St. Titus (January 26)

 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God,which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day  to admonish everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to  the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must  help the weak and  remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"               Acts 20:28-35

St. Titus

It's been a busy week here, and when it comes to "saint talks" my children last about 20 minutes.  Today I'm going to have them write a thank you note to our Pastor ("write" as in draw a picture) to commemorate St. Titus.  They will dictate to me the note.

We will talk about Paul's relationship to Timothy and Titus and how they were all pastors.  It's so much fun introducing my children to the Old and New Testament saints they are unfamiliar with.  I forget that I learned all these stories and facts at some point in my childhood.  It feels like I always knew about Paul, Titus and Timothy, which is a great testament to my parents' instructing me and my sisters in the Bible.  My 3-year old is connecting the dots and asks lots of questions throughout the day ("Why did Saul change his name?  Is he still blind?  Why wasn't he baptized as a baby?")

Besides the Office of the Holy Ministry, we also might talk more about Titus as a "not-Jew" and how Jesus died for everyone, not just the Jews.  "Gentile" is a tough concept at my kids' age.

Some other ideas:

* Learn about Crete, the island Titus served.  If you can, learn about the early church there.  When my kids are older, I plan on having a "geography" lesson associated with each feast day of the calendar year, briefly researching where the person was born or served, or where the event happened .  I think it's very important to be mindful of (and prayer for) Christians throughout the world.  Learning where these historic events happened and people lived helps anchor salvation history in time and space.

It might be fun to hang a large world map in your school or play room and mark with labels where different saints and Bible characters lived.

* Make a Greek meal.  (Titus was Greek).  Pastitso (Greek lasagna) and a generally greek-ish (olives, feta) salad is a kid-friendly meal.  Or keep it simple and just serve Greek yogurt with berries at lunch.  (That pastitso recipe is almost exactly like my mother-in-law's recipe,  passed down from my husband's YiaYia. I guarantee it's good.)