A blessing for all the children

Saturday afternoon, the Neighborhood Congregational Church invited

members of the community to bring their kids for the “Blessing of the

Children.”

“It was wonderful, about 30 folks came, between kids and adults,”

the Rev. Kel Henderson said. “I did an opening blessing and had some

kids reading and sharing with us.”

After that they enjoyed engaging in a sing-a-long with the songs,

“This Little Light” and “The Garden Song,” and closed the beginning

of the afternoon with prayer.

Next they went into a different groove, moving to the hokey pokey,

the twist and the chicken dance.

“We rounded it off with a limbo contest,” Henderson said. “After

that we settled down a bit and invited the children to come forward

one by one.”

She spent time with each individual child, laid hands and gave a

blessing.

For family enjoyment, the church had crafts for the kids to

create.

“They got a Polaroid of themselves and me and made a frame for

it,” Henderson said.

Another popular activity was sticker decorating. Eschewing the

conventional face painting, they did sticker decorating on each

other’s faces.

“We enjoyed some light refreshments and some wonderful community,”

Henderson said.

She was pleased with the event and said the children participants

were ages 3 to 10.

It’s an event they hadn’t done in a while, but wish to continue.

“We haven’t done it for about five years,” Henderson said. “It’s

something we’ve really wanted to bring back -- and are hoping to do

it yearly.”

The Neighborhood Congregational Church is at 340 St. Ann’s Drive.

They have myriad activities and events for the whole family. For

information, call 494-8061.