MOTHER SYLVIA
  • Home
    • The Abbey
  • Explore
    • Prayer Beads
    • Sing and Sign
    • Stretching Prayers
    • Movement Meditations
    • Dance
    • JIMClass
    • Songs
    • Sermons
    • Vocations
    • Vocations Course
    • Vocations Groups
    • Vocations Retreat
    • Vocations Interviews
    • Prayer
  • Kids
    • Parenting
    • Meditation
    • Song & Movement
    • Stories
    • Rap
    • Camp
  • St. Marks ABQ
    • Beatitudes
    • Catechesis
    • Ministry Training
    • Devotions
    • Advent O Antiphons
    • Advent Prayers
    • Advent Stories
    • Winter Saints
    • Advent Creation Waits
    • 40 Bible Stories
    • Acts
    • Summer Stories
    • Parent Group
    • SMMS Chapel News
    • Chapel Time
    • Song of the Month
    • Contemplation and Chant
    • Icon Visits
    • Holy Week >
      • Holy Week 2020
      • Via Crucis
      • Palm Sunday Passion 2019
      • Palm Sunday Passion 2020
      • Palm Sunday Passion 2022
      • Palm Sunday Passion 2023
    • Liturgy Class
    • Reflections
  • Blog

St. Mark's Montessori School
​Chapel News

January 2020: Stillness

12/11/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Our theme this month in Chapel is STILLNESS.  

After all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it's tempting to just RUSH right into the new year.  We (and our children) can allow ourselves get caught up in the continuous noise and chaos and rushing all around us, and find ourselves exhausted and grouchy.  Or we can choose to slow down, to quiet down, to allow our bodies, our voices, our minds to experience stillness.  Whatever our age, the more we practice, the easier it becomes to choose stillness.  From a place of stillness we discover that we can see, and hear, and understand, and feel, and choose, and act more clearly.  

Song

This month we'll continue singing a song we introduced in Chapel earlier this school year.  ​​The melody is by John Bell.  The words come from the Bible (Psalm 46:10): Be still and know that I am God.

Stories

In chapel this month we'll focus on four stories.  
Peaceful Piggy Meditation by Kerry Lee MacLean
Picture
Quiet by Tomie dePaola.
Picture
Silence by Lemniscates.
Picture
The Godly Play Parable of the Leaven. 
Download the Godly Play Parent Page for the Parable of the Leaven here. 
​
Picture
The connections between this parable and this month's theme may not seem immediately apparent, but I sense some connection between the mysterious process of bread rising and the equally mysterious process of growth that takes place inside each one of us during times of stillness and apparent inactivity (rest, silence, meditation, prayer, etc.) 

​ I wonder what connections you can find between this parable and the theme of "Stillness"?

Practice

Finding stillness takes practice...for all of us. Below are a series of videos I created a few years ago with my own children that offer a variety of very short meditative exercises to help you and your children practice finding stillness together.  Try them out!  And let me know which practice(s) you and your child find most helpful, too. 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    My name is Sylvia Miller-Mutia (aka Mother Sylvia), and I am a priest in the Episcopal Church.  I am delighted to grow and share spiritual support with the families at St. Mark's Montessori School, at  St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Albuquerque, NM 

     I am married to Donnel (grief counselor, couples coach, artist, best dad ever), and we have three awesome kids, ranging in age from 8-14.

    ​ I hold a BFA in Ballet Performance from the University of Utah, an MA in Liturgy and the Arts from Pacific School of Religion, and Certificates of Anglican Studies and Theological Studies from Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, CA.   As a priest, dancer, and mother of three, I am passionate about inviting people of all ages to join in seeking the divine through worship, prayer, and practice that is embodied, sacramental, participatory, and intergenerational.

    Archives

    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Home

Email Sylvia+

Copyright © 2015
Photos from goforchris, garryknight
  • Home
    • The Abbey
  • Explore
    • Prayer Beads
    • Sing and Sign
    • Stretching Prayers
    • Movement Meditations
    • Dance
    • JIMClass
    • Songs
    • Sermons
    • Vocations
    • Vocations Course
    • Vocations Groups
    • Vocations Retreat
    • Vocations Interviews
    • Prayer
  • Kids
    • Parenting
    • Meditation
    • Song & Movement
    • Stories
    • Rap
    • Camp
  • St. Marks ABQ
    • Beatitudes
    • Catechesis
    • Ministry Training
    • Devotions
    • Advent O Antiphons
    • Advent Prayers
    • Advent Stories
    • Winter Saints
    • Advent Creation Waits
    • 40 Bible Stories
    • Acts
    • Summer Stories
    • Parent Group
    • SMMS Chapel News
    • Chapel Time
    • Song of the Month
    • Contemplation and Chant
    • Icon Visits
    • Holy Week >
      • Holy Week 2020
      • Via Crucis
      • Palm Sunday Passion 2019
      • Palm Sunday Passion 2020
      • Palm Sunday Passion 2022
      • Palm Sunday Passion 2023
    • Liturgy Class
    • Reflections
  • Blog