1st Communion Extravaganza
Saturday, March 25th, 2001

The First Communion Extravaganza Evening was a hit with the kids. First the kids got to practice their three songs that they will sing at First Communion: Jesus Loves Me, We Are the Children of The Lord, and This Little Light of Mine. The kids then moved through 5 areas of fun learning. My daughter and son, with the help of my husband, told me about their experience:

• We met Moses in the Passover area and put on robes. He told us a story about himself leading the Israelites out of Egypt. We got to taste unleavened bread, grape juice, and lamb. It was good.
• Jesus shared the Last Supper with us. We wore robes and took turns reading parts of the Last Supper story. We tasted unleavened bread and wine. Jesus washed our feet ("over my tights"), as he did to the Apostles, showing us that we need to focus on serving others.
• In the bread and wine room we learned how grapes made wine and wheat made bread. They needed yeast! We learned that we are the leaven, the yeast, for the church. To keep it alive and bubbling with our energy as the yeast does for the bread and wine; that like grains of wheat together we as members of the church can do great things.
• In the church we learned how to handle the host and wine. They taught us that when the Priest says "The Body of Christ" that he is asking us if we believe it is the body of Christ. Our answer Amen means yes. In the past, wine was only given to people one day a year, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, when the priest dipped the host in the wine and placed it on the peoples' tongues. Today, while recognizing that some more traditional people may continue to do that, we teach the children to eat the host and drink the wine if they wish.
• In the Sacristy we went on a great search for hosts, the Bible, wine, a chalice, a crucifix, the baptismal candle, the priest's vestments & stole, the alter cloths and the tabernacle. We also matched the colors we use during different church times of the year.

A big thanks to all the volunteers who helped make this evening of learning fun for the 2001 First Communion Class. I hear that the count of kids in the class is up to 110! I wish all you kids a blessed day on April 28th as you receive your first communion.

Becka Watry stumbled across SJA in late 1996 4 blocks from her new home. Becka says, "I had been displeased with our church experience, stuck around awhile in hope to be part of change, and then left it for the Methodist faith vowing to return when my kids drew near the teen years. With SJA so close, we gave it a try, and found Saturday evening Mass to be everything we had hoped for! It was so family friendly. In the fall of 1998 we were ready to join the church, and I became a Sunday School Teacher. We found Sunday Mass to be even more dynamic. I continue to teach Sunday School, and help out with Camp StJoans, 1st Communion, and Family Camp. Thanks SJA!"(Becka had help on this assignment from husband Jim)

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