Listening to God with children

Teenager. These books playfully encourage parenting out of principles, values, and rules more than emotional reactivity by looking at what parents should not do. These can be helpful in everyday life—and especially during times when we find ourselves having to adapt quickly to working, teaching, and parenting from home. Vanessa Ellison, MSW, MDiv, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who works as a Bowen Theory Psychotherapist and Coach at Richmond Therapy Center. She serves on the faculty for Leadership in Ministry through Columbia Theological Seminary, and guests lectures and teaches in various venues. She has clinical experience providing individual, couples, family, and group psychotherapy and community-based services, and she has ministerial experience serving local congregations, local missional settings, and non-profit organizations.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2021 I 6:30 P.M.. Your Child in Pandemic & the Mental Health Challenges They Face

Anne Tolley Jones, School Counselor, St. Matthew’s Parish School, Pacific Palisades, California

In this presentation, Anne Tolley Jones will look at the challenges of parenting in this time of pandemic through the lens of the mental health of children and young people today, naming the ways in which parents can do the tough work of identifying when and if further clinical support might be needed. Navigating these questions in a time of pandemic is a unique challenge, but this presentation will seek to provide parents with practical support. Ann is a professional school counselor working at St. Matthew’s Parish School in Pacific Palisades, California. She was born and raised in Virginia and attended the University of Virginia where she studied religion and anthropology. She received her master’s degree in education from James Madison University with a concentration in school counseling through the graduate psychology department and has been serving as a school counselor for six years. ✤ Listening to God with children Discussion group helps shape an Advent offering for children and families

A small, passionate group of St. Stephen’s parishioners met for eight weeks in late summer and fall to discuss Gianna Gobbi’s Listening to God with Children: The Montessori Method Applied to the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. To begin our book discussion, our attention was directed to a prayer or “invitation” that Maria Montessori offered to her teachers: Help us, O God, to enter into the secret of childhood, so that we may know, love, and serve the child in accordance with the laws of thy justice and following thy holy will. We also hear in Matthew’s By Betsy Tyson Gospel that Christ calls us to be like the child: Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Christ is calling us into the secret of childhood. As adults, we can become less curious and forget how to wonder, instead remaining fixed on the challenges before us. The child has a rich and vivid imagination, enabling him or her to wonder and marvel. I think this is what Christ was saying—that unless we can be like the child and open ourselves to the mysteries of God and wonder about them, we will miss all the kingdom of God has for us.

Richard Rohr writes, “Wonder is our birthright. It comes easily in childhood—the feeling of watching dust motes dancing in sunlight, or climbing a tree to touch the sky, or falling asleep thinking about where the universe ends. [If and when we can] develop our capacity to wonder, we start to wonder about the people in our lives, too—their thoughts and experiences, their pain and joy, their wants and needs. We begin to sense that they are to themselves as vast and complex as we are to ourselves, their inner world as infinite as our own. In other words, we are seeing them as our equal. We are gaining information about how to love them. Wonder is the wellspring for love . . .”

Wonder plays a key role in spiritual growth in children. As a first-grade teacher for many years, I often took my students on “Wondering Walks” during which they were invited to record what they observed in their journals and how they were moved. Some boys lay in the grass, gazing up to the sky as they pondered the shapes of the clouds. Others investigated the smallest creatures found on bushes or marveled at the vibrant color of fall leaves. This led to many “aha moments” for the boys as they tapped into their spirits.

In the atrium (the specially prepared space for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd) the work of the catechist, the adult companion, is to nurture a relationship the child already has with God. The catechist offers presentations and poses open-ended questions to ponder, allowing the child to draw deeper into that relationship.

As we enter the season of Advent, a time of expectation and anticipation of the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, we can continue to wonder as we wait. Advent offers us a time to slow down, to ponder, to wonder in the coming birth of Christ. Let Advent be a time to listen and wonder with your family.

In keeping with the principles of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, we will provide a short worship video each Sunday in Advent for families. Each Sunday we will light the Advent wreath (you can light yours at home), listen to the Gospel, wonder about God’s Word, and pray. May this season of Advent be an invitation to do as you would when entering the room of a newborn child—quietly adoring the wonder. These videos will be available on our Web site at ststephensRVA.org/onlineworship, and in emails sent to subscribers to the eSpirit and the family ministry e-newsletter. ✤ Betsy Tyson, the chaplain to Palmer Hall at St. Stephen’s, works with young children and middle school students and their families.