Did you know?
That your feelings about the empty family pew are a call to prayer?
That there are many lasting ways to share your faith with loved ones?
That recording your spiritual journey will help you rediscover God?
Got Jesus? Got Faith? Share Faith! Evangelize!
Picture your loved ones in the pew beside you and in God's arms.
17 Ways to Share Faith Across
the Genereations
1. Pray with photos of family members. Picture Jesus beside your loved one. Watch and listen for God's abiding presence with this person. Picture this person in the pew beside you as you pray for them on Sundays.
3. Create a book about the way that First Communion has been celebrated in your family.
4. Record what you admire about your parents, grandparents, great grandparents, since you may be the last one alive to know their stories. Gather mini-bios into a booklet.
5. Write an ethical will that describes your faith and values, to be read after your passing.
6. Design a booklet about your family's involvement in your particular neighborhood and parish, including as many generations and family members as possible.
7. Chose entries from your spiritual journal, and their present meaning, in a Christmas letter.
8. All generations share a love of story, just the preferred format differs. Ask a grandchild, niece or nephew to help you record family spiritual adventures on video.
9. Use a voice recorder to interview older family members. Be sure to ask both silly and serious questions. Transcribe what they share or use the audio files (with thweir permission) during a family reunion.
10. LABEL old family photos with a friend or family member, since photos trigger both happy and sad memories. Keep a diary of what it is like for you to look at the photos. Scan the most important ones as holiday gifts.
11. Try a "Dads Used to Be Kids" book or a "Moms Used to Be Girls" book for a grandchild that features photos of your grown child. Be sure to include what you liked about him or her as a child.
12. Gather a group of friends for a workshop on creating a family spiritual history. Invite a personal historian to help you get started. Visit www.featurethat.com for ideas.
13. Compile a family cookbook that includes traditional recipes and a few "spiritual" recipes, like one for forgiveness.
14. Build a family spiritual history by sharing your experience of God's presence behind the scenes in a family photo. Learn when and how to share by sponsoring a workshop entitled, "When Family and Friends Don't Want to Hear about God".
15. Combine an obit and a brief biography for deceased family members on www.findagrave.com. Enter "Lillian R Derosiers Howard" into this website's search box for a sample. You might also publish a family member's eulogy online. See one of our samples.
16. Write about (or video about) important moments in your life. Be sure to include the spiritual dimensions of these events: what they meant and how these events changed your outlook on life.
17. Gather your family to sing Christmas Carols, or incorporate carols into an existing holiday event.
To elarn more about how to put these into practice, schedule a workshop for your group. Contact Therese Boucher at tmfboucher@gmail.com or at 1-609-452-8954
INDIVIDUAL help is also available for spiritual histories
