Tapestry of Faith: Families: A Jr. High School Youth Program that Explores the Diversity, Commonality, and Meaning of Families

Closing

Part of Families

Activity time: 5 minutes

Materials for Activity

Preparation for Activity

  • Use the sample letter in Leader Resource 1, You Are Invited, to create a personalized letter to your congregation's families. Make copies to give to participants.

Description of Activity

  • Gather the group in a circle or around a table.
  • Distribute the copies of You Are Invited.
  • Remind participants to please bring cameras next week
  • Ask participants' consent for you to save their drawings and family trees (see Alternate Activity 1, Uprooting Our Family Tree) for use later. The drawings may be helpful to them when they create their self-representation, Meet the Creators, as part of the final project. If consent is given, collect and save the drawings. Assure participants that you will not share the materials outside the program participant group.
  • Option: confirm and/or arrange youth co-leaders for next session.
  • Invite participants to reflect on the session:
    • What did they enjoy?
    • What worked? What did not?
  • Family blessing (optional)

Invite participants to join you in composing a closing blessing for the session. Start the blessing with the phrase, "May all families have . . . . " Tell the group that you will go around the circle and ask each member to say an ending for the phrase. The blessings must be kind, and they do not have to be serious. Offer this model if it is needed: May all families have as much chocolate as they want, peace, sun during vacation days, happiness, and stress-free holidays. Variation: Have participants recite the cumulative blessing, i.e., so each person not only adds his or her blessing but first repeats all the others that have been said.