Catholic Kermit

Today is day 1 of Religious Education (CCD) at my parish.  I’m a catechist for 7th grade Pre-Confirmation class with my aide Donny.  We had 13 of our 17 kids today, with apparently more signing up late as we speak.  A very diverse group from “quiet” to “super-animated.”

We played a classic “get-to-know-you” icebreaker game called “Four Winds Blow.” It’s like musical chairs sitting in a circle.  The person in the middle says 3 things about themselves.  Then they say “Four winds blow to anyone …” (wearing jeans, wearing gym shoes, with blue eyes, wearing glasses, with ears, etc.)  Then everyone that fits the profile needs to get up and get another seat (at least 2 seats over) while the person in the middle tries to get a seat as well.  If you get stuck in the middle 3 time, you need to sing a song of your choice.  The “Alphabet Song” and a Spongebob song were sang.  Lots of fun for all.

I also gave a brief into to the curriculum and talked about finding our “prayer sweet spot” this year.  Using a tennis racket and baseball bat, the kids taught me about finding the “sweet spot” to get the best result out of their uses … although similar for many, everyone has their own sweet spot in the way they play sports.  Well, our prayer life is very similar.  We need to each find what works best for our own individual prayer experience in order to grow.  Some like Scripture, some the Rosary, some praise & worship, some music, some poetry, some adoration, some quiet meditation, etc.  This year, we’ll have different prayer experience in order to help find our own prayer “sweet spot.”

We wrote down the simple Doxology prayer on index cards and will use it this week as a homework prayer experience.  Everyone needs to try praying it at different time, days and ways this week.  Next Sunday, we’ll share what worked and what didn’t.

As we discussed the Doxology prayer, we asked the questions like “What is a creature?  Can a rock praise God?  What’s the difference between angels & humans?  What’s a Holy Ghost?”  — a very vocal and curious group … we’re blessed to be journeying in our faith together!

— I prayed the Doxology during this post. 🙂