Kia tau te rangimārie

By Annette Osborne -
Kia tau te rangimārie
Peace be with you 

We live in anxious times. The spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus is causing the whole world to become an unsettled and unpredictable place. This has an effect on our children. I recently heard of a school that has had to ban the children from playing 'Coronavirus Tag', which is as it sounds. If you get tagged, you have the virus and you will die. Needless to say, this was rather anxiety inducing for all concerned. 

 We can be proactive in addressing this anxiety, especially as some children will carry their concerns close to their heart without verbalising it. Here are a couple of tips and resources that you might find helpful:

 1. Slow down: This link will lead you to a series of colouring pages produced by Strandz for Advent this year. Download the 'rangimārie' or 'peace' page and photocopy off enough for one each. During your Sunday morning programme or after-school club give the children time in silence to colour in this page. Talk first about God's loving presence with us when we feel worried. Encourage them to colour in slowly, to take deep breaths and feel their body relax. They might like to talk with God while they colour and to give God their fears and worries. Taking time to be silent and to do something slowly helps to still a worried mind. 

 'Illustrated Ministry' has produced some beautiful resources which they are making free. This link will take you to three prayers that can be coloured. Perfect for all those who are feeling anxious at this time. 

 2. Debunk the myths: There are so many crazy stories going around that are just not true. A child may struggle to separate fact from fiction (side-note: plenty of adults have difficulty with this too). Talking openly and honestly about the virus helps children to have a sense of control over what is happening, and helps allay their fears. A very good article for a family to read together can be found here. Here's a great article written by a New Zealand child psychologist with some good advice. 

 3. Be prepared: Put a plan in place to provide families and whānau with good online resources if we move to a phase where church attendance is not an option and we have to stay at home. Various organisations are providing free materials. You can find one here. 

 4. Take homes: Provide each child in your church and community ministries with a card that reads, 'Kia tau te rangimārie. Peace be with you.' Laminate it. They can carry their card with them in their pocket as a reminder that God is with them in all circumstances, whether at school or at home. You can download an example here.

 Here's a lovely prayer we can be praying for each other. You might like to share it on your church Facebook page or in your newsletter. Let us pray for each other in the midst of all the uncertainly, and especially for those most vulnerable members of our communities. 
The peace of God be in your heart
The grace of God be in your words
The love of God be in your hands
The joy of God be in your soul
and in the song that your life sings.

John Birch

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

12. Jesus has his first visitors.

By Annette Osborne -
Image
When a new baby is born, everyone wants to visit. People bring gifts and they take photographs. When Jesus was a baby some of the first visitors to meet him were these young guys who looked after sheep for a living. Some of them stayed in the fields to make sure the sheep we re okay, and a group of them travellled into Bethlehem to find this baby that the angels told them about.  This is a photograph of a painting of the shepherds. In this photograph the shepherd is an older man. Can you see how he carries the little lamb safe on his shoulders? They would have been a bit smelly. They lived out in the fields, with sheep for company. No showers, no soap and probably no change of clothes. But that doesn’t matter to God. You see, the Christmas story is full of people who weren’t famous or grea t leaders or seen as important. That’s what make it so amazing. God sent angels to tell the shepherds about the saviour of the world. Not Herod, not Augustus. Shepherds.  Do you think t
Read more

The Three Kings by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

By Annette Osborne -
Image
What a beautiful poem to read this Christmas, (despite the fact we don't know that there were three wise kings, nor do we know their names). This would make a great addition to an All-Age service, or as part of a church service during Advent. Find someone in your congregation with a great reading voice. You might even like to have them sit in a comfy arm chair with a lamp for light.  For extra drama, soak a little frankincense or myrrh oil onto cotton-wool balls and pass these out before you read the poem. Let people smell the spice of the wise kings gifts, as they listen to the poem, and take home the cotton-wool ball as a reminder.  The Three Kings  By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  Three Kings came riding from far away, Melchior and Gaspar and Baltasar; Three Wise Men out of the East were they, And they travelled by night and they slept by day, For their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star. And when they came to Jerusalem, Herod the Great, who had heard this thing, Se
Read more

Waitangi Day

By Annette Osborne -
Image
Te Kawenata o Waitangi (the Covenant of Waitangi) The Treaty of Waitangi  signed 6 Feb 1840 “Te Kawenata o Waitangi is the name Māori gave to the Treaty of Waitangi. It means, the ‘Covenant of Waitangi’, and reflects the influence of the gospel on New Zealand history. The signing of the Treaty was not simply a contract but a covenant, in the Biblical sense of the word.” (Mark Grace, The Gospel and the Treaty of Waitangi, 2014) Waitangi Day is a great opportunity to reflect on our history as a nation, but also the part that Christians played in this historic event. Here are some ideas you might like to use in your Sunday School or children’s programme or together with all ages in your church services. Click on the links below to view and download free resources. We are keen to add to this col lection, so if you have an idea or activity we would love you to share it w ith us. Email: annette.o@sunz.o rg.nz A few main points:  Click here for a brief overview of the Tre
Read more