09 March 2008

It's Over

Well, at least for this session. Today we held our final Catechism Service. We won't hold them again until after Labor Day. As I reflect on the experience, I'm very pleased over all:

* Extremely grateful to the video team who recorded these services so that if anyone misses one, they can sign out the DVD and work through it on their own.

* The parental participation has astonished and delighted me. It's so great to see parents sitting with their children and learning the Catechism together. This was true for parents of older children as well as younger!

* The opportunity to pray together and sing together and hear Scripture read and meditate on it - a liturgical setting for catechesis, if you will - well, words fail. I don't think I could go back to the "classroom" way again.

* The lively interaction between the children and adults surprised us all. I think the kids especially are starved for this "intergenerational" experience, and the adults ended up finding it a pleasant experience.

That's about it, I suppose. But I am very thankful to St. Paul's parish for being open to let us experiment with doing things the old way again. Christenlehre, as the Germans used to say it. A priceless heritage that LSB brings back for us in the Service of Prayer and Preaching!

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