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An Open Letter to My Four Kids
By Vanessa Rasanen To my four children: I am no perfect mama. I am very much a poor and miserable sinner of a mom. But you don’t really need me to remind you of that. Even at your oh-so young ages you’ve had the blinders removed and seen me in some of my darkest moments. Okay, maybe not the 1-week-old as much, but I’m fairly certain he has spent the last several months hearing my raised voice when I get angry and feeling my body shake from the sobs when that guilt hits afterward. Parenting is hard. I know it probably looks like such an easy thing from your perspective. Dad…
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Milk, Meat, and Introducing Solids
By Mary Moerbe You don’t have to be a parent to know that life gradually gives you more to chew on and understand. Each one of us learned, “The sky is blue” before we learned how and why that happens — if we learned — and religious life and education is in some ways comparable: there is milk and there is meat. St. Peter is clear: “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:2-3). Taste! Drink! Grow by the goodness of our God! Long for pure spiritual milk. Wake…
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Making Time for Catechesis In A Busy Schedule
By Vanessa Rasanen You don’t have to be a working mom and wife to have a hectic schedule, nor do you need to be a parent for catechesis to be important. But when your schedule is nuts, finding just five minutes seems daunting. Even the shortest of devotionals or the simplest of catechism routines can often take much longer than expected when you consider having to wrangle squirmy kids while hunting down the materials that got buried under this week’s mail or laundry or dishes or all of the above. Then the world distracts to no end — even if we manage to sit down with our Bible or our Small…
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Teaching Children with the Hymnody
By Mary Abrahamson Hymns hold within their lyrics and poetry the truths of Scripture. God, we praise You! God, we bless You! God, we name You sovereign Lord! Mighty King whom angels worship, Father, by Your church adored: All creation shows Your glory, Heav’n and earth draw near Your throne, Singing “Holy, holy, holy, Lord of hosts, and God alone!” ELH 42 Text God, we praise You! God, we bless You! by Christopher Idle©1982 Jubilate Group (admin. Hope Publishing Company). Used by permission. Some hymn are prayers directly to God, and as such, vary as widely as our prayers. We praise God: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King…
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Prayers and Praying with Children
By Mary Abrahamson The basic foundation to keep in mind when praying and when teaching children to pray can be found in the meanings of the first and last parts of the Lord’s Prayer according to Luther’s Small Catechism. The Introduction Our Father, Who art in heaven. What does this mean? God would hereby tenderly invite us to believe that He is our true Father, and that we are His true children, so that we may ask Him with all boldness and confidence, as children ask their dear father. and What does “Amen” mean? Amen means that we should be sure that these petitions are acceptable to our…
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Parent’s Guide to Bible History
By Mary Abrahamson A Parents’ Guide to beginning Catechesis or put more simply, How do I teach my small child about God? Part III Bible History Why do we teach our children Bible History? Why do we get them Bible Story books with nice illustrations? Why do we buy those picture books portraying the more well-known stories from the Bible? Good questions. And for the basic, “Why?” many would not have a ready answer. Others might have a wrong answer. I’ve observed two primary notions or focus in the teaching and presenting of Bible History among Christians today that are wrong. Yes, there are wrong reasons to teach Bible…
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A Parents’ Guide to beginning Catechesis- Part Two
By Mary Abrahamson A Parents’ Guide to beginning Catechesis or put more simply, How do I teach my small child about God? Part II First Memory Work In the first article I wrote for this series, I laid the Law on pretty thick. But we all need it. Myself included. The devil, the world, and our own flesh are all conspiring to pluck our little ones from the faith they were given in their Baptisms. We are commanded to baptize and also to teach. The Baptism part, as I mentioned last time, is less often forgotten in our Lutheran circles than is the daily and weekly teaching that will feed…
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A Parents’ Guide to Beginning Catechesis
A Parents’ Guide to beginning Catechesis or put more simply, How do I teach my small child about God? Part I An introduction By Mary Abrahamson Parents, and father’s especially, have a great responsibility before God with regard to the christian upbringing of their children. It’s quite daunting. Many of us grew up without a strong example of Christian leadership in the home. Many grow up without the example of a father who takes a leadership role in the vital area. And more troublesome yet, in this day and age, some of us have not grown up with a father in the home at all. This series of articles is…
