And in the month in which we celebrate the Righteous Joachim and Anna’s presentation of their infant daughter, the All-holy Virgin, in the Temple:

The Tale of a Lazy Parent, 1
by Nichola T. Krause

The following article appeared on the internet and was published by “Orthodox Family Life.” It was quite obviously written in America, where certain conditions are different from here in Britain, but it’s message is so vitally important for the parents of young children today, and the writer so manifestly writes from the heart and from her own experience, that we offer it as it is for parents in our congregations here. We have printed it as it stands, even leaving it in “American.” Please read it and take its message to heart, adapting it to the circumstances in your own parish and home life.

MY HUSBAND AND I made what I consider in hindsight to be a major mistake in introducing our daughter Katie, now five, to the life of the Church. When she was a toddler, we brought children’s picture prayer books, Bible story books, and religious coloring books with us to services, and encouraged her to sit quietly looking at the pictures or coloring. This allowed us parents to pray and participate in the services, and kept her relatively quiet so those around us weren’t disturbed… she was in church very regularly, soaking in the smells and sounds of worship, and “learned” about Jesus with materials “appropriate” for her age. These were good things, the right things to do — or so we thought! Unfortunately, we gave Katie a completely incorrect notion of what we Christians actually do in Church, and we have spent the past two years “unteaching” our mistake. It has been a very, very frustrating process!

What are we supposed to do in Church?

The word ‘liturgy’ means work! Everyone — men and women, adults and children — works together in church to praise God and ask for His mercy and help, led by the priest and deacons. This work of worship is hard, and there are no shortcuts. The services of the Church are also where we learn about God — the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — by learning and then participating in the living Tradition of the Church. We do what the Apostles did, because they taught their parish families what Jesus and the Holy Spirit revealed to them, and those early Christians taught their children, and those children taught their children… The Faith we Orthodox Christians live is the Faith of the Apostles, “deposited” with us through the Church. Teaching a child to be an Orthodox Christian — and what that means every day — takes a huge commitment and constant effort on the part of the parents and godparents. Here are some of the things we learned the hard way, or were shown to us by people much wiser…