A First Peek at “Faith Practices”

February 3rd, 2010

scarrittGreetings from Nashville! I’m here at the Scarritt-Bennett Center enjoying the Partners in Education National Event, a gathering for educators (lay and ordained) from all over the United Church of Christ. Partners are the designated education gurus in their conferences, serving as consultants for churches seeking advice on curriculum selection, program design, volunteer recruitment, and other tough topics. (If you’re reading this and your church is part of the Penn West conference, give your Partners a call! We’d love to help you out.)

It is humbling to witness the years of experience and expertise represented in this group. These people know Christian education inside out. They’ve lived through decades of innovation and experimentation in educational resources in the United Church of Christ. I have so much to learn from them.

The main event here is the unveiling of the UCC’s brand new set of resources (”we’re not calling it a curriculum, but it’s rich enough that it could function that way,” said Ken Ostermiller, the denomination’s Minister of Curriculum Development), which will debut this fall. It’s called Faith Practices. And let me be the first to tell you: Faith Practices is sweet. I can’t wait to get started using it at Smithfield.

It’s also hard to explain, which is going to be its biggest liability; it takes a little while to wrap your head around what exactly it is, how it’s structured, and what it will take to get it working. Let me give that a try:

Instead of being structured around a sequence of Bible stories, or around the designated lectionary texts, Faith Practices is organized around spiritual practices - stuff we do to express our faith. Rather than teaching about Christianity, Faith Practices teaches how to be Christian; it’s a dramatic, well-nigh Copernican, shift. Spiritual practices are, of course, somewhat trendy in the mainline church at the moment (see the work of Dorothy Bass, among others). But they’re trendy for a reason: spiritual practices are ancient, time-tested ways to grow in faith, effective in a way that no worksheet or (dare I say) cotton ball sheep could ever be.

For the next six years, the UCC is going to publish resources on four practices each year. The first year will focus on Hospitality, Living Stewardship, Keeping Sabbath, and Playing & Living Joyfully. There will be unique resources available for each practice for twelve different “components” (age/setting groups), such as young children, older children, youth, young adults, adults, intergenerational, worship and arts, etc. And here’s where it gets really cool: within each component, there will be fifty-four suggested activities, with each activity taking about 15 minutes to complete. The activities will be grouped into a suggested sequence, but ultimately it’s up to the user which ideas to select for any given session. Faith Practices could be the only resource you need for a full year’s worth of weekly hour-long classes for all the age and interest groups at your church. Or, you can mix and match the activities and use them for shorter-term classes, in retreats and group meetings, within worship services … there are lots of possibilities. Given the very reasonable price ($600 buys you one year of access to everything: all 54 activities in all 12 components of all 4 practices, a total of 2592 activities!), you might also use Faith Practices as a supplement to another existing curriculum.

Let me give you an example, because I know this is unwieldy. Today in a workshop, I experienced one session of the Keeping Sabbath materials, targeted to Seekers & New Church Participants. This session was meant to take place about halfway through a unit on Keeping Sabbath, after the concept had been introduced and studied in scriptural and historical context. We completed three activities: tracing a finger labyrinth, slowly and reflectively walking through the chapel sanctuary, and singing and reflecting on favorite hymns of praise. After each activity, the participants had time to reflect on what we had just done, sharing a few words about what we noticed and how this activity might connect to the theme of Sabbath.

Too often, especially when writing for children, curricula seem to suggest activities just to fill up time and give something fun to do: today we’re making footprints out of clay because we learned about following Jesus. The activities often don’t relate very closely to the actual learning objective, or they make a metaphorical leap that’s beyond a child’s cognitive understanding (today we’re decorating light switch covers because Jesus lights up our lives!). The activities might be fun, and they might teach something, but they don’t actually help participants to grow in faith, which is what Christian education should be all about.

In contrast, in Faith Practices, the activities are the objective. Today, we did not learn about Sabbath; we experienced Sabbath. We didn’t just talk about Christianity; we acted like Christians. These new resources offer the possibility of cultivating real faith in new and exciting ways in our local churches. I hope that UCC congregations can overcome the program’s complex structure to put Faith Practices to work this fall.

