When epiphany meets pete’s dragon
Last night, the Sunday evening of Epiphany, the boys and I watched the newer Pete’s Dragon movie. You know, the one with Robert Redford? I am a big fan of this understated movie about the ways magic exists all around us if we are willing to see it. The whole movie is peppered with these great quotes about truth, faith, and the willingness to believe.
Some of my favorites are:
“Just because you don’t see something doesn’t mean its’s not there….And just because you say it’s true doesn’t mean it is.”
“If you go through life only looking at what is right in front of you, you will miss out on a whole lot.”
Being willing to see magic “changes the way I see the world- the trees, the sunshine, you.”
Of course, my liturgically formed brain went right to the morning’s scripture about the magi and their willingness to follow a star, to listen to prophets of old from another faith, and the season of Epiphany which calls us to see the revelations of God all around us.
Epiphany calls us to follow stars, to see light (and be light) in the middle of the darkness, and to be willing to travel home by another way if that is what God calls of us.
Here a few things we did to celebrate Epiphany with the kids at church:
Paper Star Lanterns:
We made paper star lanterns out of lunch bags. To make them, you’ll need 9+ lunch bags per child, glue sticks, and a good pair of scissors. Line up the lunch bags in the same direction and glue all the bags to each other. Tip: Use a lot of glue. Then, cut the open end of the lunch bags into a point. (This is best done by an adult with those good scissors) Carefully open up the bags like a fan and glue one side to the other. I found that it was best to hold the bags together for awhile while the glue set. (If the bags wont stretch over all the way, add an extra bag.) Viola- a really cool paper star lantern!
Other activities:
Starburst Search:
Let the kids go on a search for their favorite kind of stars. We played in teams by letting half the kids hide a starbust and then let the other half find them and then switch.
Gold Sprinkle Cookies:
I never miss out on an opportunity to let a lesson form around sprinkles. The kids frosted sugar cookies and sprinkled them with gold sprinkles in honor of the gift of the magi.
I hope these craft ideas and thoughts about Epiphany inspire you to see the Epiphany all around us and to watch for the ways God’s light is breaking through the darkness in this season and all the time.
Happy Epiphany!
