Contents of the 2008 Light a Candle for Children Packet
The Vigil brochure and insert outline steps for implementing your prayer vigil. You can print out copies of the brochure, add the insert, and give to everyone who participates in your congregation’s vigil.
The Prayer Vigil Calendar already has prayer commitments from a number of national organizations, including the United Church of Christ National Office in Cleveland, OH, Disciples Center Staff in Indianapolis, IN, The National Council of Christian Churches, and the Children’s Defense Fund. All you have to do is fill in the rest of the forty days with people from your congregation and community.
The 2008 Share the Stories is a prayer vigil and Children’s Sabbaths action response form. It is helpful in our planning to know what your congregation did during the prayer vigil and Sabbath observance. Your ideas and activities are encouraging to others.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT www.kidscount.org/datacenter/ provides national and state-by-state information and statistical trends on the conditions of America’s children and families. This year, the KIDS COUNT Data Book essay, “A road Map for Juvenile Justice Reform,” looks at the nearly 100,000 youth confined to juvenile facilities on any given night in the United States, and what can be done to reduce unnecessary and inappropriate detention and incarceration and increase opportunities for positive youth development and community safety.
The Church and Children-Vision and Goals for the 21st Century.” If your congregation has not yet studied this document on children from the National Council of Christian Churches, it highly recommends you consider doing so. The study guide and policy statement is a free download from the National Council of Christian Churches.
Information of ordering 2008 National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths Manual is above. The more manuals you order the less they cost per copy. You might want to get together with other churches in your community and place one order. Also order the Children’s Defense Fund Bible from the same site. This small travel Bible includes a concordance for children’s advocates. klibby@childrensdefense.org or
(865)457-6466, ext. 105
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Light a Candle Prayer Vigil and National Observance
of Children’s Sabbaths 2008
The Light a Candle for Children Forty Day Prayer Vigil begins Sunday, September 7, and ends on Children’s Sabbaths Weekend, October 17 to 19, 2008.
The theme of the 2008 Interfaith National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths is “When Will I Hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Call to End Poverty in America?”
The manual from Children’s Defense Fund includes resources for worship, educational events, service activities and social justice initiatives.
This year’s manual focuses on answering Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s call to build and be the Blessed Community where all children can live out their God-given potential. In the last years of his life, Dr. King warned against the triple dangers of materialism, militarism, and racism, and called on us as a nation and as a people of faith to respond. Unfortunately, these evils are still evident today.
The 2008 Manuals remind us that:
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In our wealthy nation today, one in six children lives in poverty while the rich get richer and millionaires reap tax breaks they don’t need.
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In our powerful nation, we still resort to guns and violence rather than the power of non-violence to solve problems in our homes, neighborhoods and among nations.
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In our nation, founded on the truth that all people have the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, rampant racial and economic disparities in access to quality health care and education combined with zero tolerance laws that criminalize children at younger and younger ages; put Black boys born in 2001 at a one in three and Latino boys born the same year at a one in six lifetime risk of being incarcerated.
Forty years after his death, Dr. King’s clarion call still waits for our answer in word and deed. How we respond to these urgent national crises at the intersection of poverty and
race will determine how much our children have to struggle to find and remain on their paths to living and thriving as individuals and members of our broader community.
This easy-to-use manual provides worship materials for Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Baha’I, and other faith traditions, and resources for an interfaith gathering. It also offers bulletin inserts ideas for hands-on service and advocacy efforts, guidance for strengthening your efforts for children throughout the year, and much more.
Pre-order your manual today for only $8 plus shipping and handling! Save $3 per manual on purchases of 50 or more. Manuals will be delivered beginning in late June 2008.
Order online: www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageNavigator/religious_action
Children’s Defense Fund
P.O. Box 840
Clinton, TN 37717-0840
Kenneth Libby – (865) 457-6466
FAX: (865) 457-6464
E-mail: CDFHaley@childrensdefense.org
The 2008 “Light a Candle for Children” Forty Day Prayer Vigil Project is a time of preparation for the annual Children’s Defense Fund Observation of Children’s Sabbaths.
Many congregations of the United Church of Christ have continued to partner with Disciples of Christ (DOC) in this prayer vigil project. Fourteen years ago this prayer vigil was started by a Disciples church in Louisville, KY. The church no longer exists, but the legacy of this congregation’s love for children lives on.
In 2006, Light a Candle for Children was adopted by the National Council of Christian Churches Committee on Justice for Children and Their Families. This means that congregations from all of the denominations affiliated with the National Council of Christian Churches in the United States will be participating. Light a Candle for Children is now part of a whole “Season of Prayer and Advocacy” for America’s Children.
Advocate all year long
Additional resources you might find helpful include:
Children’s Defense Fund
www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer
More on Public Witness- www.discipleshomemissions.org/PublicWitness/index.htm
The Institute for Peace and Justice
www.ipj-ppj.org/
COMING SOON 2008 ADVENT CALENDAR FOR CHILDREN & FAMILIES
The creation of an Advent Calendar for 2008 is one of the many projects I am working on as the new Minister for Children and Families. It is my hope that the calendar will generate such a positive response becoming a yearly resource offered by this ministry.
The theme for the 2008 Advent Calendar is “Children and Families at the Margins.” A word of caution is offered in interpreting the context of ‘margin” for this calendar theme. In this context, “margin” refers to people in our society whose lives are often pushed to the margins due to a variety of factors: their experience of financial hardships, their illegal status in taking up residence in the United States, divorce, homelessness, sexual orientation, or similar situations. (Thus, people living in the “margins” do not exclusively mean immigrants of color. It may have been an oversight on my part for not providing an explanation in the brochure).
