Ash Wednesday | Sermon on the Sidewalk

50 Flavors for 50 Days! Jelly Belly Prayer Prompts

By sermononthesidewalk on March 19, 2014

To pray for our loved ones is, as C.S. Lewis once said, a “sweet duty.”

Easter and candy go together like rama lama lama ke ding a de dinga a dong! Healthy snacks rule, but I’m not above sharing jelly beans or other sweet treats when they create opportunities to engage kids in conversations of prayer. Lenten Sacrifice Beans turned Alleluia Beans turned conversation and prayers.

We don’t find Jesus because we look in a grave or even on a cross. Jesus comes to us. In the water, in the bread, in the wine. Together at the table, we see Jesus in one another. With 50 Official Jelly Belly flavors and 50 days of Easter, Jelly Belly Prayers have become a seasonal favorite, and a simple way to invite children into the resurrection life. We are Easter people, after all!

Taste and See

Kids can count on numbers. Numbers are concrete. Why does Lent have 40 days and Easter have 50? Why don’t we count Sundays as part of our 40 day Lenten journey? Lent has 40 days and Easter gets 50. Resurrection trumps crucifixion, Easter outshines Lent. Life conquers death. Every Sunday is celebrated as a little Easter. I love how the seasons of the church year invite kids and families into healthy rhythms of being the church.

This year, during the 50 days of Easter, why not invite kids and families to use the attached Jelly Belly Prayer Prompt PDF. It introduces A.C.T.S. prayer (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication), encourages conversation and prayer, and is sweet fun!

The Art of Walking Wet: Creating a Labyrinth with Kids and Families

By sermononthesidewalk on March 5, 2013

Their baptism should have been called to their minds again and again, and their faith constantly awakened and nourished. For just as the truth of this divine promise, once pronounced over us, continues until death, so our faith in it ought never to cease, but to be nourished and strengthened until death by the continual remembrance of this promise made to us in baptism. For the truth of the promise once made remains steadfast, always ready to receive us back with open arms when we return. LW 36:59

A labyrinth isn’t a maze. There is no map. Just one path from beginning to end and back again. It meets us where we are and invites us on a journey. We return to the same place we started but different.

Sounds a little like the Christian faith and our own personal journeys, from the ashes of our human condition to the hope we have in the resurrection. In last year’s Easter message, Bishop Hanson shared, “The risen Christ goes ahead of us … so that we can embrace life’s complexities and uncertainties with a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.” This has also been my experience of the labyrinth.

I’ve been asked to create a labyrinth with families who have kids in grades 6-12 during a Lenten retreat. Together we’re going to learn the difference between a maze and a labyrinth; explore the idea of creating a labyrinth that takes us on a journey beginning with God’s gift of baptism; and have fun getting to know one another while painting and walking a one-of-a-kind hand painted 20 x 20 labyrinth we can experience for years to come!

I like the idea of a labyrinth we get to create together; one that awakens, nourishes and connects us together in faith. Martin Luther reminds me to say the words “I am baptized,” rather than “I was baptized.” There are many different types of labyrinths and different ways of experiencing each one. During our time together I’ll share some of these with the group. The intention though is that this labyrinth-making experience will remind participants of God’s steadfast promise and offer a new tool for “walking wet” every day.

Everyone will get a copy of our completed labyrinth design in the form of a finger labyrinth. The nice thing about a finger labyrinth (also called “troy stones” when they’re carved out of wood, sculpted from clay or sewn using fabric) is that it can be experienced almost anytime and anywhere. Labyrinths printed on paper can be filled with mindful messages or meditations, colored or painted, similar to Carolyn Rondthaler’s amazing art pictured above.

There are many excellent online labyrinth locators, labyrinths available for purchase and creative ideas for making your own labyrinth. The Labyrinth Society has 2 labyrinths on their website you can download and print from home: Classical Labyrinth and Chartres Labyrinth

I’m excited to be able to share a video of our community and “almost” completed labyrinth making experience. Have you ever thought of creating your own labyrinth as part of a confirmation retreat? You might want to! ECLC Retreat: Labyrinth Making Video!