Mtr Taylor Devine

Dear Friend,

I feel so fortunate to be able to work with experienced leaders and facilitators of children’s formation at Saint Philip’s! The programming offered for those who are infants through about eight is unique and it forms our community from that age group up! With its focus on the ways in which children are already gifted with a spirituality that connects them to our living God, with its attention to developmental stages, the Atriums open up opportunities for children to encounter God and build relationship with Jesus, to build Christian practices, to know wan be known.

The model of this formation, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, has its roots in the Montessori approach to education, with several generations of practices that form the Atriums, the rooms, where the children encounter the lessons, do work, and learn practices with their Catechists. I’ve been listening to a podcast that comes out of the wider community of those who practice this type of children’s formation and am struck by the close reading of the Biblical text that anchors the work that the Catechists do as companions to the children. I’m also struck by the attentiveness to each age group and more than that, each child and their interests and development.

Recently I had an “aha” moments when the podcast host described how the Catechist has many roles, but one of them is as Matchmaker, looking for the right parable or work or story that will help the young person fall in love with Jesus, and continue to grow in relationship with him. I am no pedagogy expert but I have a lot of respect for the Montessori approach employed by the Catechesis program, especially with the close listening encouraged of the adults in the room. Reading our Daily Office text for today from the Gospel of Mathew I notice what might stand out based on where people are in their spiritual and personal development differs! In one season the repentance part of the passage would stand out, in another the movement from death to life would, for some the geography would be distracting and for others make all the sense in the world. Jesus meets us in each of our developmental stages in different ways, and it is a gift to have companions who know what the next step of spiritual growth might be and know to say “here, try this, join this, lay that down, or I’m with you for whatever is next.” The Catechists have a special gift and training for this, but it is part of all of our work as companions on the journey to know and love God.

This Sunday there is an opportunity to see this matchmaking an action during our CYFM open house from 10 to 1 in the Children’s Courtyard on the north side of campus. I hope you’ll join us! More info can be found in the Bell and Tower. We learn about Jesus through relationship - through one Disciple telling another the hope they have and where they found it, through prayer for one another, through supporting one another in following Jesus together in all the stages of life.

In Christ,

Mtr Taylor