Tune My Heart: Simple Ways to Begin

My goal for our Morning Time is to create an atmosphere of peace and to equip me for the work at hand. Keeping those goals in mind helps me as I choose resources and structure our time.

We stick to a simple routine: prayer, hymn, scripture, and a poem. Because our goal is building peace, there’s not a spot in our practice for memorizing the capitals or our home address. And there are no memory quizzes. Ever!

We follow the round of the church year, and our selections mirror the church seasons. We begin in the fall with something rousing from ordinary time. Then we celebrate All Saints/All Souls. Then it’s time for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Then Lent, and finally Easter. This means that we are rotating pieces every 4-6 weeks. It’s enough change to keep things fresh without being too taxing for me to coordinate.

Contemplative coloring is built into all our practice. I create all of our printables using Gertrud Mueller Nelson’s clipart. Our practice has grown over the years. Before everyone could read, we did shorter passages in call and response. I read the line and everyone said it after me. As the kids have gotten older, our selections have gotten longer. We sing together using accompaniment from Small Church Music.

I created a month’s collection for you so that you can really see what we do and how we do it! I’d really like to gather a year’s worth for you to choose from. But with this you can make a fine beginning!