Raising Saints

Elissa and her Tending the Garden of Our Hearts co-author, Kristina Wenger, discuss the nuts and bolts of their new book of daily Lenten meditations for Families and their ongoing Tending the Garden podcast, including how the meditations can be adjusted for use in church school classrooms.

Inspired by the Serbian Orthodox custom of Krsna Slava, Elissa suggests that American convert families consider adopting a feast day for their Little Churches!

Elissa interviews Jenny Stasinopoulos, the Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries at the GOA Metropolis of Denver about a big change she made this year at Camp Emmanuel. Perhaps we should all consider innovative ways to empower our kids to take responsibility for their own faith lives!

We tell them that God is Love, but do we go a step further and teach them what it means to actually love other people? Literally, how do we show love? I think we assume that people know that already, but maybe they don't—or maybe we could do better.

Elissa updates the Raising Saints audience on some new projects they might find interesting, and establishes a new plan for the future of Raising Saints.

Elissa takes a look at a question from a friend: How do we handle it when an older child doesn't want to go to church? Can't we just worship from home? Why does it matter and how do you teach that?

Elissa talks with Alisa Rakich-Brooks, author of Let There Be Light, the first in a new series of Orthodox children's books, about how our children are experiencing the relationship between religion and science and steps we might take to frame scientific inquiry in an Orthodox light.

Our culture shies away from death, but every year, as we Orthodox participate in Holy Week and Pascha, we recalibrate our relationship with death. We face death squarely, and we enter into grief and find that Christ conquers death.

In honor of Parenting Month at Ancient Faith, Raising Saints is flipping it around: instead of talking about how adults can feed the faith of children, we're considering the impact this process has on the parents, and the many ways in which raising saints can transform one into a saint.

Elissa talks with Dan Bein from Orthodox Christian Fellowship about this important ministry for college students.

Elissa's co-author, Caleb Shoemaker, joins her for a conversation about their new book, Blueprints for the Little Church: Creating an Orthodox Home, discussing the challenges and benefits of bringing an Orthodox rhythm to the family.

The Holy Spirit can be a difficult and abstract concept to explain to young people, so in honor of the feast of Pentecost, Elissa explores the story of the tongues of fire, as well as the prayer "O Heavenly King," to find ways to describe this most mysterious person of the Holy Trinity.

Some years, Bright Week is filled with joy, but there are other years when we are just worn out. Have we done Pascha wrong? What do we do next?

The four Gospels offer different perspectives and even different stories on our Lord. Elissa uses this situation as the basis for a family retreat during Great and Holy Friday.

Sometimes, the God we imagine is not at all who He really is. We need to let our children see faith that is alive and real—which reflects the True God who exists apart from our imaginations.

Elissa discusses how the parish and Sunday school can help support the family throughout Lent.

Elissa describes how she and her fellow Sunday school teachers are involving the children in the consecration of the altar at her church parish in Austin, Texas.

Elissa encourages us to teach our children some prayers to say to themselves while they're standing in line for Communion.

Elissa is tired of being caught between Christmas and Nativity. Are you?

If we are always busy and noisy, we cannot hear the voice of God.