In 1858, two steam powered ships met in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, after one had left north America and the other western Europe. Halfway across the Atlantic, they connected two ends of a 2,500 mile long cable together that they towed from their own shores. Making history, the cable linked together the European and North American continents by telegraph. Once they connected that ONE wire, everyone on our continent had communication with the other side of the world. For many, it was a life-changing event, not simply because of the technology, but for the simple fact that they could be connected with their loved ones. The human connection is so important for our hearts, our minds and our spirits. There are many connections in our lives that make us feel whole, make us feel loved and give us nourishment. What connections are most important to you? Perhaps it’s your family, maybe its being connected to our church, or maybe it’s a connection through walking in nature or practicing meditation…whatever those most important connections are, I am sure you feel energized and filled with light when you are connected to what is important to you.
In our gospel today, Jesus tells the story of the vine, the branches and the gardener. Jesus gives us a promise for our future and our faith life that all will be well IF WE JUST STAY CONNECTED. Jesus says, I AM THE VINE AND YOU ARE THE BRANCHES, remain in me and I will remain in you. STAY CONNECTED TO THE VINE AND YOU WILL PRODUCE MUCH FRUIT.
When you look at a tree or a bush that produces fruit, I think we all know something amazing must be going on inside to make that fruit grow on the outside. We can’t see it, but we know that that tree or bush is pulling nutrients and water so that it can grow and flourish.
Throughout this past year, even though facing a shutdown like no other, we found ways to keep our connection strong.
Like this new cable that connected two continents, our religious education program discovered new ways to broaden WHO we connect to and how we connect. My team and I not only had to find a creative way to keep our children still active in the religious ed program, but give them a learning experience that would provide them the right nutrients to help them grow and thrive during such an uncertain time.
Whether it was through zoom classes, our new pen pal system or even virtual learning, these children showed how resilient they are and their vines stayed strong and their love for God reflected to us in so many ways. So much magic and growth was happening this year behind the scenes, but the news is too good not to share it with all of you.
Behind the scenes, our team helped create lessons by recording sessions and then putting them on our virtual platform we created. Each child could log on and go to their grade level and watch their teacher provide a lesson for the week. Along with those lessons children were given projects and reflection activities to process what they learned. We knew the importance of needing that face to face connection, so we also provided a rotating zoom schedule so that every few weeks our classes could connect through zoom. Sometimes the children participated in a lesson, sometimes they sang together, sometimes they played a game and sometimes they even shared how they were feeling and how their week was going.
Children were also given a pen pal throughout the year that they would write letters to and receive letters from. This created a deeper and more meaningful connection with children on a more personal level. My daughter and her pen pal found they both loved Harry Potter. They had been in the same religious education class for some time, but because they were able to speak one on one, they discovered more about each other and grew closer this year, even though they were apart. I found this to be true of many of the children who participated in the pen pal system.
I have seen so many of these silver linings in a year so full of uncertainty, frustration, exhaustion and confusion. Our children were asked towards the end of the year:
“Even though we couldn’t be together in person, what did you like about this year?” Children responded with, “I like that I got to see my friend’s faces without a mask on over zoom.” Another child said, “I liked seeing Miss Jen’s video lessons with her backgrounds of pretend rooms in her house. It was so funny!” “I liked praying with one another. Its always better to pray with friends.”
“I liked our zoom dance parties…we could all dance with out masks!” “I loved singing together and Miss Meghan’s prayer bear is my favorite! I’m glad he made it on our zoom classes!”
“I loved having a pen pal! We always wrote jokes to each other and made each other laugh. I couldn’t wait to get my letter each week!”
In the parables Jesus has this amazing way of relating God to real life, and I love the image of the gardener. A gardener is one who provides just the right nutrients and care to help their plants grow healthy and strong. We as adults know what our children need to help them to thrive emotionally, physically and spiritually, but I think we sometimes forget that our children can be gardeners as well.
There are times our children feed us with the right material to help nourish us as adults as well.
How do they do this? Children show so much strength, resilience and encouragement. As hard as it has been this past year, our children have continued to open our eyes to what we can’t see, and put energy, passion and love into everything they do. They continue to serve others though projects throughout the year such as creating bagged lunches for the homeless, raising money for a horse farm that because of the pandemic struggled to pay for food and supplies for their horses or even wrote letters to those who can’t leave their homes.
The children opened their hearts and minds to receiving Jesus’ message in a very new way this year, but also continued to share that love with others.
As Adults, we may have struggled to really learn new ways to connect and even may have not enjoyed it, while the whole time what we really needed to do was follow the children’s lead.
In 2019 at the UN climate Action Summit, one child took that lead and adults began to listen. Greta Thunberg, 16 at the time spoke out about the need for leaders to take immediate action for climate change. She called out leaders for their failure to take what she considers sufficient action to address this crisis that future generations face. Because of her honesty, passion and drive, Thunberg became the gardener for many adults and powerful leaders worldwide. She brought on more awareness, a youthful voice and a sudden push to bring about change and motivation in leaders providing more protection for our environment.
Whether we are the gardeners or we follow the lead of the gardeners, one thing is certain – the vine is always there for us to connect to.
Jesus is the vine that gives is life. Staying connected to God and those that fill us with light and goodness, is the way for us soak up those nutrients and produce fruit. Produce goodness, and light in the world.
All we have to do, to remain in God and produce light in the world, it stay connected to the source…our God.
I want to show you a slideshow that gives you a glimpse into our year. It was very difficult keeping this slide show down to a few minutes. We have so many photos, videos and projects we would love to share. Our time with the children is filled with a lot of learning, joy, laughter, and hope. We are so proud of our children and how through so much, they continued to show us their love for Jesus and each other.
Thank you, Spiritus parishioners, for supporting our children and the future of our church. Please enjoy a peek into our work.
I would like to now thank my amazing teachers. I am so fortunate to work with creative, dedicated and passionate individuals. I am thankful that they helped make my vision for our very different year happen and used every ounce of their talent to bring a deep, fun and truly beautiful learning experience for our children this year. Please help me thank these 6 people this morning…
Meghan Bradford
Karen Brugno
Jen Wheaton
Fran Mccarthy
Sarah Brownell
And Matt Riccione
Thank you so much.
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