www.saintmarysharborne.org.uk
Saint Mary's 9.30 Mass
Children's Liturgy
There is a liturgy
group for the family mass at 9.30 which is run by a group of parents and
includes a music representative. The aim is to give the children some personal
attention and for the parents to have an adult reading and homily, in church, in
peace!
We have quite a large
number of children (about 80-100 come out each week) so this limits what we can
do with them. The aim is to take the children out every other week but this can
vary depending on school holidays and big events in the churches calendar, such
as holidays, feast days, communion programmes etc. During Lent and Advent
we take the children out every week and do a theme with them that is continued
throughout the season. In Advent we may discuss how third world children make
their preparations (if any) and then celebrate Christmas, or think how we can
help disadvantaged people in our own environment. We have also had a project
(recently expanded to include the whole Parish) where we give out labels for
various age groups and they bring back a present for someone of that age. The
gifts are then distributed around various institutions.
The children process
out of church into the Parish Centre after the entrance hymn and initial
welcome, so they are still part of the gathering together of the community, they
take with them the Children's Lectionary, crucifix, flowers and candle to
decorate their altar. The children are then
sometimes divided into groups :- 4s+5s, 6s+7s and 8s+over, or the leader takes
the whole group together if we feel this is more appropriate. In their groups we
talk about the gospel and maybe relate it to their own experience.
Both groups then all process back in at the Offertory - hopefully without too much noise!
During Lent we have explained the summit on child labour to the
children by giving them paper footprints to take home and write a prayer on
them, as internationally people were walking to the summit so we 'walked round
our church' Amnesty international's 50th anniversary was marked by asking the
children to write letters
to the Prime Minister, they have donated clothes for the homeless,
brought in Easter eggs for young offenders and for Jubilee 2000 they brought in
money each week and signed a 'link' which was then made into a chain, we also
gave them, at Easter, some seeds (new life) to take and share with a friend or
neighbour. We also looked at the Stations of the Cross taking one station at a
time and trying to relate to it and to see how it can be put into our lives and
finishing by writing a prayer using the station as a focal point.
The leader for the day greets the children as they arrive into the
parish centre with suitable quiet music, reminding the children that they are
still in church, the pre-school children go into a separate room usually
accompanied by their parents who are very welcome. The children are expected to
sit down quietly around our little altar. We ask if there is anyone with a
birthday and they are invited to help light the candle. We then read their own,
revised, penitential prayer. The theme for the day is introduced, the Alleluia
is sung, the children then cross themselves in preparation for the gospel
reading and the gospel is then read. We often do a re-enactment, 'signing', mime
or practise a new hymn or actions to a hymn.
We use visual aids such as using Duplo to re-enact the sellers in
the temple having their stalls overturned, or we have used the example of a
plastic carrier bag and a beautifully wrapped parcel asking them to choose which
they preferred, then showing them the parcel with a few pegs in it, or
similar,
and the carrier bag something nice like money or sweets.
Illustrating how we should not judge by appearances. Maybe play a little game
e.g. Doubting Thomas; they are told to close their eyes and see if they believe
anything without seeing it first, at Trinity Sunday we have an altar server who
is also a member of the uniform branch, this way we show the children someone
they know but with different roles and responsibilities, the altar server wears
all three outfits altar server, school child and cub/brownie, three roles
(people) in one.
Pre school children
The children are encouraged to enter the other room quietly. 
They then
sing the Alleluia sometimes with musical accompaniment. A Gospel reading or
suitable bible story is read to them (as long as a single phrase from the gospel
is used it is considered an active part of the Mass - not a crèche, which we
feel is very important). They always have an activity, often drawing or
colouring something relevant to the theme and sometimes they sing a hymn.
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