Vacation Bible Camp - Day 5

Well, it’s hard to believe that we’ve come to our last day of Vacation Bible Camp!  It’s been a wonderful week, filled with God’s love and generosity!  We have appreciated having your children with us and invite you to join us on Sunday as the Vacation Bible Campers and Choir Campers sing at our 10:15 service.  Have your children wear their camp t-shirts (they did the artwork on them, themselves!) and meet Jessica at the organ in the front of the church at 9:30 on Sunday morning for a quick music review.  The youth storytellers will be our preachers on Sunday and it promises to be a wonderful and wonder-filled time.

Today we talked about sharing God’s love with all the people we meet.  We know there are people who don’t get along with each other – sometimes we don’t even get along with our own family members!  That was true of the Jews and the Samaritans in Jesus’ time too.  They didn’t get along, and their disagreements were about right and wrong ways to behave, especially in terms of religion.  So imagine the surprise of a Samarian woman who had been marginalized because of her religion, her gender and her lack of a husband (a big problem in the 1^st century Mediterranean world), when a Jewish man spoke to her!  In her world, it would have been unheard of for a man to speak to an unaccompanied woman, in fact it would have been unheard of for any Jew to speak to any Samaritan!  Yet speak, this man did.  He was thirsty, and he asked the woman for a drink of water, for she had a bucket and he did not.  She gave him the gift of water, and in return, he offered her the gift of living water.  This was water that gives not just physical, but eternal, spiritual life too.  And while it may not all have made sense to her, she knew something very wonderful and powerful had happened in that encounter.  She knew that she had been changed, and her response was to run through the town telling everyone to come meet the man who offered life-giving water to all.  That’s what happens when our hearts are filled to overflowing…when we are filled with love, our response is to go and share that love with others.  We hope that your children have experienced the richness of God’s love at St Thomas this week.  They have surely filled our hearts with love, and we’ve surely been blessed by our time together.  We hope to see your children and their friends at Vacation Bible Camp next year, and welcome them at Godly Play each week, where the incredible and ancient stories of God and God’s people come to life each Sunday. 

All God’s blessings on you and yours…Faithfully, Karen †

Vacation Bible Camp - Day 4

Today was a great day at St Thomas Vacation Bible Camp, and an excellent follow-up to yesterday’s thunderstorms!  Our youth Story-tellers told the story of Jesus and his disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee after spending a very long day talking with crowds of people… they were all very tired and Jesus was asleep in the boat.  As they were crossing over, a terrible storm came up!  The disciples were terrified and couldn’t understand how Jesus could possibly be sleeping through it all.  “Don’t you care that we are in this terrible storm and all about to die?” they cried to him!  And so Jesus spoke three very small but very powerful words… “Peace, be still.”  The storm calmed and the waters fell quiet and the disciples were amazed.  It made them wonder who Jesus could be, that even the wind and the sea obeyed him.    We talked about all kinds of storms that happen in nature, and we talked about the kinds of storms that happen inside of us too – storms of anger or hurt or loneliness.  And we thought about how Jesus could help us calm the storms inside of ourselves with his love and the peace that it brings.  In arts & crafts, we made lava lamps that are awesome and lots of fun, but also reminders of how sometimes we feel like we have a volcano inside of us that wants to explode, but we too can settle ourselves by talking and listening to God.  We sang lots of songs and are excited and ready to sing in church on Sunday – psalms and hymns and spirituals abound… parents, you’ll be surprised and delighted to hear your children singing so beautifully.  Outside, we romped and played “Peace, be still,” “Life-Boat” and “Stormy Seas!”  The peals of laughter coming from Medina Park during recreation time this week, can be heard all the way across the street and into the church… playing games together is great fun!

Thanks to all who brought food for Bellevue’s Renewal Foodbank.  Today we sorted and packed all of the food (there was a lot of food!) to take to the food bank.  We spoke of what a blessing it is to have so much more than we need, and how good it feels to share what we have.  We have completed our Vacation Bible Camp food drive, but you may still donate to our clean water fund, or purchase a MiiR water bottle which will also support clean water in the world.  Remember that only $1 will provide clean water for one person for a whole year!  

Tomorrow is our last day of Vacation Bible Camp.  It has been a joy, and we thank you for sharing your children with us.  They have delighted us in ways we could not have imagined!   Many thanks and blessings to you and yours, Karen †

Vacation Bible Camp - Day 3

Another fantastic day at St Thomas Vacation Bible Camp!  Today was a bit different from our other VBC days because we had a church service with Holy Communion.  The youth Story-tellers told the story of John the Baptizer baptizing Jesus in the river Jordan.  John was kind of a wild man (you should have seen the “camel skin” clothes and the unruly beard!) who lived in the wilderness, making his meals of honey and wild locusts.  And yes, it’s true, people still do eat wild locusts – but they are mostly poor people.  John the Baptizer was God’s representative of the marginalized people of the world, the people Jesus often sought out and spent a lot of time with. Was John ever surprised when Jesus asked to be baptized by him!  John’s response was probably much like you and I would respond… “What??? You want ME to baptize YOU?”  Seems backwards, doesn’t it?  But the story shows us that we are all the same in God’s eyes, and every single one of us precious to God.  The story shows us how baptism brings us all together and makes us into the Body of Christ in the world even today.
 

We did something very special to make the world a better place today, by making sack lunches for the children participating in the Salvation Army Summer Day Camp.  The littlest ones decorated the lunch bags and the older children made sandwiches, packed fruit and chips and helped to make everything ready for delivery to the Salvation Army.   We continue to collect food for Bellevue’s Renewal Food Bank and to sell stainless steel MiiR water bottles, which support clean water projects all over the world.

We are delighted to be sharing this time with your children… they are surely a blessing to us!  Many thanks and blessings to you and yours, Karen Haig †

Vacation Bible Camp - Day Two

It’s been another great day at St Thomas Vacation Bible Camp!  Today the campers sang a psalm (along with lots of other fun songs) and learned a psalm verse.  Ask them to say it, and sign it for you!  It’s Psalm 51:10.  There was sand painting and water play and lots of connection with children happy to be back in their groups with new friends.  Campers learned today about water as a source of refreshment and health, through the story of Naaman the leper (2 Kings 5:1-19).  Naaman was healed of his illness, and his heart was healed too.  A young girl was instrumental in Naaman’s healing – an important reminder that God can use all of us – no matter how big or little we are – to help make the world a better place.

 Singing in the music station

We also learned more about making the world a better place by bringing food for the Bellevue Renewal Foodbank, by purchasing water bottles from MiiR, a company that donates $1 from each sale for clean water projects all over the world, and by making quilt squares for the Love Quilt Project.  The Love Quilt Project was started at an Episcopal Church in Virginia by the aunt of one of our VBC youth group leaders.  During VBC, the children will be making quilt squares that represent what love means to them.  The squares will then be sewn into a quilt that will be blessed and sent to an African orphan child living in a group home.