Ministry Ideas for Celebrating Lent and Easter with Teens, Families, and ParishesSaint Mary's Press, 2006 - 108 pages Like all of us, adolescents have a deep hunger for God. They have a need to make sense out of life and a desire to make the world a better place. They are people of endless hope, and have the capacity for deep sadness and profound joy. Their hungers, needs, hopes, and moments of sadness and joy mirror the experiences of biblical characters we meet during Lent and the Easter season. To meet the challenge of making Lent and the Easter season meaningful, parish and youth ministry efforts need to be intentional about bringing alive the Scriptures for each Sunday and special commemoration of the season. Ministry Ideas for Celebrating Lent and Easter with Teens, Families, and Parishes is a resource manual that provides activities for gathered sessions with youth in parish settings, as well as ideas for meaningful ways to observe the season with families and friends at home and in the community. At the core of the manual are gathered sessions with youth that are lectionary based, using themes from the Scriptures. Some sessions are specific to a particular Sunday in one liturgical cycle. Others are more thematically inclusive and may be used with all cycles. In addition to the gathered sessions, supplementary activities for the season include a guided meditation, a service project, and discussion activities that may be used in a variety of ways throughout the season. Also included are two chapters designed specifically for families. Each chapter contains several activities that will help families share faith stories and create memories. These activities can be sent home or adapted for use in a gathered environment. |
Contents
Introduction | 9 |
An Activity for Spiritual Awareness and Focus | 23 |
A Session on the Sanctity of Life | 36 |
The Triduum | 50 |
A Session to Explore the Theme of Peacemaking | 67 |
Group Discussion Starters | 83 |
Ascension and Pentecost | 99 |
Common terms and phrases
activity Add 5 cups add an onion ambassador Apostles Ash Wednesday Ask the participants Baptism bean mixture beans with boiling Benazir Bhutto bouillon cubes cassette or CD CATHOLIC YOUTH BIBLE celebrate Christ Church Connections This session copy of resource Cover the beans cross disciples Dorothy Day Drain the bean Easter season Easter Vigil focus following items following questions Gather the following Gather the participants gift God’s Gospel heart Helen Prejean hero Holy Spirit Holy Week Invite the participants jelly beans Jesus’s Lent and Easter Lenten markers Mary Magdalene Mary’s minutes Nelson Mandela newsprint onion or meat parish peace pens or pencils Pentecost Permission to reproduce pillar candle poster board prayer table pro-life reading reproduce is granted Resurrection Saint Mary's Press scriptural second chance sentence starter Serve and enjoy Set the cubes share story Sunday of Lent teens things Thomas McNally volunteer to proclaim young