Content Ideas

Examples for your church website and social media.

Military Funeral Etiquette

Mark Alves Content Ideas
Changing of the Guard at Arlington Cemetery by Mark Alves
Changing of the Guard at Arlington Cemetery by Mark Alves

Living down the street from Arlington Cemetery, I’m seen the expansion of the hallowed grounds for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan. As part of my annual commemoration of Veterans Day, I’ve updated my Veterans Day Prayers list.  It includes a Miss Manners column on Military funeral etiquette for grieving family members, which I’ll highlight here.

Military Funeral Etiquette For Grieving Family Members

  • Do not need to stand to receive the flag from a service member
  • Do not need to return a salute (if a civilian)
  • Should not misinterpret silent reverence by a service member in attendance as rudeness
  • Are not obligated to verbally express thanks to service members in attendance

Source: Miss Manners column, 11/10/2010

Best Songs About Mary for Mother’s Day

Mark Alves Content Ideas

A Twitter friend recently asked about recommendations for Mary songs that a non Catholic might like. Two Michael John Poirier songs jumped to mind:

I’ve got these on tape and CD, but it took some digging to find them online so I want to share them in the spirit of Mother’s Day today. (You may need to hit the purple play triangle and then the gray triangle in the Rhapsody button at the bottom.)

Please give them a thoughtful listen and then consider buying them to support Michael John’s wonderful music ministry.

And now for something from a completely genre — the Mother’s Day rap my sons put together for my wonderful wife:

I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day. If you have a favorite Marian song, or your own Mother’s Day project to share, please do so in the comments.

Weather-related Church Cancellations — More Tips

Mark Alves Content Ideas
By abac077 via Flickr
By abac077 via Flickr

The Blizzard of 2009 gave me a few more ideas about handling weather-related cancellations at your church so check out that updated post.

If you were stuck in the snow I hope you had fun. On a number of social media channels, many folks are commenting how the snow has been an early Christmas present that has focused them on enjoying their family, making cookies, playing and slowing down in general. It was a great antidote to the usual holiday stress that can arise at this time of year. I had a blast sledding and making a snowman with my boys. How about you?

More Thanksgiving Prayers and Videos via Twitter

Mark Alves Content Ideas , , ,

Looking for Thanksgiving prayers for yourself or your church website? Here’s a collection gathered from Twitter. You’ll see more tweets are linking to Facebook for the details, which we didn’t see in the 2008 round up of Thanksgiving prayers on Twitter. [Note: a 2012 version is available now.]

Linus’s Thanksgiving Prayer from Charlie Brown

via @vesselproject, @celebratefaith @opus_6 and others

Johnny Cash Thanksgiving Prayer


via @maggiesraggedy

Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving prayer?