mountain masala

Remembering Paul

Our older brother Paul would have turned 60 today. He passed away just over three years ago from brain cancer. This is what I put together for his funeral.

Remembering Paul from Craig Mitchell on Vimeo.

Alive@5 - "House Rules"

This is from July 2015. The theme was about the Parable of the House on the Rock and about the foundations of home life.

1. Arrival Activity - We didn't have one for a change. I thought of a few but couldn't find one that I liked.

2. Video - We linked the theme with short clips from the movie "Despicable Me" so we started off with a couple of these to introduce the story.

3. Theme Introduction

In May our theme was “Family Matters” and we started to explore the theme of families. (Story of boy Jesus getting lost and going to the Temple.) Today we’re continuing that theme and asking about the foundations of our home life? What makes our family life, our home life, strong and what give it structure? So our theme is “House Rules” and we’re using the metaphor of building a house to think about what kind of family life we’re building.

4. Song - "Put On Love"

5. Prayer of Thanks - interactive prayer. What are we thankful for about our families?

6. Video - " Despicable Me" clip

7. Reflection

• What are some of the rules in your house? 
• Why do we have rules?
• What is the difference between a rule and a habit?

8. Video - "House on the Rock" - Holy Moly

9. Reflection

• What gives your home a good foundation?
• What makes for a shaky foundation?

Alive@5 - "From Little Things"

I'm blogging a backlog of Alive@5 programs... This is from August 2015.

The theme was based on the parable of the Sower and the Seed.

1. Arrival Activity - Name that Seed

We put out 10 different seeds in bowls and people had to guess which one matched the names of seeds provided.  Download Name-That-Seed (PDF)

In the background was a video of slow motion plants growing that I put together from Stengel's time-lapse videos with a track from Toumani Diabate  - "Cantelowes" from "The Mande Variations".

2. Welcome and Theme Intro

3. Song - ""Move When Jesus Says Move"

4. Prayer of Thanks - we thanked God for tiny things, asking people to name them

5. Video - Parable of the Sower and the Seed - Holy Moly

6. Theme reflection

• I wonder what the story was about.
• What did you see and hear?
• I wonder what the seeds might represent?
• I wonder what the thorns represent?
• I wonder who the sower is?

7. Video - Parable of the Sower from the movie "Godspell"

Christmas Media Resources

Here are a bunch of resources that I've discovered for Advent and Christmas. It's a link to a page on this site that I'll be updating.

Christmas Media and Interactive Resources