● Listening. Train our attention to recognize God’s voice in the midst of all other voices calling for our attention. Learn to be fully present with God and our neighbor.

● Creating intentional space for listening. Be intentional about providing time for people to quietly pause and reflect during gatherings. Do the same prior to playing music, singing a song, reciting a poem, or reading a passage. Invite all ages to still their minds and bodies perhaps by taking a deep breath in and out together as a way to practice being fully present. Follow up with a moment of silence, asking people to consider, What might God be saying to you through this music, that song, or those words?

● Preparing. Prior to reading scripture, invite everyone to prepare their whole selves to enter into the passage. You might say something like, As you are able, set your feet flat on the floor, take in a deep breath, placing your hands on your heart as you do, and slowly let that breath out.
○ Taking it home: Suggest that people try this practice of preparing their bodies before reading scripture at home as well.

● Taking notes and drawing. Provide all ages with paper and a writing tool. Encourage everyone to use these tools during Bible reading, imagining what is being described, drawing pictures, or jotting down any words that come to mind. Read the passage twice.

● Reflecting. Invite further reflection by asking: As you look at what you’ve drawn or written, what do you see? What did you notice as you were listening? Encourage adults with children to lean in and share their responses with each other.
○ Taking it home: Point out that having paper and colored pencils nearby when you are reading the bible or listening to a bible story being read can be a wonderful way to spend time in God’s story. Engage everyone to try this practice at home the following week.

● Marking scripture. Give each person a printed copy of the Bible passage. You can give young children a smaller portion of the passage and a colored pencil or two. Invite worshippers to listen for and then mark any words or phrases that catch their attention as the passage is read aloud twice. Encourage young readers to mark the words they recognize or to make word pictures as they listen.

● Reflecting further. Use reflection questions like these: What might the words or phrases you marked have to do with you or your life? What might God be saying to you and to God’s family? What might God be calling you to do or to be?
○ Taking it home. Encourage people to continue this practice of marking scripture at home by providing them with a printed copy of another passage to take with them. Give them some colored pencils to take home.

● Wondering. Weave wondering questions into Bible readings. Here’s an example of how to do this using the story of Jesus calming the sea:
○ Prior to reading Bible passages, use connection-building questions to invite people into the story. With this story, you might say, Think for a moment about the last big rainstorm you were in. If you were indoors, remember the sound of the rain against the windows. If you were outside, did you get wet? What did that feel like? Were you surprised by the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder? Follow that with words like these: Today’s scripture passage includes a furious storm. As I read it, imagine that you are there.
○ During the reading of a passage, pause and wonder about what you’ve just read or what might be coming next. For example, you might ask, I wonder how Jesus rebuked the wind and waves?
○ Following a Bible reading during which you have paused to wonder, provide people with a few moments to reflect to themselves or with someone nearby asking, What do you wonder about the story?

● Journaling. Invite someone of any age to share how they have used a journal as part of their listening practice, perhaps bringing their journal along to illustrate their story and how journaling has nurtured their faith.
○ Taking it home. Encourage all ages to try this practice at home by purchasing in advance a variety of journals and inviting each person to select one to take with them.

● Expressing gratitude. Respond with thankfulness for God’s goodness, love, provision, and grace, in awareness that, regardless of our circumstances, God loves us and is with us. Integrate gratitude activities into mass and other activities, providing members with sticky notes and fun writing tools to write down what they are grateful for, perhaps as it corresponds to the meeting topic. Conclude the practice with a prayer of thanksgiving.
○ Taking it home: Invite people to think individually for a moment about a space in their own households. Where might they create their own gratitude walls in their homes? Make it easier for them to do so by inviting them to keep the notepad and writing tool you gave them.

● Noticing God. Guide members through reflection activities by asking questions such as the following, leaving time after each one for them to reflect and respond. In what ways do you see God providing and showing care for you? In what ways do you see God providing and showing care for your family? In what ways are you seeing God providing and showing care in your neighborhood? Depending on your context, you might invite those who wish to do so to share their responses with the group or with someone sitting nearby.
○ Taking it home: Encourage people to continue the practice above at home by sending them home with additional copies of the printed page.

● Celebrating day to day. Delight in circumstances, relationships, and occasions that help us remember God’s abundant goodness, creativity, faithfulness, beauty, and love. Encourage households to look for and celebrate what God is doing in our day-to-day lives. Families might choose to have celebration suppers that include worship, music, dance, or simply being still as they remember and share with each other stories of God’s faithfulness.

● Celebrating as a community. Be intentional about making space for celebrations both big and small when gathered in community, by dedicating time for sharing stories of God’s abundant goodness, creativity, faithfulness, beauty, and love. For instance, offer a round of applause to God following a story of God’s faithfulness.
○ Taking it home: Provide each household with a bell to ring each time there’s something to celebrate about God at work in their lives and in the world.
○ Taking it home: Provide each household with a sticky notepad or colored strips of paper, a fun pen or marker, and a simple container; encourage them to jot down descriptions of the things they are celebrating and thanking God for, and fill the jar with their notes.

● Marking the church calendar. Provide people with replicas of the special objects used during worship to mark church seasons or holy days as a way to prompt them to celebrate that event at home as well.

Source:
Valerie M. Grissom, All Ages Becoming: Intergenerational Practice and the Formation of God’s People, Abilene Christian University Press, October 24, 2023.