As an example: I met a white grandmother who feels pushed to the margins because of how her six-year-old grandson with special needs is viewed by others. When her son and daughter-in-law moved to live closer to her, the church they attended refused to allow the six-year-old to be with the other six-years-olds in Sunday school and instead suggested that he should be with the toddlers. The couple was outraged. The family is still searching for a church that would provide an extravagant welcome for their son.
I am seeking stories that will nurture a desire among children to show compassion, do justice, and walk humbly with God. The stories will ideally be shared as children and families read them as meditations. Eventually, as faith formation is encouraged by the Advent Calendar readings, the children and their families will see that Jesus was at the margins of the society as well—indicated by the nature of his birth.
I have been working with UCC networks of Christian Educators and pastors to identify families who may wish to participate in this calendar; fifteen families so far have told stories for our publication. We are seeking ten more. Do you have a story, or is there a family in your church whom you would recommend to work with us?
Many thanks!
Lutie O. Lee
Minister for Children and Families
leel@ucc.org
(216) -736-3863
Build a Village
An interactive website for the whole family, featuring alternative holiday and year-round gift giving opportunities in support of the life-changing work of Church World Service — as well as stories, games, and other activities for children of all ages.
40 Days of Prayer/ Children's Sabbath Service Project
As we have in years past , we are suggesting that local church congregations participate in the Church World Service Kit Program. In 2005 we focused on School Kits because coordinators of the AKit Program@ express a great need for these kits. However, this year there is a great need for all kits. So we are suggesting that you and your local congregation make a selection from the list of kits - School Kits, Clean Up Kits, Health Kits, or Baby Kits (Layette) - and send your kits to Church World Service. You will find the kits, items for each and the mailing address by going to the following website: www.churchworldservice.org, once the page is open , click on ATools, Blankets and Kits@ at the top of the screen, once this page opens, you will see the words A How To Make and Ship Church World Service Kits@ and click on these words. You will see a listing of kits and items needed.. Click on the kit that your congregation will pack and send to CWS. i.e. Health Kits . Once you have clicked on the kit of your choice, you will see the mailing address and procedures for sending your kits to Church World Service. Questions? Call the regional office at 888-297-2767.
Ordering the Children's Sabbath Manual
You may call (865)-457-6466 x 105 or klibby@childrensdefense.org to request an order form for ordering the Children's Sabbath Manual.
Materials for reflection and your use
The United Church of Christ Forty Days of Prayer and Children's Sabbath Packet
Children and Families in Worship: Two Perspectives
A bibliography: multi-cultural education for emersion
Evaluating books form (multi-cultural education)
Children and Communion Suggested Resources
Principles For Christian Family Ministry
Three Themes for the Theology of Family Living
A Prayer For the Family
Tips On Choosing a Bible for Children
Children's Sabbath Packet (Information coming soon)
Rationale for Holding a Multicultural Children and Families Festival
The center of the Ministry for Children and Families is development of resource materials on faith formation and settings where such faith formation may occur. The new Minister for Children and Families, Lutie O. Lee, has convened a core Faith Formation Group of diverse lay people and clergy members which has been working together since October 2007. They have reflected on issues concerning not only content for faith formation but also effective programming for such education. In the course of their conversations they have given voice to a strongly held conviction: to enter this new phase of UCC educational ministry through the world of children and their families. Rather than first pulling together a conference of family experts from academia, the Faith Formation Group seeks first to learn directly from youth, children, families, and Christian Educators about their needs and wants. Out of this grass-roots information educational practices, programs and activities will grow. The result of the Faith Formation Group's preliminary work has been the unanimous recommendation that the Worship and Education Ministry Team sponsor a Multicultural Children and Families Festival as a pre-Synod event, Thursday, June 25, 2009.
This Festival is intended to be a down-to-earth educational activity in a fun, family-friendly setting. It has a two-fold purpose:
1. to begin to build a network of community and friendship across congregations and among families with different cultural backgrounds by sharing faith traditions and customs, and
2. to begin grass-roots information gathering about needs and desires of diverse families in the area of faith formation which may be used for future program development.
Congregations will be invited to create booths of games, story-telling, crafts and customs which give all who visit a taste of their traditional or evolving faith practices. Performance groups will be invited to share their arts with the whole group at regular intervals. Our hope is that there will be commingling of faith communities of multicultural churches in the festival in a fun, educational and non-threatening setting. Before the festival is over, strangers will have become friends. Hopefully families will stay after the festival to experience what Grand Rapids and General Synod have to offer.
This event will not end in Grand Rapids, MI; in fact, this will be the beginning of grass-roots information gathering for the development of the new Ministry for Children and Families. People will be invited to register on-site with their names and congregations' names and contact information. They will be encouraged to make comments about their experience of the Festival. These information sheets will become passports to contact their churches and to talk with them about their hopes and desires for this ministry.
Proposed Venue: The Church Council of St. John’s United Church of Christ, at 1934 Bridge St., pastored by the Rev. William M. Lyons, has given approval to hold this festival at their church. St. John’s UCC is located two miles from the convention center of Grand Rapids. There will be shuttle buses to transport families to the festival to be shouldered by the host church.
Presynod Event
Lutie gives a brief tour:
