Welcome to the Fruit of the Spirit Creative Arts Retreat in Daily Life.

Each week I will post some links that are relevant to the retreat material.  I will be doing the retreat from September 15-November 17, 2012. The links will stay up for those who are doing the retreat on a different schedule.

Those participating in the retreat are encouraged to post links in the comments below. And you can join the discussion in our Facebook group.

Blessings to you!

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Opening Session

Links

• Fruit of the Spirit song (for kids–This song is the reason I have all 9 fruits memorized!)
• Taize: Veni Sancte Spiritus
• Fruit of the Spirit artwork

Thoughts

• The yarn in the back pocket of the stuffed books is quite bulky. You might want to take it out and set it aside. You will not need it until week 7.
• I decided to use my knotted cord as a bookmark for my retreat book. I tied the end onto the top spiral on the outside of the book.

With Children
There are no suggestions in the book for using this session with children, but after using it with my own children tonight, I have a couple of thoughts:

• Shorten the scripture reading to Galatians 5:13-14, 22-25 (Trust me on this. You do not want to hear your son read the word “orgies.”)
• Instead of making a knotted chord, get piece of paper or card stock (about 1/4 of a full sheet should work) and list the nine fruits of the Spirit. Let your child(ren) decorate this paper while you listen to the “Fruit of the Spirit” song.

Week 1: Love

• Just for fun: “Let’s not Talk about Anything Else but Love“
• Good Samaritan–Veggie Tales style!
• David and Jonathan story from the Brick Testament
• Image from Jan Richardson: “Abide in my Love“

Week 2: Joy

• “You shall go out with Joy“
• “Nearer my God to Thee” for 9 cellos–not really about joy, but something that brings me joy
• Post about prayer doodles (Wednesday’s session)
• A joyful poem: “i thank You God”

Week 3: Peace

• You can find pictures of statues made from melted guns here and here
• A sermon on the Isaiah 2 passage
• Some music: “It is Well,”  “Come and Fill our Hearts” (Taize), “I’ve God Peace Like a River” (for kids)

Week 4: Patience

• “You Make Beautiful Things”–song suggested by Jemma Allen
• Children’s Song, “Have Patience”–I loved this when I was a kid!
• Poem: “Possess your Soul in Patience” by Luci Shaw
• An on-line meditation timer–for practicing patience

Week 5: Kindness

• Website for the One Kind Word Project
• Prayer for immigrants on this blog
• Brick Testament version of the woman anointing Jesus with oil

Week 6: Goodness

• Another Brick Testament: the creation story. (God as an old white guy is kind of annoying, but otherwise very cool.)
• Song from Acapella based on 2 Peter 1:3-9.
• Lovely painting of “The Anxiety of St. Joseph” by James Tissot.

Week 7: Faithfulness

• Children’s song about faith from the Music Machine.
• Chris Rice singing “Great is Thy Faithfulness”
• Prayer of Confession inspired by Genesis 12:1-5 (Tuesday)
• Instructions and a picture for Wednesday’s prayer stick activity.
• Another hand-tracing prayer practice–in case you liked Friday’s reflection activity.

Week 8: Gentleness

• A beautiful work of art by my friend, Lora Jost.
• Image and poem by Jan Richardson on the burial of Jesus.
• Another image of the burial of Jesus.
• Reflection on Matthew 11:28-30. (Rest for the weary)
• Thoughts and artwork about my experience of blessing the children.
• Yo Yo Ma playing the prelude to Bach’s Cello Suite #1–a beautiful, gentle piece of music.