Raising Saints

Elissa and her Tending the Garden of Our Hearts co-author, Kristina Wenger, discuss the nuts and bolts of their new book of daily Lenten meditations for Families and their ongoing Tending the Garden podcast, including how the meditations can be adjusted for use in church school classrooms.

Inspired by the Serbian Orthodox custom of Krsna Slava, Elissa suggests that American convert families consider adopting a feast day for their Little Churches!

Elissa interviews Jenny Stasinopoulos, the Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries at the GOA Metropolis of Denver about a big change she made this year at Camp Emmanuel. Perhaps we should all consider innovative ways to empower our kids to take responsibility for their own faith lives!

We tell them that God is Love, but do we go a step further and teach them what it means to actually love other people? Literally, how do we show love? I think we assume that people know that already, but maybe they don't—or maybe we could do better.

Elissa updates the Raising Saints audience on some new projects they might find interesting, and establishes a new plan for the future of Raising Saints.

Elissa takes a look at a question from a friend: How do we handle it when an older child doesn't want to go to church? Can't we just worship from home? Why does it matter and how do you teach that?

In honor of Parenting Month at Ancient Faith, Raising Saints is flipping it around: instead of talking about how adults can feed the faith of children, we're considering the impact this process has on the parents, and the many ways in which raising saints can transform one into a saint.

Elissa talks with Alisa Rakich-Brooks, author of Let There Be Light, the first in a new series of Orthodox children's books, about how our children are experiencing the relationship between religion and science and steps we might take to frame scientific inquiry in an Orthodox light.

Our culture shies away from death, but every year, as we Orthodox participate in Holy Week and Pascha, we recalibrate our relationship with death. We face death squarely, and we enter into grief and find that Christ conquers death.

Is there a way to approach the Old Testament with our children in a fascinating and dimensional way? Elissa encourages us to teach Old Testament stories on three different levels.

Elissa talks with Dan Bein from Orthodox Christian Fellowship about this important ministry for college students.

Elissa's co-author, Caleb Shoemaker, joins her for a conversation about their new book, Blueprints for the Little Church: Creating an Orthodox Home, discussing the challenges and benefits of bringing an Orthodox rhythm to the family.

The Holy Spirit can be a difficult and abstract concept to explain to young people, so in honor of the feast of Pentecost, Elissa explores the story of the tongues of fire, as well as the prayer "O Heavenly King," to find ways to describe this most mysterious person of the Holy Trinity.

Some years, Bright Week is filled with joy, but there are other years when we are just worn out. Have we done Pascha wrong? What do we do next?

The four Gospels offer different perspectives and even different stories on our Lord. Elissa uses this situation as the basis for a family retreat during Great and Holy Friday.

Sometimes, the God we imagine is not at all who He really is. We need to let our children see faith that is alive and real—which reflects the True God who exists apart from our imaginations.

Elissa offers some suggestions for guiding children through death and dying.

Elissa discusses how the parish and Sunday school can help support the family throughout Lent.

Elissa describes how she and her fellow Sunday school teachers are involving the children in the consecration of the altar at her church parish in Austin, Texas.

Elissa encourages us to teach our children some prayers to say to themselves while they're standing in line for Communion.

Elissa is tired of being caught between Christmas and Nativity. Are you?

If we are always busy and noisy, we cannot hear the voice of God.

Elissa reminds us that good stewardship heals our relationship to money and other possessions.

Elissa encourages us to engage in spiritual pilgrimages and approach all of life as pilgrims.

Rather than picture a perfect, established, normal Sunday school and try to fit yourself into that plan, maybe it's better to start by looking at what you do have and find a flexible, innovative way to make it work.

How will we help our children find a respectful and good way to offer Orthodoxy to this world? Elissa emphasizes the importance of being able to articulate the Orthodox faith in emulation of the twelve Holy Apostles.

Elissa takes a look at the recent Pew Research Center report on religious affiliation in the United States and speculates on some of the possible causes of the decline in Orthodox Christian believers.

It is good for our children to understand that the Orthodox treat bodies differently.

Great Lent is a preparation for the ultimate Pascha—for the end of time and Christ's return.

Try not to fall, but if you do, just get back up again.

The goal of Great Lent is not only to deny ourselves and live for Christ, but also to let Christ live in us.

How do you make fasting a beautiful and natural part of your home?

Resolutions are compatible with Orthodoxy, especially when the goal is to grow closer to God. Does Christ radiate in you?

Gifts are a part of Christmas, and that's actually okay, but "God become flesh" is the true meaning of Christmas.

Why does it matter that our God came down to earth and took on flesh? Elissa discusses using the Jesse Tree and other means to teach our children about the Feast of the Nativity.

Elissa discusses angels and what children can learn from them in Sunday school.

Elissa is teaching middle schoolers this year at Sunday school, and she will be using the film The Butterfly Circus as the grounding image.

Elissa reminds us that it is our job to make our free will line up with God's will.

Elissa reminds us that the body of Christ is a living organism, and we remove pieces of it to the detriment of the whole.

Citing the writings of Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, Elissa demonstrates how the conveniences we have invented to make life easy have actually made it quite a bit harder.

Elissa discusses Orthodox marriage and parenting, focusing particularly on how both involve dying to self.

Elissa shares with us how to get our kids to the place where their worldview is totally dependent on the Christian story.

Elissa interviews Christian Gonzalez, the California deanery youth director of the Antiochian Diocese of Los Angeles and the West, about how we need to rethink our approach to ministering to our youth.

Elissa reminds us that we are temples of God, meant to light up and become a lamp for the world.

Elissa shares some of the youth-centric traditions of her home parish with regard to Holy Week and Pascha.

If you are fasting from meat and dairy products, but you are not praying, studying the word of God, and making an effort to show love and charity, then your fast looks a lot like the devil's fast.

The Sunday of Orthodoxy offers us an opportunity to discuss with our kids the Orthodox understanding of the materiality of this world and its potential for holiness.

Elissa describes the "Psalter group" and its purpose during Great Lent.

Elissa tells the complete story of Noah's Ark to demonstrate how doing so can be used to teach children about why we go to—and participate in the disciplines of—the Holy Orthodox Church.

Elissa demonstrates how talking about St. John the Forerunner can be a great way to illustrate and understand the roles of the prophets and the saints all at once.