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How Great Thou Art, in spite of everything: a children’s sermon about the earthquake in Haiti

January 17th, 2010

Our senior pastor, Doug, is on vacation this week, so I had the opportunity to preach at the Wednesday noontime service. I outlined the sermon on Monday night. I planned to talk about the wedding at Cana, this week’s gospel text, and how Jesus’ first miracle is to bring joy. I started off by talking about the YouTube laughing baby, how maybe as adults we’re a little jealous of that kind of mirth. But such joy is possible, even for us: Jesus works to make the ordinary things of our lives, the jugs of water we already have on hand, into joyful new wine. At the end I brought it all home by referring to the “laughing baby” in the manger and the glad tidings of great joy to all people. Sermon, check!

But then the world changed. On Tuesday night, of course, a catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti. For me, the severity of this event didn’t really sink in until Wednesday morning, too late to start thinking about a new sermon, so I went ahead and preached the totally inappropriate homily about joy at the noontime service. Not a strategy I recommend to all you readers out there. In retrospect, it would have been better just to light candles and say prayers and be together in silence.

Tomorrow morning, though, there’s no excuse not to face the earthquake and the inevitable question it poses: where is God in the midst of such tragedy? I don’t think children are too young to be asking that question. In my children’s sermon, I aim to tell the story of the earthquake in terms the kids can understand, drawing on the experiences of our Global Ministries missionaries, Kim and Patrick Bentrott, as described in their excellent blog, Adventures in Life. I have never met Kim and Patrick and hope I do them justice here; in case you two ever read this, thank you for sharing your story, and thank you for your service.

bentrottsThis is Kim and Patrick, and their son Solomon. Kim and Patrick are missionaries. Do you know what it means to be a missionary?

A missionary is a person who goes to live far away to help the mission, the plan, of God. God’s mission is to make sure that all people have enough to eat, that all people have safe places to live, that all people are cared for when they are sick, and that all children can go to school. Kim and Patrick are from Kansas, in the United States, but now they live in Haiti, an island in the Caribbean Sea. The money that we give here at our church to One Great Hour of Sharing helps Kim and Patrick do their work.

Kim is a doctor, so her work in the mission of God is to help sick people. In Haiti, she takes care of the sick and also teaches people who want to be nurses. And Patrick is a teacher. His work in the mission of God in Haiti is to teach young people and also to teach people who want to be ministers. Solomon is only a baby, so he doesn’t have a job yet. His work in the mission of God is to grow up to be strong and faithful and ready to help others.

This week something terrible happened in Haiti. There was an earthquake. The ground shook so much that houses and schools and hospitals and churches and other buildings fell down. Many people were hurt. Many people lost their houses and all their things.

Kim and Patrick and Solomon were not hurt in the earthquake, but many of their new friends in Haiti were hurt. The nursing school where Kim works fell down. The school where Patrick teaches fell down. The apartment building where they live fell down. All of the places where people lived and worked and studied in their town were crushed into a pile of bricks and dust.

On the night of the earthquake, people didn’t have houses to go into or beds to sleep in. They slept outside in the park. Kim said that you could see the stars so much more clearly, since all the bright electric lights were not working. People were scared and sad, so they didn’t fall asleep right away. Instead, they started singing. The song they sung was called “How Great Thou Art.” It’s a song that says how good God is.

God is good. God promises to be with us and to love us always, even when terrible things happen. In the Bible, we read, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea.” God will always be with us to help us, no matter what, just like God is in Haiti right now to help all the people there. God’s love never ends. And we can be part of God’s love by praying for people in Haiti today. Let’s say a prayer together now.

Dear God – You are good – even when times are hard. – Thank you – for helping us – in times of trouble. – Thank you – for Kim and Patrick and Solomon – who work to do your mission. – Please be in Haiti – with all the people – who need your help. – Amen.

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Three Gifts for Jesus: a Children’s Sermon for Epiphany

January 3rd, 2010

greg-wiseOne of my New Year’s resolutions was to return to blogging, so after a long silence, here I am. If I were to offer an excuse for the past few silent months, I would blame the little one who kicked my elbow earlier this evening while it rested on my growing tummy … pregnancy is preoccupying!

