’s children know Lent as the count-the-purple-Sundays in the snow season, listening to parables of Jesus about how God’s Kingdom grows with love for our neighbors and ourselves. To make tough concepts concrete memories this year, our children meet once a month in multi-age Children’s Chapel for the love lessons in The Good Samaritan, Psalm 23, and The Sower. They will have art reflections and practice being creators. They will visit The Butterfly Place to introduce one transformation example of Creation. They will have an opportunity to bake bread for Holy Eucharist, as well as make small pillar candles to receive the New Light after Easter.

In our smaller groups in the Atria, they meet in People of God (gr 5-7) to talk about family surprises and reconciliation in Abraham and Sarah’s tent, Rebekah and Isaac’s blessings of their sons, Jacob and Leah and Rachel’s ancient blended family and sibling rivalries. In Mustard Seed (gr 2-4) children wonder about the Good Shepherd and the Found Sheep, then the Found Coin and the parables of the Insistent Friend and the Ten Bridesmaids. In Good Shepherd (gr preK-1) they will hear about the Hidden Treasure, the Precious Pearl, and the Found Sheep.

Our Teen Formation students were invited to walk with families, our warden and priest, and 3,000 others a few days before Ash Wednesday in the WinterWalk Boston, to support the homeless. Teens also meet with Garrett to play games together and countinue the year’s theme of sacred spaces and reflect on how we show up in them. Some of our teens serve the parish community as the Livesteam Techs and Nursery Staff, as well, and we’re so grateful for their involvement and dedication.

And not to be missed, we will have an all-parish Game Night for everyone to play together on a Friday evening in March, hosted by the Family Engagement Commission!

Lent is here, and in community with our own families and wider parish, we learn that by taking part in our faith family at St. Anne’s, we are given new opportunities to grow and build foundational experiences as children of God and followers of Jesus.

Winter Walk 2023 Boston, February 12, 8:30am in Copley Square.

Teen Formation will walk for FamilyAid

It's a half-day mission trip and a reminder of what the homeless of our city endure - we are walking two miles in support of one of many wonderful organizations: FamilyAid. Spend a morning outside church with Garrett, our warden Anne Jones and Sarah Jennings. Click here to register for our team! or contact Garrett or Sarah via email by February 2.

Mr. Small Sings Peace Songs

Mr. Small has made a video with two songs about peace. As you watch, listen, and sing along, remember this week that we are servants of God and followers of Jesus when we spread peace — in our homes, through messages to friends and teachers, and by our actions and encouragement of neighbors and strangers wherever we meet them.

Thank you, Mr. Small, for your gifts to our Sunday School and for visiting us in this way — in our homes, from your home!