Children’s Church led by St. Mark's Catechetical Students.

Children's Church There was a full house of more than 40 persons in the Chapel on April 14. One of the activities of our catechetical program is that the students are asked to plan and lead the April Children’s Church service. Our students this year did an exceptionally fine job. As they worked in teams on the parts of the service, they discovered that worship planning involves hard thinking and careful attention to detail.

They began their planning during a meeting weeks earlier under the leadership of Bernadette Jones by reading the Gospel for the Day and deciding on which verses they would concentrate their attention. Then the Psalm team of Annika, Sadie, and Taylor, accompanied by mentors Jane Kline, Diana Zeigler, and Chele Fredericks worked out which parts of the Psalm to use. The Prayers team of Mackenzie and Dawson, accompanied by mentors Lou DeSeau and Michele Owen wrote the prayers that are needed for the day. Children's Church The Hymn team of Grace, Evan and Stefan, accompanied by mentors Donna Elkin, Gary Weber, and Ray Huff selected the hymns that best reflected the Gospel. Ben, accompanied by mentor Bob Schultz worked out the art for the bulletin. Then all of the students engaged in conversation about the Gospel around questions such as: Why did Jesus ask the question of Peter three times?, Why is this story important to us?, and What should we do? A dialogue made up entirely of their responses was written to serve as the sermon for the day.

On April 14, all of the students shared in leadership of the service. The hymns were accompanied by students playing bass, Orff instruments, trumpet, triangle and hand-claps, using music arranged and rehearsed with Donna Elkin. Grace, Dawson and Mackenzie introduced the hymns. Other students introduced the various portions of the service. All of the students took part in the dialogue-sermon. They developed and expressed some good insights into the Lesson, and now have a greater appreciation of the importance of preparing carefully for worship week after week.

Children's Church

The students repeated their dialogue at the catechetical class session on April 21 for some parents or mentors who missed hearing it on April 14. We can be very proud of these young persons who are so deeply involved in the life of the congregation in so many different ways. Frankly, the depth and breadth of their involvement is far ahead of too many adult members of the parish! May what they are learning and practicing now continue for a lifetime.