Tomorrow, we are celebrating Epiphany at Smithfield, as that festival falls on a Wednesday this year. So, here is a quick children’s sermon about the gifts of the Magi. It would be great to accompany this with one of those sets of gold, frankincense, and myrrh you can purchase commercially, if you can afford it and if you’ve thought far enough in advance.

The photo above shows my favorite wise man, my husband Greg, in his custom-made costume for this year’s Christmas pageant, which we presented on December 20. Hooray for a robe long enough to fit someone 6′4″ tall! Greg was reprising the role he first played as a five-year-old at Greensboro, NC’s First Presbyterian Church. I took some video of the pageant and hope to post it here soon.

Good morning, everyone. I have been out of town for a little while, but I hope you had a good Christmas. One of the most fun parts of Christmas is opening presents. I wonder what your favorite present was this Christmas?

We give presents at Christmastime to remember that Jesus got presents, too – although not when he was a baby. The wise ones from far away in the east took a long time to follow the star to meet Jesus. It was many weeks – or maybe even years – for them to find him and visit him. Today is the day that we celebrate their coming. We give the day they came a special name: Epiphany.

Do you know what gifts the wise ones brought to Jesus on the first Epiphany? It wasn’t a ____ and it wasn’t a _____ (name gifts the kids mentioned earlier). The wise ones brought three things: gold, frankincence, and myrrh.

We have all seen gold before. In fact, I am wearing some today. What’s special about gold? It’s very fancy. It’s worth a lot of money. In Jesus’ time, only kings and queens had enough money to wear gold. By giving Jesus gold, the wise ones were saying that Jesus was a king.

What about frankincense? What’s that? Well, frankincense is a hardened sap or resin from a tree. When you burn frankincense, it smells wonderful and makes lots of sweet-smelling smoke. In Jesus’ time, people used to burn frankincense at the temple, in front of the altar at the holy of holies, the place where they went to be with God. By giving Jesus frankincense, the wise ones were saying that Jesus was a great priest, a person who would show us the way to God.

And then the third gift was myrrh. Myrrh is also made from tree resin. It’s a kind of perfume mixed with oil. In Jesus’ time, people used it when they were preparing dead bodies to be buried. They would put some myrrh on the person who died, to bless him. By giving Jesus myrrh, the wise ones were saying that the way Jesus died would be very important. And we know that Jesus did die, but that God raised him from the dead to live forever.

Gold, frankincense, and myrrh were the gifts the wise ones brought on the first Epiphany. Their gifts each tell us something about Jesus. Jesus is a king. Jesus helps us know God better. And Jesus died and rose again. When you go home today and play with your Christmas gifts, I hope you also remember the gifts the wise ones brought to Jesus.

Let’s say a prayer together:

Dear God – thank you – for the wise ones – and the gifts they brought – Thank you for Jesus – who is our king – who helps us know you better – and who died and rose again. – Amen.

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Here We Go, Smithfield, Here We Go!: a football-themed Rally Day celebration

September 10th, 2009

education_ss08advertAs I type this, the Pittsburgh Steelers are playing their first game of the season. If you’ve never lived in Pittsburgh, you might not understand how momentous this event is. Everywhere I went today, people wearing Steelers apparel outnumbered those of us in plainclothes. Strangers on the bus struck up conversation about the home team. I just went out on a few errands, and there is no one on the streets: everyone is home watching the game. Around the Super Bowl last year, no fewer than six people sent me a version of the Lord’s Prayer ending with the stirring words “A-Ben.” This is the town where a local restaurant advertises its $2.75 “Roethlisburger”: “give us three dollars, and we’ll give you a quarter back.” At church, we all have a copy of the Steelers schedule in our offices - not so much so we will know when to watch the game, but so that we don’t make the terrible error of scheduling an afternoon event that coincides with a 1 p.m. kickoff.

We have gotten into the informal habit of kicking off our education program year the Sunday after Labor Day. Last year, that meant September 7. But when I consulted my handy Steelers schedule, I realized a Big Problem: September 7 was also the Steelers home opener. At 1 p.m., no less.

