Nourishing Children in Christ
By Olga Roshak
First
of all, St. Seraphim's words come to mind. "Save yourself and thousands
will be saved around you." The best place to begin is with oneself. We
must be examples for our children. As St. Paul says, "...in speech, love,
faith, and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe." Instead
of always preaching to our children, our very life must be the expression
of our Faith. Our love for our children must be sustained and sanctified by
our love for Christ, and this love, the very Source of Life, must extend to
all those around us.
Second, we can form daily habits to enrich our family lives
and bring us closer not only to one another, but to our God.
Establishing
Daily Habits
The first of these daily habits, which can supplement our morning
prayers, is to begin each day, upon rising from bed, by making the sign of the
cross and saying, "This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice
and be glad in it."
Lighting the vigil lamp (which stands in front of the icon
in the dining area) before meals is another daily ritual which most children
love. If they are not old enough to light the lamp themselves, they can take
turns blowing out the match and extinguishing the lamp's flame after the meal.
A prayer before every meal ought to be the norm. This prayer can be the Lord's
Prayer or the hymn of the feast day celebrated during that week. An appropriate
closing prayer, such as "We give thanks to Thee, 0 Christ Our God...,"
the kontakion of the weekly feast, or at least making the sign of the cross
should be encouraged regularly. Since children are naturally musical, these
prayers can be sung when possible to enhance the experience of praising God.
Bedtime is always a wonderful time to share Bible stories and
lives of the saints with our children. Personalize the saints' lives to include
each child's patron saint. Have a patronal icon for each member of the family
and be present with the entire family when it is blessed by the priest. This
helps the child to know his saint as a friend, one who is always interceding
before the Lord on his behalf.
Night is often a scary time for children. We can explain to
them that they are never alone. Not only is God with them, but so is their patron
saint as well as their guardian angel, watching over each of them and protecting
them. Thus, when a child is afraid, we can encourage him to call upon God, his
patron saint and his guardian angel to help him not be afraid.
Bible stories can be paraphrased in simple language and told
enthusiastically to your youngsters. If possible, try to follow the church calendar
of daily readings for your selection of a Bible story on a given night. With
younger children, the focus can simply be on the Sunday Gospel and Epistle reading.
As a means of introduction, as well as reinforcement, the reading can be discussed
daily on the week prior to that Sunday reading.
Teaching
with Enthusiasm
Our enthusiasm is a must in kindling the spiritual fire in our
children during these home instructions, thus making our regular attendance
at divine services a natural expression of our desire to know God and to be
with Him. How can we claim to love Him if we do not make an effort to know Him?
As Father John of Kronstadt said, "If you teach children
- your own or other people's children - let this work become a service to God;
teach with zeal, study beforehand in order to make your teaching clear, intelligible,
as complete as possible, fruitful. We have to educate people
not only to be learned and useful members of society, but also - and this is
more important and necessary - kindly Godfearing Christians. Pray God, that
from the sum of all acquired knowledge a harmonious whole may develop in the
children's souls - that sound Christian system of knowledge, rules, and practice,
which represents the true Christian education. But if our pupils steal hours
from the divine services in order to prepare lessons which deal, strictly speaking,
with secular subjects; if. while in church, they worry about their homework
so that the divine service cannot nourish their minds and hearts; if they are
bored in church; then the pedagogic work will suffer, because thebest education
is undeniably that provided by the Church with its marvelous, heavenly services,
which penetrate right into one's inner being."
We should mention the importance of using the language which
our family can understand. It is equally important to be sure that we are worshipping
in the same understandable language when we come together as the Church to partake
of His Body and His Blood. St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians
(Chapter 142, strongly urges us to see how imperative it is for us to speak
in an understandable tongue; otherwise we "will be speaking into the air".
Another remembrance of our Lord is simply to sign ourselves
with the cross before beginning any task. Before a car trip, say aloud, "Lord,
grant us a safe journey", and make the sign of the cross. When we do this,
we remind ourselves and our children of our constant witness that we cannot
be Christians unless we live with the cross as the very content of our lives
in this world. "If any man would come after Me, let him take up his cross
and follow Me." (Mark 8:34) We should make that sign of the cross with
precision and care, rather than haphazardly. Remember that children learn by
imitation.
The Festal
Cycle
The Feast Days offer wonderful opportunities to make our faith
alive in our homes. First, we could have separate icons of the Feasts. These
can be ordered in laminated or paper form from several Orthodox bookstores -
(St. Vladimir's Seminary, 575 Scarsdale Rd., Crestwood, N.Y. 10707, (914) 961-2203;
St. Tikhon's Seminary Bookstore, South Canaan, Pa. 18459, (717) 937-4411). They
are inexpensive and lend themselves easily to a decoupage project which can
involve the entire family. These icons can be decorated with flowers; on Pentecost,
for example, flowers and greens may be placed around the icons of the home,
showing that God's divine breath comes to renew all creation as a "life-creating
Spirit".
For Transfiguration, fruits and vegetables can be brought to
church to be blessed as signs of the final transfiguration of all things in
Christ. This shows the ultimate fruitfulness of all creation in the Kingdom
of God where all things will be transformed by the glory of the Lord.
On the Feast of Dormition, flowers can be picked and brought
to church to be blessed. The gathering of these physical things can be done
by the family. After church, the family can bring them to a shut-in or hospitalized
person as an expression of Christian sharing.
Likewise, for the Elevation of the Cross, a hand cross can
be decorated with flowers and the hymn, "Before Thy Cross", can be
sung daily, with prostrations until the leave-taking of that feast.
For Epiphany, the child can fill a jar with water to take to
church and add to the font. After the Great Blessing of Water, the child can
refill his jar, bring it home and drink it. This blessed water is the liturgical
testimony that the calling and destiny of c relation is to be
"filled with all the fulness of God". (Eph. 3:19) When a family member
becomes ill, this water can be given to drink; in this way we are asking God
to heal us. Also a prosphora from a Divine Liturgy can be kept (after it has
dried out) and pieces can be soaked in the holy water and eaten.
The Fasts
Observing the fasts of the Church is another way that we can
lead our family to spiritual perfection. The fasts, however, should never be
an end in themselves. Parents, with the guidance of their priest, should use
their discretion as to how the children fast. We must take special
care not to underestimate their ability and desire to fast!
Prayer
As one can see, all of these simple practices involve prayer.
It is prayer that is essential to Christian life. Our Lord Himself prayed and
taught men to pray. We cannot be followers of Christ unless we pray to God.
Personal prayer with our children should be kept simple. The Trisagion prayers
and the daily remembrances of friends and relatives offer a good beginning.
When we are able to visit the sick and the shut-ins with our children, we can
pray with them and, when possible, bring them church bread as a sign of our
having remembered them during the worship service.
The suggestions
given here may be useful to parents in creating a more natural and spontaneous
presence of the Church in your homes. Be sure, however, to use these tools carefully,
by gradually adding them to your daily life.
Taken
from the OCA Resource
Handbook for Lay Ministries