1 Kids At Holy Comforter Gear Up for VBS! May 2015 You are Invited to a Birthday Party! When: May 24th, 2015 (Pentecost) The celebration begins with the Bishop’s visit at our 10:30 a.m. Eucharist and is followed by a picnic celebration (please bring a sweet potato dish to share)! Where: The Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter What: Come Celebrate the Birthday of the Church! We are preparing for our mountain adventure and want YOU to come along! June 22-25 All children 4 years 4th grade and volunteers are welcome! (Childcare is available for children of our volunteers.) Registration forms are available in the church office and online at: www.holycomforter charlotte.org/vbs Did you know that Pentecost is often referred to as the birthday of the church? It is called that because Pentecost is when the apostles went out among the people and began spreading Jesus’ message, thus establishing the beginning of the Church. The word Pentecost is Greek for “50th day” and is celebrated by Christians 50 days after Easter. It marks the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles while they were afraid and hiding behind locked doors following Jesus’ resurrection. After receiving the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit, the apostles immediately went out and preached Jesus’ message to everyone—even those who spoke other languages. The children in the Atria will celebrate their last time together this year on May 17 with a special Pentecost liturgy. On May 24 at 9:15 a.m. during the Hour, all pre- and schoolage children will have an activity in Room 203/204 to discuss where our food comes from and to learn about the Sweet Potato Challenge! We hope you will plan to join us for both of these Sundays! Summer Activities What We Are Learning Acts 1:8-9: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When He has said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. Making plans for your children this Summer? Think Holy Comforter! On Saturday, June 13, bring your child (ages 4 – 9) to spend the morning in the Atria. We will meet from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. – snacks will be provided. This will be an opportunity for children to work in Atria I and II on lessons they may have missed during the year, or those they simply would like to hear in a different way. We will focus on the Altar works, the liturgical colors and calendars during this session; we are even planning a ‘field trip’ to the sanctuary. Please let Lauren know if you are interested in bringing your child, so we will be certain to have enough helping hands! We will have another similar session on August 29th! In the weeks after Easter, the children have been exploring the many ways in which the light of Christ has come into the world. The favorite parable in Level I is the Parable of the Leaven. They never seem to tire of relating the rising of the dough to God’s expanding kingdom. They have learned about liturgical colors, elements of Holy Communion preparation, and rejoiced with the women at the tomb. Level II has been delving into Mystery of our Faith, the maxims and the basic format of Holy Eucharist. Level III has revisited the Plan of God, looked at the history of Israel and its relationship to our faith, and discussed a few of the miracles Jesus performed. Sunday, May 17th, is our concluding Sunday for this school year. Since we won’t have Christian Education on Pentecost Sunday, we plan to end our year with a Celebration of Pentecost on the 17th. Just as a reminder, our time starts at 9:15 a.m., when all Christian Education classes start. We encourage you to bring your child at this time, since those who come then will have a part in the service. We certainly welcome those children arriving at 10:30 a.m., who will also be participants. The more time we have to prepare with the children, the more they will get out of the celebration. In this celebration, we will listen to the account of the Holy Spirit appearing to the disciples in Acts 2:1-11. We will seek to understand the imagery of the passage and discuss its meaning. Then we will explore the gifts of the Holy Spirit as contained in Isaiah 11:1-2: Wisdom, Knowledge, Fortitude, Counsel, Fear of God, Understanding and Piety. We will seek to understand what these gifts mean and to ask the Holy Spirit to guide each of us as we embrace one of the gifts for the coming year. Children in years past ponder which selection they wish to receive quite seriously. Each will take a reminder of their chosen gift with them. We hope your child will share with you the gift that he/she has chosen. We catechists have enjoyed the opportunity to co-wonder with your children about this marvelous world that God created for us. We have enjoyed the longer time period to be with your children and hope that many more children will take advantage of this opportunity when we meet again in September.