I quickly determined that there was no way I could compete with the Black & Gold. But neither was I going to delay the Smithfield School opener. Instead, I would have a Steeler-themed Rally Day, a kick-off themed kick-off. And, for an extra challenge, I would figure out some way to have a Steeler celebration that was not completely secular. Here’s what I came up with:

education_ss08opendoorI decorated the social hall with gold and black balloons, gold and black streamers, and big signs that said “Here we go, Smithfield, here we go!” I publicized the event with a football-themed bulletin board. (I got that idea here.) And I even decorated myself: I came to church with ponytails, pompoms, and my first-ever Steelers t-shirt. (This was an important milestone, since I was raised a New England Patriots fan.) As families entered the church, they first turned in (or filled out) registration forms for the kids at a welcome desk, made name tags, then entered the social hall, where they helped themselves to some gameday-style snacks.

To get everyone’s attention, I began by waving my pompoms and chanting “Here we go, Smithfield, here we go!” Gradually, everyone joined in. Once attention was gained, I said this:

Welcome, everyone, to this kick-off Sunday for our brand new Smithfield School year! Today begins a new year of growing together in faith. It begins a new season of coming together for class each Sunday morning at 9:45, making new friends and learning new things. And there’s something else that’s happening today, too, isn’t there? This afternoon? Oh right - the Steelers are kicking off, too! So in their honor, today we are throwing a black and gold party for Smithfield School. Let’s begin with a song; you have the song sheets on your chairs.

With piano accompaniment from our generous music staff, we sang a modified version of the spiritual “Guide My Feet.” The verses went like this:
1.) Guide my feet while I run this race …
2.) Guide my arm while I throw this pass …
3.) Guide my mind while I learn at school …

Next, I called forward the Smithfield School teachers and assistants; we laid hands on them and commissioned them for their important work. This part did not have a direct foodball tie-in, but I think that was forgivable.

Then, we divided up into three groups, dividing by birthday (January-April in one group, May-August in the next, September-December in the last) so that families would be mixed up with the single people. Each group moved to a different part of the social hall to play a game; I blew a whistle when it was time to rotate to the next station.

education_ss08goalpost1I staffed the field-goal kicking station, which I decorated with a sign featuring Philippians 3:14: “I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” I asked a Bible trivia question (most of which I made up on the spot, so they could be tailored to each child’s age - for one very little child, I simply said, “Does Jesus love you?”) to each participant; if they answered correctly, they earned the chance to kick a field goal and win a prize. The prizes were Steelers/football themed goodies from the party store: some temporary tattoos, pencils, erasers, and some candy too. The inflatable goal post was a significant investment, but I figured that with a football-crazy church like ours, this wouldn’t be the last time it gets used.

education_ss08helmetturning1Meanwhile, another group played “pin the logo on the helmet,” which was decorated with Ephesians 6:17a: “Take the helmet of salvation.” Pretty self-explanatory.

The third game was a “fill the font race,” where teams relay-raced across the room using small cups of water to fill a larger bowl. This was a big hit. The text for this was 1 Corinthians 9:24: “Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.”

Once all the groups had visited all the games, everyone returned to their seats, and I dismissed them to a shortened first class session, to get to know one another and meet their teachers. Or, as I put it in my notes for the day: “Now, families bring your kids upstairs and get them signed in. Adults can go directly to the library. Liddy can go directly to the loony bin.”

This year’s kick-off is this coming Sunday, September 13. In honor of the G-20, our theme is “God’s Global Community.” Expect world maps, “The Whole World’s In God’s Hands” (thanks, Lesley Clare, for those inclusive-language lyrics!) and the grand opening of our labyrinth. If you’re in town, come join us!

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Work and Rest: a children’s sermon for Labor Day

September 5th, 2009

The UCC has put together some nice resources for Labor Sunday, but they do not include a children’s sermon. This one below is nothing too special, but at hopefully it begins to make a religious connection to this secular holiday on a level kids can understand.

Tomorrow is a holiday. What holiday are we celebrating tomorrow? (Labor Day.) What does the word “labor” mean? (Work!)

