Friday evening we welcomed children, youth and their families from the various Churches that make up
Constellation
Ministry to St Philip's for a Mardi Gras Party and Open Gym. The party
included a bountiful potluck dinner, with special Mardi Gras treats
provided by the families.Festive face painti
ng
and mask making were also options for those wanting to enjoy the
masquerade side of Mardi Gras.As usual for Open Gym, there were lots of
games to be played, led by Cameron.After the games and activities were done, Cameron and I led the group through a short introduction to Mardi Gras and the season of Lent. Cameron helped us to get out all of our Alleluias before we put them away for Lent and we gave out booklets to ea
ch
family with different prayers and spiritual practices for the season of
Lent. These booklets were also given out as a part of our Youth Led
service on Sunday. Together, we went through the ideas for prayer,
fasting, reading Scripture and almsgiving found in the booklet and each
person was asked to write down one spiritual practice to which they
commit for the season of Lent.Then we brought up palm crosses from last year's palm Sunday service and placed them with an Alleluia banner (decorated b
y
those who were at the Mardi Gras Party) into a container at the front
of the Church as a sign of our commitment to this spiritual practice.At the end of the service, after we together said goodbye to Alleluia for Lent with a prayer, the paper banner and palm crosses were taken outside and burned to make the Ashes for this year's Ash Wednesday Services.
For anyone who wasn't able to make it to the service on Sunday, here is a link to a pdf of the booklet we gave out at the service. You can spend some time with your family at home looking it over and deciding on a spiritual practice that you will commit to for Lent this year. I hope this preparation and these resources will help you to make a Lent a holy season for you and your families.
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