Week of December 23, 2018: Being Blessed (Ages 11-18)
- Faith To Go
- Dec 27, 2018
- 4 min read
Faith To Go Podcast: Being Healed
Hosted each week by the Faith Formation team at St. Paul's Cathedral in San Diego, David Tremaine, Maya Little-Sana and Jackie Pippin, the Faith To Go Podcast highlight themes from the Sunday Gospel reading for you to take into your conversations throughout the week.
Reads: Where Angels Tread
Questions:
What do you put on top of your Christmas tree?
When you think of an angel, what comes to mind?
Who is someone in your life that has been an angel?
What is something brave that you can do like an angel
Views and Qs: Virgin Mary
Watch this video together and then use the discussion questions below to reflect as a family.
Discussion Questions:
How many pictures or statues of the Virgin Mary are in St. Pauls?
How does Mary help educate us?
What does Mary teach us by her example?
Who is a mother-figure in your life that has helped you on your life journey?
Have you ever prayed to Mary?
Feast and Faith: Gathering Together
Prayer- Thank you for this time of waiting
to be still amid life’s busyness
to hear your call amid life’s noise
to prepare a way in this world for you.
Thank you for this time of preparing
to clear away the clutter
to make room in my crammed life
to receive the light of Christ that awakens me.
Thank you for this time of awakening
to notice that that you are with us
to hear your voice in the night
calling us to bring your light to people.
Thank you for your light in the world.
I want to walk as a child of your light.
Discussion – Elizabeth is very old, for the time, to have a baby and Mary is a virgin whom is now pregnant. These two women are not people that would be readily believed or welcomed in in their society.
Questions
How do Mary and Elizabeth support one another?
What does Mary’s Magnificat teach us about the social upheaval she called for?
Who were those socially impacted by the Roman imperialism?
How is God at work in the midst of this?
How do Mary and Elizabeth teach us to be strong against unjust societal structures?
Final nugget – Mary’s song illustrates things that we see in our own culture and society. There are struggles in our everyday lives. But Jesus is with us just like he was with Mary and Elizabeth. They teach us to honor each other’s voices and to support each other through these tough times.
Stay and Pray: A Devotion for Families at the Close of the Day
Each week we feature a way for your family to reflect and pray together. For families with older children this is an at home liturgy for your family to participate in together. It is a daily devotion for families adapted from The Book of Common Prayer.
Before you begin, take a few moments to decide who will read the scripture reading and who will read the collect and closing. Read the Psalm and Lord's Prayer in unison.
After a moment of silence, begin with the Psalm.
Psalm 80: 1-7
(Read in unison)
1 Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock; *
shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.
2 In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, *
stir up your strength and come to help us.
3 Restore us, O God of hosts; *
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
4 O Lord God of hosts, *
how long will you be angered
despite the prayers of your people?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears; *
you have given them bowls of tears to drink.
6 You have made us the derision of our neighbors, *
and our enemies laugh us to scorn.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts; *
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
Luke 1:39-55
(read by assigned person)
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."
[And Mary said,
"My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever."]
Prayers for Ourselves and For Others (take this time to each offer one person/event that you would like to hold in prayer as well as one thing you are thankful for)
Dear God, tonight I ask your prayers for.......
and I give you thanks for ..........
Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
(read in unison)
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen
The Collect
(read by assigned person)
Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Share some of your conversations in the comments below:
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