Labor Day is a day when we celebrate all the hard work people do. We give thanks for the people who build our houses and roads, and for the farmers who grow our food. We give thanks for the fire fighters and police officers and doctors and nurses who keep us safe and healthy. We give thanks for the teachers and coaches and pastors who teach us new things. We also remember people who want to work, but aren’t able to find jobs right now, and we pray that they can find a job soon.

Now, here’s a funny thing about Labor Day: it’s a day when we celebrate work – but do we do work on Labor Day? No! We hang out in the backyard and have a cook-out and maybe watch a baseball game. It’s a day about work – but we don’t do any work at all.

The Bible is full of stories of people who worked very hard. Jacob worked for Laban for fourteen years so he could marry Laban’s beautiful daughter Rachel. Joseph worked for pharaoh, interpreting dreams and gathering up grain for the years of famine. Later, the Israelites became slaves in Egypt and worked hard every day for no money. Some people even think they helped to build the pyramids!

When God freed the Israelites from slavery, God gave new laws to Moses, the leader of the people. God said you should not kill, you should not steal, and you should not worship any other gods. God also made a law about working. What do you think that law said?

Well, guess what? The law said that you have to take a break from working sometimes! God said that you should do all your work in six days, but on the seventh day of the week, you should rest. God said we should remember that the Israelites were slaves and had to work all the time. So, to celebrate our freedom, we should take a day to rest and to thank God.

Tomorrow, Labor Day, is a good day to take a rest from working. I hope that tomorrow you can take time to thank God for all the working people who make our lives easier, and to thank God for giving us a day to rest.

Let’s say a prayer together. Dear God – thank you – for people who work hard – and thank you – for giving us a day to rest! – Amen.

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Practicing Peacemaking: a children’s sermon on the Passing of the Peace

August 30th, 2009

I thought I’d break out of my non-posting rut by putting up my children’s sermon for tomorrow (er, for less than ten hours from now, actually, but who’s counting?). This one is based on a paper I wrote in my “Introduction to Christian Worship” class way back in the fall of ‘04, in which I sought to better understand that much-maligned, but also much-loved, worship element, the passing of the peace. Since the children’s sermon has followed the peace in this summer’s order of worship, I thought it might make a fun sermon to talk about why exactly we do this crazy thing in the midst of our liturgy. Here’s how it goes:

Sometimes I wonder: if an alien came from outer space and watched us here at church, what would he think we were doing? After all, we do some funny things here at church. For example, a minute ago, all of us got up from where we were sitting and walked around hugging people and shaking their hands, saying, “Peace of the Lord be with you.” Then we all sat back down again. We call it “passing the peace.” I wonder what an alien would have made of that! Have you ever wondered why we pass the peace?

It’s fun to get up and out of your seat, but that’s not why we do it. It’s a good way to say hi to people we know, but that’s not why we do it. And it’s always nice to meet new people we haven’t met before, but that’s not why we do it either.

We pass the peace because Jesus said that it’s important for us to love one another. He said we need to love all our neighbors, even our enemies. In the prayer he taught us, Jesus said we should forgive other people when they hurt us. And he said that if we feel like praying, but we are having an argument with a friend, we need first to go to that person and become friends again before coming to church to pray.

All of those things are very hard to do! It’s hard to love our enemies. It’s hard to forgive other people when they hurt us. And when we’re having an argument, it’s hard to go straight to the person we’re fighting with and try to make things better.

When things are hard to do, you have to practice them over and over until you get them right. One way to practice being peaceful and loving people is to pass the peace here in church. We stand up and say to each other “peace be with you.” “Peace be with you” is one way of saying, “I pray that God’s love and peace are part of your life.” It’s kind of like saying, “I love you, and God loves you too.”

Here at church, with our friends, it’s easy to say those words. But someday, we might need to say those words to someone we don’t like. Someone who has done something to hurt us. Someone with whom we’re having a fight. We will need to wish that person peace, because that’s what Jesus wanted us to do. And when that happens, we will have lots of practice saying “peace be with you.” We have said those words every week here at church! Maybe that will make it a little bit easier for us to do the right thing when the time comes for us to make peace with our enemies.

Let’s say a prayer together: Dear God - Thank you - for giving us your peace - Help us - to practice making peace - even when that’s hard to do - Amen.

