I’ve been collecting a number of links to great websites/blogs/articles over the past couple of weeks that I think represent some of the best we can be doing, following or gaining insight from as we practice social distancing and stay home in our efforts to flatten the curve. I had hoped I could weave them into an article along the way, but for one reason or another, they never quite fit the article themes I was working on. I don’t want them to be lost in the shuffle, so I’m posting them all here in the hope that one or two might also resonant with you.
Do you want to keep up with the continuing Chapodcasts posted by Reuben St. Louis? Look for them daily on the Facebook pages of Nassagaweya Presbyterian Church: https://www.facebook.com/NassagaweyaPresbyterianChurch/ and Camp Kintail: https://www.facebook.com/campkintail/. Get ready to meet new camping families join in with chapel services from their homes. Thank you everyone for birthing this new resource for us all.
Are you running out of ideas for family activities while you’re staying home? Karen DeBoer, Creative Resource Developer for Faith Formation Ministries and author of Home Grown Handbook for Christian Parenting, has written the article, “35 Tech, Free, Faith Forming, Fun Activities For Families to Do at Home.” You can find this great collection of ideas, and reasons why they’re all exceptionally faith-forming here: https://network.crcna.org/childrens-ministry/35-tech-free-faith-forming-fun-activities-families-do-home?fbclid=IwAR0CYM7YwfaQNv4mzKBhLb83Q0XBHQkKiHvgVinjHMHx7GZqI2HYkiTzSSs.
Continuing with family activities, GenOn Ministries has made two sessions of their Sunday LIFT spring sessions available for families for free download. Sunday LIFT is a great resource for families to use as they gather around the dinner table and share food, fellowship, and learning. These sessions, “Belonging to God,” and “Remembering With the Disciples” focus on being a part of God’s family, and the meal that the disciples shared with Jesus on the night he was arrested respectively. You can find these two great family session plans here: https://www.genonministries.org/collections/sunday-lift-at-home.
I’ve been asked for a recommendation for a great devotional blog. I’ve just found one by Carol M. Bechtel, who is an author, teacher and public speaker as well as the past professor of Old Testament at the Presbyterian School of Christian Education and professor at Western Theological Seminary since 1994. I hadn’t heard of her site before, and I’m really enjoying it. She is not posting daily, but if you search her past blog series posts you will find a wealth of thoughtful devotions if you want to be on the site daily. Perhaps you could connect with others in your church group and discuss each posting over Zoom or FaceTime. You can find her blog here: https://carolmbechtel.com/blog/.
If it’s sermons you’ve been looking for, you won’t find better than at the site “A Sermon for Every Sunday.” Created in 2014 for churches that were either vacant, too remote, or too small to be able to find and/or afford pulpit supply, Jim Somerville, Pastor of Richmond’s First Baptist Church, and David Powers, President of Belltower Pictures created a site for sermons videoed in high definition, designed to be projected on a Sunday morning in the midst of the worship service. Somerville and Powers have brought together some of America’s best preachers such as Rev. Dr. Anna Carter Florence (to have preached at the 2020 Presbyterian Women’s Gathering), and Rev. Dr. William Willimon to offer their reflections. Next Sunday’s post is already up and can be found here: https://asermonforeverysunday.com.
Finally, keep checking in on this website and the Presbyterian Church in Canada’s website for answers to questions and resource recommendations to assist you in these days and the days after that. You can find the PCC website here: https://presbyterian.ca.