Newspaper, school share name and Scripture column

Some third-graders at St. John the Evangelist School in Schenectady spent last week drawing what Jesus would look like as a superhero.

Their project and their prayer for the week were inspired by the "young faith" section of The Evangelist, which begins on the back page of each issue.

Every week for about two years, St. John's has taken a weekly theme from the "Good News for Kids" Scripture column in The Evangelist (see page 27). The school holds a Tuesday morning "Catch You Doing Good" assembly, where students who have racked up tickets for good behavior all week are rewarded with small "treasures" and certificates.

Prayer first

Marie Keenan, the principal, starts the assembly by reading the "Good News for Kids" column and her own expanded version of its one-line "prayer for the week."

"It focuses on what we're all about: evangelizing and making disciples of people," she said. "A lot of parents come to the assembly, and it's amazing how many times a parent stops me and says, `You must have known just how I was feeling,'" admitting that her prayer highlighted an issue they were facing.

Teachers get a copy of the children's column in their mailboxes, as well, and are encouraged to recite the one-line prayer with their students as often as they wish during the week. Mrs. Keenan also starts each day by reciting the prayer with the school.

Superheroes

The principal said that a recent column that spoke of how Simeon could tell Jesus was special -- a sort of "superhero" -- even when He was an infant caused some excitement at St. John's.

Superheroes are "a big thing" with the students, Mrs. Keenan explained. After reading the column, she ended up talking with some third-graders who wanted to try drawing what Jesus might look like if He dressed as a superhero. The principal remarked that He might wear a purple cape.

The entire third grade also spent the week practicing their journal-writing skills by writing descriptions of Jesus as a superhero.

Stop a while

Another recent column gave the school the chance to honor its teachers. Headlined "Stop in the Middle," the column explained that it can be frustrating for children to be interrupted during a game or activity, but even Jesus sometimes asked people to stop what they were doing -- for example, when He called the first Apostles away from their fishing nets.

Mrs. Keenan read that column and its accompanying prayer at the school assembly, and continued with other announcements, but suddenly stopped herself.

"We're going to stop in the middle," she told the school, and then called up each teacher to give him or her a plaque honoring their work.

(An archive of "Good News for Kids" columns can be found at www.evangelist.org.)

(02-13-03) [[In-content Ad]]