Let’s share the peace together one more time before we go back to our seats today. Peace be with you! Peace be with you! Peace be with you!

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Rationale and Ingredients for Worship Activity Bags

July 15th, 2009

In the summer months, all children over age 2 remain in the sanctuary for the full worship service at Smithfield UCC. In many denominational traditions, and in many regions of the country, inviting the children to be present for the entire worship service is not a special, seasonal event — it’s simply what’s done.  The kids are expected to come to church, sit quietly with their families, and learn to worship. It’s worth noting that many of these churches have worship services that last much longer than the 50-70 minutes that we average each week. Amazingly, the children live to tell the tale.

Among mainline churches in the Northeast, though, children often leave the worship service after the first few minutes to attend Sunday School, to play on the playground, or to participate in other kids-only activities. Sometimes — as at Smithfield during the school year — we offer these programs for kids during the worship hour to give the children more age-appropriate ways  to worship and learn. But sometimes we send the kids out because we just don’t want them with us anymore. We think they’ll interrupt the serenity of the sanctuary by squirming or chatting. We’re afraid that they might speak aloud what many adults are probably thinking: “I’m BORED! When can we go home?”

Jesus, of course, welcomed little children, and that’s what we ought to do in worship. But we’re not Jesus, and offering a real welcome to kids is easier said than done. It’s true that kids can be disruptive (I have a vivid memory of throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of worship when I was about five … sorry, Mom) and it’s true that many sermons, prayers, and solos are not calibrated for a child’s attention span. Good worship can be very accessible to kids, but it need not always be — adults deserve to hear complicated sermons and long Bach fugues once in a while. (This issue is the topic of more than 30 comments on a recent PeaceBang post.)

The best solution to the question of children in worship takes a serious commitment from family members: parents or guardians need to make extra effort to work with their kids during the service — not to keep their kids quiet, but to help their kids learn what worship means. This site from Central Presbyterian Church in Baltimore offers a great list of ways to do that: questions to ask, ways kids can participate, and strategies for keeping focus. But, as the site notes, even with the best family guidance, kids’ attention is going to drift during worship, and that’s where the worship bags come in.

worship-bags-001At Smithfield, kids borrow a worship activity bag each week from the ushers as they enter the sanctuary. At the start of last summer, I had the children decorate plain canvas bags with drawings of their favorite Bible story, using fabric markers. (Note: use smocks when working with fabric markers, and beware: they have an amazing ability to find their way onto kids’ Sunday clothes. Sigh.) I think that’s Zacchaeus in the tree in the bag at left.

worship-bags-0021I put two books in each bag, swapping them out for new titles each week. We don’t have a terrific library of kids’ books at Smithfield, although there are a few good ones here and there — mostly we have assorted mass-produced Bible story picture  books like the ones at right. They’re not too offensive, but not very memorable either. I would love to make an investment in new, high-quality books on faith for kids, but I know our budget won’t allow for that this year. (Got suggestions for books we simply must buy? Share them in the comments!)

worship-bags-003The next ingredient is a clipboard. The clipboard prevents hymnals and pew Bibles from being used as hard surfaces for writing, keeping errant crayon lines far away from them. Plus, kids think clipboards are fun for some reason. Beats me. They can be purchased for cheap in packs from office supply stores.

worship-bags-004I tuck children’s worship bulletins (one for ages 3-6 and one for ages 7-12) into the clipboard. We download and print these from ChildrensBulletins.com, to match the text that will be preached on that day. The bulletins for the lectionary text come straight to my e-mail inbox, but when we go off-lectionary, I can go to the Website to choose a different design. The activities include word puzzles, hidden pictures, secret codes, and matching games.  Thankfully, there’s not a word-find among them. (Nothing is less educational than word-finds!) Though the bulletins do not use inclusive language for God — something I try to do — they also don’t push any particular theological perspective too strongly; they’re pretty solidly rooted simply in the texts.

worship-bags-005Underneath the children’s bulletins, kids find a coloring page that also matches the text of the day. (See this earlier post for more about coloring pages.) If I can’t find a page I like, I make my own; recently, when the text was Jesus’ return to Nazareth, I wrote something like “In today’s Bible story, Jesus visits his hometown. Draw a picture of your home here” at the top of a blank page. The back of the coloring page doubles as a sheet of blank white paper, which some kids use for their own drawings.

