VBC: Day 5

Howdy, partners! "Farmer" Trista here!

Welcome back to our last beautiful day of Vacation Bible Camp where we Taste and See that God is good!  Today we learned that little in the hands of Jesus turns to plenty and when others are hungry, God provides through us.

Although the adults and volunteers were a little sluggish as we made our way into the nave this morning, by the time we sang our opening songs and danced around a bit, we were all filled with the joy of the Lord!  Music and movement are certainly gifts from God!

During music time, Miss Jessica continued working on our songs for Sunday's Mass on the Grass.  We're very excited to sing, "Taste and See" as well as the "Call to Love" (a.k.a. "The Love Round").  We've been working very hard on all of our songs and are looking forward to sharing them with you all!

In recreation, we joined hands and worked together.  Trying to run as a group, we stretched out and linked up with other groups to form larger and larger blobs until everyone had a place to be.  Blob tag is a pretty wild game, which is probably why we all love it!

During the art rotation, we made pine cone bird feeders.  Spreading pine cones with shortening then rolling it in bird seeds was messy work for sure, but we were all excited to take them home and hang them in our trees.  We know that birds are part of God's good creation and we want to provide for them too.  Many of us considered putting the pine cone in the freezer and saving it until the wintertime when the birds don’t have much to eat.  

When we were finished with our pine cone feeders, we joined Miss Rachel at another table and decorated a special frontal for the altar.  Our hands were painted and we pressed them on the cloth in groups which formed the shapes of hearts.  We are delighted to give something special to the people of St Thomas who have given us so  much!

For our outreach time today, Miss Tami showed us how to bake bread for communion.  We made many loaves!  Everyone loved kneading the dough, seeing how it looks before and after rising, and shaping it into beautiful circles.  The scent of baking bread filled the great hall and spilled out into the close, tantalizing taste buds and making mouths water.  Between the smell of bread baking and the sight of our delightful snacks which have been prepared each day by our precious Miss Kim, everyone felt like we were at home on a special occasion.

In story time, our fantastic teens acted out the Feeding of the Multitudes.  We remembered that Jesus was able to feed a huge number of people from the simple gifts of one little boy who shared his lunch.  And we talked about what it might have been like for all of those people who were so hungry after listening to Jesus tell stories and talk about God all day. 

 

Chapel time helped to bring everything that we've studied this week together.  Mother Karen asked us questions about all of the stories and everything we did in VBC this week.  Our answers showed that we have been able to see ourselves in the Bible stories and we talked about the different ways God can use our gifts of food, clothing, toys and money and God can multiply it all.  We really like to share what we have, and we know that God uses us to provide for others!

As we wrapped up our time together, Mother Karen brought us all into the close to chase bubbles and to dance around in the sunshine.  What a gift!  We were delighted by the bubbles and the sun, and then we all held hands and took time to say thank you to God for the many blessings we've received this week.

What are you thankful for today?  Please lift prayers of thanksgiving for a very blessed VBC this week, and prayers of joy for the volunteers, our staff, and everyone who helped to make this such a wonderful time.  Lift prayers of thanksgiving for all of the children who blessed us all so much!

And now, as we wrap up the daily posting from our VBC, receive this blessing, which Mother Karen spoke over all of us at the beginning of each new day:

God bless your eyes: 
May you see what is
May you truly listen to the needs of others and to what God desires for you.

God bless your mouth:
May your words be kind and may you always speak truth in love.

God bless your hands:
May you use them to create beauty and to help others.

God bless your heart:
May you offer love generously and receive love happily from others.

God bless your mind:
May you always know you are dearly loved by God no matter how hard things might seem.

You are absolutely precious to God. And to all of us.
Always, always you are blessed!
So go and be a blessing in the world!  

Thanks be to God!