Virtual Sunday School
Welcome to our Virtual Sunday School!
Sadly, we cannot meet face-to-face for our Sunday School time just now. But here you will find lessons and resources for families to use to create their own home-based time for learning and worship together. You will find downloadable materials and links to audio and video resources that will provide your family with the tools that you need for your own Sunday (or any day) Christian learning time.
Note to parents and caregivers:
You will find with each learning module a number of resources, including videos and music to share. There will also be a lesson plan that you can download. Each lesson plan provides
1. the theme of the lesson,
2. background materials to help you understand the story that you will be sharing with your family,
3. an outline for a brief family worship time,
4. some discussion questions, and
5. activity pages.
As the angels said to the shepherds: 'Do not be afraid!' Enjoy your time learning and worshipping together as a family.
Questions? Need help? Contact Lisa at holycrossabbotsford@gmail.com.
Pentecost
God sends the Holy Spirit
It is now the end of the forty days of the season of Easter.
When Jesus left his friends and followers to return to be with God in Heaven, he promised that, although he would no longer be with them in body, he would send a helper who would be with them always. On Pentecost, that helper arrived - and what an entrance the Holy Spirit made! A rushing of the wind! Tongues of flame! An ability to speak languages that the recipient had never known! With the sending of the Holy Spirit, God gave us the great gift of having God's presence always with and in us. What a comfort that would be to Jesus' friends and to every follower of Jesus since; that is why the Holy Spirit is sometimes known as 'the Comforter'.
Pentecost is also celebrated as the birthday of the church. When the Holy Spirit was sent by God, for the first time since the crucifixion the disciples were not afraid. They left the rooms that they had been gathering in and rushed out into the city to proclaim the Good News of Jesus - and Jesus' followers have been doing that ever since. That is the work and purpose of the church, and it began in a small room in Jerusalem on Pentecost.
Trinity Season
The Trinity
We have begun a new season in the Church Year: Trinity season. This is the longest season in the Church Year and will stretch all the way until we begin a new Church Year in Advent. The colour for this season is green, because we take time during this season to read, and learn, and grow in our faith.
To begin this new season, we will start by learning more about the Trinity: God's special nature as three persons in one God.
The Early Church: The Power of the Holy Spirit
With the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the friends and followers of Jesus were no longer afraid. Instead of hiding in their homes where they had met to pray and to talk about Jesus, they now were inspired and emboldened to go into the streets of Jerusalem and proclaim the Good News of Jesus. This is the beginning of the Church.