worship-bags-006Two sheets of construction paper also provide ample room for drawings, writing, and games of tic-tac-toe. I try to use two contrasting colors of paper, since as any child will tell you, some colors are simply better than others.

worship-bags-008What to use for all this coloring? Well, a bag of crayons, of course! In a fit of organization, I separated our baskets of assorted crayons into Ziploc bags with one each of all the essential colors. After all, I well remember what it’s like to wind up with all orange and brown when what you really need is purple and black.

worship-bags-007And for the piece de resistance, I enclose a simple craft kit or game — a different one each week. I spent about $50 at Oriental Trading Company to supply us for the whole summer. You get what you pay for, but most of the items I ordered should be good for at least a few minutes of fun. Shown here is a cross ornament; when scratched with the stick, bright colors appear under the black coating. Other activities have included color-your-own puzzles, magnetic solitaire games, slide puzzles, and foam bookmarks.

How does your church include children in the worship experience? If you use worship bags, what do you include in them? I’d love ideas for how to make our bags more exciting and more closely connected to each week’s theme, so please share.

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Not who, but how: a children’s sermon on the Good Samaritan

July 12th, 2009

Last night, I spent several hours completely paralyzed as I tried to write this morning’s children’s sermon. Doug went off lectionary this morning to preach about the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), and I was stuck. What to say to the kids about this very familiar story, without dumbing it down to the virtually meaningless moral “be nice”?

Making matters worse, I got the old opening credits theme for the Australian soap opera “Neighbours” stuck in my head. Then I started thinking about Mr. Rogers and how he called everyone “neighbor.” None of this was particularly helpful. I also spent some time thinking about the excellent Iris deMent song “He Reached Down,” but that wasn’t really where I wanted to go with the text, either.

I read the story again and again, and something started to bother me. The lawyer asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”, but Jesus never gives him a straight answer. Sometimes we suggest, especially since the Samaritan is a member of a rival ethnic group, that Jesus’ answer is “everyone is your neighbor, especially your enemy.” That’s a reasonable assumption, and a very nice answer, but it’s not actually how Jesus concludes the parable. Instead, he answers the question with a question, “Which of these men acted like a neighbor?” After puzzling this out with my awesome husband and theological sparring partner Greg, we realized that Jesus transforms the whole concept of neighbor from passive to active. Neighbors are not just people you tally up into a list. Being a neighbor is something you do.

So then on to the next challenge: translating that idea into a chat with the kids. Here’s what I came up with:

I have a question for you this morning. It’s a math question. If I have five apples, and you take away two, how many apples do you have? (as I expected, the kids all proudly chorused “three!”)

That’s not the right answer. Listen to the question again. If I have five apples, and you take away two, how many apples do you have? (this time, they all got it)

It’s a trick question! Trick questions don’t have the answer you think they should have. People asked Jesus trick questions all the time. They wanted to make Jesus look stupid, and they wanted to make themselves look smart.

One day a man said to Jesus, “I know I need to love my neighbor. But who is my neighbor?” This was a trick question! He hoped Jesus would give him a list of all the people he needed to love. Then he could love those people and not love everyone else.

S0 instead of answering the question, Jesus told a story.

Once upon a time, a man walking down a road was attacked by robbers. They beat him up, ran away, and left him lying in the road, badly hurt.

While the man lay there, a priest came walking by - like Pastor Doug. The priest saw the man who was hurt and lying in the road. But he didn’t stop to help him. He just kept on walking.

Then, another man came walking by, a Levite. The Levites helped the priests - just like I help Pastor Doug. The Levite also saw the man who was hurt and lying in the road. But, just like the priest, he didn’t stop to help him. He just kept on walking.

Finally, another person came walking down the road, a Samaritan. Samaritans were from a different country, an enemy country. They didn’t usually help people who weren’t like themselves. But this Samaritan saw the man who was hurt, and stopped, and put bandages on his cuts, and helped him get to an inn, where they would take care of him until he was well. The Samaritan even paid the innkeeper with his own money!

