For both Classroom and Home Schooling
Are you searching for a way to connect children with an authentic spiritual experience that is inter-spiritual, creative and multi-layered? A Joyful Path is truly progressive Christian curriculum that is inclusive, joy-full, compassionate, and intelligent.
In A Joyful Path, Year Two, we focus on some of the main tenets of Progressive Christianity and Spirituality, giving our children the foundation they need to walk the path of Jesus in today's world. It has stories and affirmations written to help children clarify their own personal beliefs while staying open to the wisdom of other traditions.
Download the PDF of A Joyful Path, Year One, Lesson #2- "A Teacher of the Way; Who Was Jesus?" right into your digital device. The Jesus story offers a reflection of our own inner potential and a timeless example of how to live a life of God awareness and true freedom.
The natural world constantly offers opportunities to experience the presence of spirit in endless variation. Nature is one of the most clear and obvious manifestations of God in our universe.
Nathan Leaves Home
Remembering that God is within us and a part of everything that ever was and ever will be is one of the most important things we can do.
If we look honestly at our mistakes and listen within for guidance, we will discover our true identity as an unlimited spirit.
When we see God within ourselves and others, being kind is natural.
When we share, our awareness grows beyond our little self to a broader reality.
When we put our highest selves in charge, our inner joy and understanding grows. Children can learn to feel for the right direction within and to recognize that every impulse is not the right one simply because it is there. Every time we remember to put our highest self in charge, the more inner joy and freedom we experience.
Through service we find love and truth in action. When we serve with love and compassion, those whom we serve become brothers and sisters, not the others.
Finding ways to be a blessing to others is the best way to avoid doing harm. The idea of non-injury or harmlessness extends beyond our actions to our words and thoughts as well. We don’t want to burden children with guilt about their thoughts, but we want to offer opportunities to infuse their hearts and minds with thoughts of blessing and peace toward others.
Courage does not mean fearlessness and is a quality that exists within all beings and can be accessed at any time. We need only to turn inward to face life’s challenges with the courage that is already ours. Feeling anxious or fearful of new outward circumstances is normal for most people, but finding the courage to face those circumstances means recognizing that our divine nature is perfectly equipped and we have the inner resources to handle challenges.
When we are not grateful to the giver of our blessings, we develop insensitivity and an attitude of entitlement. This shuts us out of the divine flow and keeps us distant from grace. In contrast, expressing gratitude opens our hearts and invites more blessings into our lives. Cultivating an attitude of thanksgiving for all we receive is the surest way to awaken awareness to God’s presence in every moment.
From the Boundless Life collection
Leader: Creator God to you we pray; - All: Help us hear your children's cry. Leader: Most joyful God to you we pray; ‑ All: Help us share your children's joy.
From the Boundless Life collection
In silence now we join to pray Listening to the God within. May rich discernment shape our prayers As we learn from cosmic laws.
From the Boundless Life collection
Within the shadows of our thinking Dwell glimpses of an ancient past; Dark tales of vengeance and of terror Beyond what gentle hearts can grasp.
From the Boundless Life collection
What can we learn from war? Gazing at ancient graves; Name upon name preserved, Marking the battle’s phase; The lives of those who gave their all That we should not be tyrants’ slaves.
From the Boundless Life collection
We thank you God for history’s tales But which version should we tell? The story of the powerful rich Or the poor’s oppressive hell?
From the Boundless Life collection
Who maims life today? We maim life today When we see the wood and not the tree, When we fail to dream of what could be, We maim life today.
From the Boundless Life collection
Spirit’s golden fire, God’s life-force in our depth, * Fan within our hearts Your just and caring warmth.
From the Boundless Life collection
Deep in the human heart The fires of justice burn; With visions of a world renewed Through radical concern.
From the Boundless Life collection
The dough is rising, The frond unfurling, The people’s hope is growing For justice everywhere.
From the Boundless Life collection
Most noble of creatures on Earth are we Yet gifted with power to both hurt and kill. Are money and things our most sought for goal? Or Earth and its life what transforms our will?
From the Boundless Life collection
Holy Spirit as you speak To both challenge and console Every church and all the world To empower and to make whole
From the Boundless Life collection
“The meek shall inherit the Earth” said Christ But what could this mean for the people today? While corp’rates and rich folk gain more and more land The poor live in slums where they’re still forced to stay.
From the Boundless Life collection
Repaying force with counter-force, Can this deliver peace? Revenge for death, revenge for loss Is this how wars will cease?
From the Boundless Life collection
When the picture haunts my mind Of a starving child who dies, When my silence is disturbed By the mother’s plaintive cries How dear God shall I respond To the tears that flood my eyes?
From the Boundless Life collection
Aid will never save the world Without changes in our lives. Systems which embrace us all Foster wealth’s destructive drives.
From the Boundless Life collection
My desire for you, my friend, Is the same as for myself To be freed from gross desire For more things or for more wealth Through embracing sharing ways That can nurture inner health.
From the Boundless Life collection
Our hands, O God, are stained with blood Which comes from family trees Or flows from nations and the gods They seek with fire to please.