How do you really share the Christian faith with children? How do you teach them our Christian family history, the story of our salvation, and the love of God in Jesus Christ, working in us by the power of the Holy Spirit? How do you communicate that to children aged three to seven so they‟ll remember it and celebrate it?

You make religious instruction a daily feature of life, and you gather for chapel.
Both St. George‟s School and St. George‟s Preschool have chapel services each month school is in session. What we do in chapel is a reinforcement of what is taught by the teachers in the classrooms. We learn our story and celebrate God‟s presence with us in Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. And we have fun.

St. George‟s School chapel meets weekly in the side chapel of the main sanctuary. We also call it the children‟s chapel because there‟s a nice rug to sit on and an icon of Christ and the children to focus on and remember that Jesus loves children. With Miss Phyllis and sometimes Miss Sheray, Miss Sandy, Miss Sue or Miss Jacquie, we process in behind a cross carried by one of the students and gather in the children‟s chapel. We pray, we sing, and we learn from the Bible stories. More often than not the stories are what I call “help me stories” where the students act out the story and learn in the process. The best “help me story” was our telling of Easter when one student who was placed in a “tomb” disappeared and was found on the other side of the church in “Galilee”. One student who played one of the women at the tomb watched the “angel” remove the “stone” and shouted, “He‟s not there!” The look of amazement on her face grew as she shouted again, “No, really…he‟s not there!” Truly, he wasn‟t. Ask me sometime how we did it. It‟s a great story!

St. George‟s Preschool chapel meets monthly in the main sanctuary and the children‟s chapel. Miss Carly, Miss Anna, Miss Kristyn, Miss Honey, Miss Carol and Miss Trish lead their classes in and settle them either on the altar rail kneelers or in the children‟s chapel on the rug. Where we go depends on the size of the class attending. Parents, siblings and grandparents have been attending the four year old‟s chapel for a few years, and with attendance averaging seventy-five children and adults, we need to be in the main sanctuary. Other classes gather in the children‟s chapel because we‟re generally teachers and children only. The teachers have worked with the children on the chapel theme for the month. Miss Carol teaches everyone the music for when we gather.

On chapel days, the teachers lead the students into the worship space, get them settled and begin with the chapel song. Then I tell them a story about the theme, we sing, we say a prayer, and then we sing a goodbye song since chapel is at the end of their day. This year, Miss Carly tried something new. She invited the parents, siblings and grandparents of both the three year olds and four year olds to our Christmas chapel services. Including the preschool students, there were two hundred and fifty of us spread out over those three chapel services held in the main sanctuary.

The Preschool began the year with eighty three registered students and as I write this, there are ninety two students currently registered and attending. Inquiries about the Preschool program come in daily and parents and children come to visit and see for themselves.They meet with Miss Carly and the teachers and are very impressed with the preschool program here at St. George‟s. They‟re also surprised at the presence of our K-1 school (hopefully to be K-2 in September) and are asking about multiple enrollments for their children.

The Directress of the Preschool, Carly Dowd, and the Founding Head of School, Phyllis Aldrich, along with their teachers and staff are to be commended for their vision and hard work in making the educational outreach to children such a success for the Gospel. They all bless us!

At one Preschool Christmas chapel, I told the Christmas story using the figures from the children‟s chapel nativity set. I knew we were pressed for time so I went quickly. When I finished, one little boy yelled out, “Is that it?” Everyone laughed. “Yep, that‟s it” I said.

But really, there‟s more, so much more….remember to say your prayers. Fr. Henry