Dispatch from junior youth

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following dispatch is provided by Edina Hall, Co-Lead Formation Leader for Junior Youth (grades 7+8).

“Who would like to say a prayer to start our time together?” Whenever we ask that question silence often follows. 

The silence is not just because the kids are 11-13 years old and find it sometimes hard to pray in front of a group. It’s also because crafting a prayer on the fly can be challenging—even for an adult. So…

We talked about different types of prayer: the psalms as a form of prayer, free form versions, and the canticles. We explored where canticles are most often found in the Book of Common Prayer and will have ongoing discussions about how there are different types of canticles for the seasons of the church and various forms of worship. 

But rather than creating a book of canticles, we thought they’d have some fun and make a “Can 'O Canticles.” Get it?!

So…this past Sunday the kids began cutting out words and images connected to the canticles. Once done, they will Mod Podge the images to the can and then write canticles on card stock and put them inside the can. Voila! When it’s prayer time a canticle can be picked at random from the "Can 'O Canticles!"

This was a wonderful way for the kids to spend time talking about prayer—what it means to them, why it’s valuable, the types of prayer they prefer—that wasn’t stuffy or part of a lecture. Everyone participated and enjoyed talking about what is an important subject. In fact, there was laughter and spontaneous singing of a canticle!