After telling the story, Jesus asked a question. He said, “Which person was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by robbers?” And the answer was, “The Samaritan, because he was merciful.” And Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”

The person asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” But Jesus showed us the real question: How can you be a neighbor to other people who need you? Don’t ask who you need to love. Ask how you need to love. And God will help you care for other people who need your help.

Let’s pray: Dear God - help us love our neighbors - all our neighbors - and help us show mercy - and loving care - Amen.

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A labyrinth with pausing places

July 8th, 2009

logotype_menu1Today’s cool link, Labyrinth, was discovered by my church’s senior pastor, Rev. Doug Patterson. The site, created by emergent church groups in London, offers a modified labyrinth design: it fits more easily into a rectangular space than a traditional round Chartres-style labyrinth, and includes multiple pausing places with innovative prayer stations. Doug and I were both enthusiastic about the idea of bringing this style of labyrinth to our social hall here at Smithfield.

The G20 summit is being held in Pittsburgh this fall, and I think it would be amazing to set up our church - only two blocks from the convention center - as a spiritual oasis space, a place where meeting participants, protesters, press, and passers-by could stop in for quiet and re-centering before returning to the chaotic streets. A labyrinth like this one could be a great way to structure that space.

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Dispatches from Camp Downtown: Day Five (finally!)

July 6th, 2009

I’m still here! This update is much delayed: Greg and I left for vacation (at my favorite place in the world, Lake Sunapee) immediately after the potluck dinner that closed our week at Camp Downtown. We spent a week at the lake without much Internet access or my camera cable, and returned home on Independence Day, when I promptly came down with some kind of vicious swine/avian/equine flu. Or just a bad cold. Or something like that. Happily, I think I’m on the mend, and so I’m finally reappearing here at the Sheep. Is anybody still reading?

img_6829By last Friday, Camp Downtown had taken its toll: five consecutive 6:15 alarm clocks and 11-hour work days left me moving so slowly that I nearly missed the morning bus. Meanwhile, the kids had gotten to know each other so well, and were so excited about the Just Ducky tour they knew was coming up in the afternoon, that they were extra-full of excitement and energy. So it’s probably good that it was the last day, because I don’t know if I could have made it through another! I took a self-portrait of exhausted me in the ducky rearview mirror.

img_6748Our Bible story on Friday was the parable of the sower, and we used two great lesson plans from the Ideas & Lesson Exchange at rotation.org. In the “Salivation Station,” our snack area, we used this cooking lesson, in which each type of soil in the parable becomes a delicious and instructive graham cracker treat. Thanks to the First Presbyterian Church of Napa, CA for creating the lesson. Meanwhile, in the “Imagination Station,” our games and drama area, we made a life-sized game board, inspired by this idea from Palmerston Evangelical Missionary Church in Ontario. By the way, if you ever draw with tempera paints on a giant canvas drop cloth, create your masterwork on a washable tile floor or layer lots of newspapers on the carpet. We learned that the hard way.

img_6838After a yummy pizza and watermelon lunch at my church, we headed back across the river for the most highly-awaited field trip of the week, the Just Ducky Tour. We criss-crossed our city by land and by water, quacking all the way. The kids got to drive the boat and quack into the microphone, which they did with much enthusiasm. Meanwhile, I appreciated the opportunity to sit down!

img_6872We splashed for a while in the Bessemer Square fountain, then returned to First Lutheran to prepare for our potluck celebration. After sharing dinner with the campers’ families, complete with custom sheet cake with our logo, we offered a short program to show off our week: a slide show created by one of the youth counselors, a repeat of the Jonah skit from Wednesday, and songs led by Cynthia Pock, First Lutheran’s cantor and one of the leaders of our “Celebration Station” music center. “This is the day that the Lord has made,” the children sang, and I thought YES, yes, it certainly is. I’m so full of gratitude, not only to the dedicated leaders who made Camp Downtown possible, but also to God for making five wonderful days. We rejoiced and were glad in them.

Camp Downtown 2010 is already on the calendar for June 21-25. Campers entering grades K-6, youth counselors in grades 7-12, and adult leaders are all most welcome. I’m resting up now to be sure to be ready.

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