Here is a sampling
of the types of things we do at Sunday School...........
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This was our March 2008 Sunday School Newsletter
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SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER.........March
2008.
Our Church School
has been really busy lately! We started the month of March with an extended class to do an in-depth study of Orthodox
Christian marriage. Using the materials for the Antiochian Church’s 2008 Creative Arts Festival, students studied
God’s plan for men and women and how it is consecrated in the Orthodox Church through the Sacrament of Marriage. Our
2nd/3rd grade class of Mary Magdalene hosted a display provided by Father Sudick of all the items used during the Marriage
Service: The crowns, common cup, candles, Gospel, a handkerchief to tie the hands and an icon of the wedding at Cana. We began
with our individual class lessons on the theme and then came together to view the Greek archdiocese video production with
explanation of an Orthodox wedding. Parents contributed copies of their wedding service picture for a collage done by
our St. Nicholas Kindergarten class so we could visually understand where our families began: In church! And what wedding
is complete without a cake! Our special lesson ended with sparkling cider and wedding cake topped with 2 crowns!
Our kids are bombarded every day with all manner of ideas regarding the relationship between men and women. For two
hours at least, they got the full story of GOD’S plan and what HE expects.
The following Saturday, we held
our annual Lenten retreat. After a brief prayer service, Father supervised the students in the cleaning and preparing
our church for the Lenten season. Even the smallest students helped with the dusting and changing of the icon
covers. We reviewed the challenges of Lent and distributed materials to assist students and families on their Lenten journey.
After filling our bellies at lunch, an assembly line formed to produce 75 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a homeless
shelter in CT. We wrapped up the day by beginning our icon banner project. After a good deal of adult prep work,
five icon banners are currently being painted by all our students with the goal of the banners permanently adorning the hallway
of our church school building. We hope to have them completed by Pascha. This project was the result of an idea
3 of our teachers brought back from the 2007 Orthodox Institute at Antiochian Village.
On the Sunday of Orthodoxy,
students of our parish participated in processions at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in neighboring New Rochelle, NY during
the beautiful vesper services commemorating the return of icons to the Church. Our kids did us proud!
Looking ahead:
Lazarus Saturday will once again be a special day for our students receiving the Sacrament of Holy Confession for the first
time. We’ll honor them at the Communion Breakfast following Liturgy. There will be eggs to dye using the
“pysanky” method and easier “scratch” color eggs for little ones not quite ready for pysanky style.
Fortunately, we have several very talented and accomplished Moms to guide students through the process. (Their own works
are incredible!) There will be gifts crafted for the elderly of our parish who are no longer able to join us regularly.
And of course, the pussy willow lapel pins to be put together! In the midst of all that, we’ll be pulling out
the white dresses for our girls to wear in the Pascal midnight procession.
Pray that our Church School will always
bring glory to Jesus Christ!
