St.Mary's Episcopal Church, Barnstable, MA

There is a difference between "happiness" and "joy" Happiness might be be a big bowl of vanilla ice cream at the end of the day or your favorite sports team winning, or getting that iPod you've always wanted. Joy, on the other hand, is very different.

Joy denotes that inner sense that some measure of life being lived in rhythm with God. It can be born of quietly performing some act of anonymous kindness that pleases God’s heart of love. It can be found in simply walking through the garden at Saint Mary’s and giving thanks to God for all the splendor of creation. Joy presents itself during a particularly good sermon or in the course of a well rehearsed and energetically offered Sunday morning choir anthem. Joy— unlike happiness, which is born most often of chasing after things and tactile pleasures — is about living life in concert with God and the things of God.

Children, in their wonder and purity, have a great capacity for joy. They are far less apt to be enfolded in cynicisms, frosty doubts, worry, or the fear of being embarrassed by what someone else may be thinking. In a most wonderful way they can be so open to their need for joy and are willing to run after it with an energy and sense of abandonment rarely seen in their adult contemporaries.

At Saint Mary's, on the fourth Sunday of each month at 10:30 am in the Parish Hall, our Children's Joy Mass seeks to allow young children to tap deeply into the joy we can all know in our relationship to God. The Joy Mass is designed for young children ages five to seven but is open to children of all ages and those who love them. The Joy Mass Team, the Rev. Mark Anschutz, the Rev. Kris Lewis, music leader Jimmy Craven, and youth of the parish,promise that the music is both sing-able and meaningul, the gospel dynamic, the prayers accessible, and the Eucharist nourishing.

Dr. Maria Montessori, the acclaimed educator and devout Christian, said that “joy is the indicator of interior growth, just as an increase in weight is an indication of bodily growth.” At Saint Mary’s Church we recognize that we have a great responsibility to nurture that kind of interior growth, that joy in the lives of those children God has entrusted to us. The Joy Mass seeks to be one of the many ways in which we seek meet that challenge, that responsibility. Please join us!

Contact us: 508-362-3977 stmary@cape.com
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The Children's Joy Mass There is a difference between "happiness" and "joy" Happiness might be be a big bowl of vanilla ice cream at the end of the day or your favorite sports team winning, or getting that iPod you've always wanted. Joy, on the other hand, is very different. Joy denotes that inner sense that some measure of life being lived in rhythm with God. It can be born of quietly performing some act of anonymous kindness that pleases God’s heart of love. It can be found in simply walking through the garden at Saint Mary’s and giving thanks to God for all the splendor of creation. Joy presents itself during a particularly good sermon or in the course of a well rehearsed and energetically offered Sunday morning choir anthem. Joy— unlike happiness, which is born most often of chasing after things and tactile pleasures — is about living life in concert with God and the things of God. Children, in their wonder and purity, have a great capacity for joy. They are far less apt to be enfolded in cynicisms, frosty doubts, worry, or the fear of being embarrassed by what someone else may be thinking. In a most wonderful way they can be so open to their need for joy and are willing to run after it with an energy and sense of abandonment rarely seen in their adult contemporaries. At Saint Mary's, on the fourth Sunday of each month at 10:30 am in the Parish Hall, our Children's Joy Mass seeks to allow young children to tap deeply into the joy we can all know in our relationship to God. The Joy Mass is designed for young children ages five to seven but is open to children of all ages and those who love them. The Joy Mass Team, the Rev. Mark Anschutz, the Rev. Kris Lewis, music leader Jimmy Craven, and youth of the parish,promise that the music is both sing-able and meaningul, the gospel dynamic, the prayers accessible, and the Eucharist nourishing. Dr. Maria Montessori, the acclaimed educator and devout Christian, said that “joy is the indicator of interior growth, just as an increase in weight is an indication of bodily growth.” At Saint Mary’s Church we recognize that we have a great responsibility to nurture that kind of interior growth, that joy in the lives of those children God has entrusted to us. The Joy Mass seeks to be one of the many ways in which we seek meet that challenge, that responsibility. Please join us! top \| home \| site index