Featured Resource: Little Liturgies with The Soil and the Seed Project
One of our family’s favorite ways this year to have predictable patterns and also be empowered to nurture as spiritual parents to our kids is Little Liturgies.
Patrick and I have observed the liturgical year for several years now (Lent, Advent, Ordinary Time, etc…) but it has been hard to find ways to translate church tradition into family friendly language—until now!
The Soil and the Seed Project is created by another Immanuel family member, Seth Crissman, and a team of writers, musicians, song-writers, artists, photographers, and organizers.
Each season, there are digital or physical resources to use as a family or faith family. The project is free, a gift to the wider church and overwhelmed parents who want to steep their children in God’s word and ways but don’t always know how.
Our family’s favorite part is the CD or Spotify playlist. It includes memory verse songs, reimagined hymns and doxologies, and fresh settings for familiar graces or theological concepts. We listen to the CD in the car on repeat and it’s been so joyful to listen to our kids sing whole Bible verses without realizing it or try and rap along with “a balloon gives up it’s air becomes unpoppable, when Jesus gave his life he became unstoppable” (from the Lent/Easter album).
One special moment was my daughter responding to the song lyrics, “don’t give a trumpet to a kid and think she won’t blow.” “Mama!” she exclaimed, “It’s a about a girl not just a boy like always!” It showed me how powerful and important these songs are, not only because they help our kids memorize Scripture but also how they shape our kids’ understanding of the church and who it values in its family.
We also use the provided weekly liturgy readings and discussion questions. We typically do ours on Sunday mornings during our more relaxed breakfast time before church since we’re not out the door as early as school days. We usually do the parent as reader and the kids as "all” and try and come up with movements if a line is repeated. If we have time, we’ll do the discussion question but if we don’t, we save that for another dinner during the week. Some weeks we only really focus on the music in the car, but each family can find a way to make these work for them, whether at meals or bedtime or gathered for neighborhood meal or family time. A fun feature is also that the weekly cards combine at the end of the season to make a gorgeous piece of art by an artist connected with the project, this time by one of my dearest friends, Bethany Tobin.
