Traci Smith - Faithful Families: Creating Sacred Moments at Home

Copyright

Copyright 2017 by Traci M. Smith. First edition, titled Seamless Faith, copyright 2014.

All rights reserved. For permission to reuse content, please contact Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, www.copyright.com .

All Things Bright and Beautiful, by Cecil F. Alexander, from the work Hymns for Little Children, 1848. Public Domain.

Scripture quotations marked CEV are from the Contemporary English Version. Copyright 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, used by permission. Scripture quotations marked NCV are taken from the New Century Version. Copyright 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide, www.zondervan.com . The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc. Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible , copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover design and images: Paul Soupiset

Interior design: Grady Campbell Incorporated, www.gradycampbell.com

ChalicePress.com

PRINT: 9780827211223 EPUB: 9780827211230 EPDF: 9780827211247

Dedication

To My ChildrenClayton Elias, Samuel Antonio, and Marina Lynn:

May you embrace mystery and wonder, always.

This book is for you. Love, Mama

Praise for Faithful Families

In a culture that has become isolating, technological, fractious, and cold Traci Smith has given us a survival kit of practices to help families stay close to what is sacred, meaningful, intimate, and alive. Faithful Families will not only help parents nurture the souls of their children, it will keep them sane within the chaotic forces of 21st century family life. Mark Yaconelli, author of The Gift of Hard Things and Contemplative Youth Ministry

This book is a must-have for any family wishing to live as faithful disciples of Jesus. Traci Smith has created a gold mine of resources, ideas, and practices that invite children, teens, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, houseguests, petseveryone who makes up all kinds of familiesto actively form one another in authentic Christian faith. Get this book for your family. Give it to families in your faith community. Drop copies of it from an airplane. Its sure to have an impact on all who use it. David M. Csinos, assistant professor of practical theology at Atlantic School of Theology and founder of Faith Forward

We all want to teach our children about gratitude, hospitality, and

generosity. We want them to have a sense of wonder and to see how they are connected to something beyond themselves. Yet it is hard to know how to counter societys emphasis on consumerism, wealth, and fame. Traci Smith teaches us how to slow down, to create sacred space and time in order to nurture a childs soul. Faithful Families is a gift of the spirit.

Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, author of Gods Paintbrush, Creations First Light, and many other award-winning childrens books

Faithful Families makes me wish I had a time machine so I could go back eleven years and start all of these practices as a brand-new parent. Thankfully this book covers countless ways to bring spiritual vitality to your familys life right now, exactly where you are, whether thats dealing with diapers, driving, or anything in between. Traci is a gracious guide through practices that are simple, profound, and welcoming.

MaryAnn McKibben Dana, author of Sabbath in the Suburbs: A Familys Experiment with Holy Time

Faithful Families is full of helpful ideas for how to support the faith growth of your children through home traditions and ceremonies. These suggestions are offered with the theological sensitivity of a pastor and with the practical eye of a parent who knows what will and wont work with a busy family. Any family serious about making faith a more visible part of their family life will be able to find things here that will work for them.

Robert J. Keeley, Calvin College, and author of Helping Our Children Grow in Faith

Contents

Acknowledgments

Because this work is a culmination of lessons learned from every facet of life from childhood until now, it is impossible to name every person who had a hand in it. Still, special thanks is due

.. .To Chalice Press, for having faith in the premise of this book, and to specific members of that amazing team: Gail Stobaugh for her listening ear and eagle eye, Steve Knight for his laser sharp vision, and especially Brad Lyons for his perspective, enthusiasm, humor and unwavering support from day one.

...To Kerry Grady and Grady Campbell Incorporated for beautiful typography and interior design.

...To my colleagues in The Young Women Clergy Project, soul sisters living all around the country and world: for inspiration, support, and hands-on help. Especially Alex Hendrickson, Kelly Boubel Shriver, and Mihee Kim-Kort.

...To Northwood Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, Texas, for embracing me as their pastor and allowing me space to grow personally and professionally.

...To Marie Scheffers, for being an incorrigible optimist and the truest of friends.

...To Maud Lyon, mentor and friend, for offering encouragement and suggestions when this project was still in its infancy, and throughout.

...To Rev. Doug Learned, for sending me on this path years ago.

...To professors Kenda Dean, George Hunsinger, and Wentzel van Huyssteen, at Princeton Theological Seminary, for teaching me well, and training me for ministry.

and, most importantly

...To my mother, Lynn Smith, who raised me with a sense of awe, imagination, determination, and spiritualitythe very values of this book.

...To my father, Don Smith, who brags about me to anyone and everyone who will listen, and who raised me to believe I could do anything I set my mind to.

...To Scott, Mandie, and the little one on the way. May you use some of the ideas in this book!

...To Ruben Dario, Alexandra, Clayton, and Samuel. You are my inspiration.

Deepest gratitude is reserved for my partner in life, Elias Cabarcas, who believed in this project from the very beginning and provided the space, assistance, and brains to make it happen. Te amo ms.

Foreword

So we know what we dont want to teach him about God, I said to my husband, Dan, as I collapsed onto the park bench, rubbing my pregnant belly. But we havent decided what we do want to teach him.

It was quiet between us for a moment, save for my labored breathing. A mile around our favorite walking track wasnt as easy as it used to be, but then neither was anything else in those days leading up to and following our first babys birth.

Dan and I were both raised in loving, grace-filled homes, but in a fundamentalist religious culture that required total acquiescence to a strict set of theological beliefs and left little room for mystery. After years of doubt and deconstruction, wed made peace with the meandering nature of our own faith journeys, but raising our little boy to do the same seemed daunting. We had no models for that, no roadmap. We knew what teachings we wanted to avoid, but were flummoxed about what to present as an alternative.