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!

VBC: Day 2

Howdy, partners!  "Farmer" Trista here!

Welcome back to another day of Vacation Bible Camp where we Taste and See that God is good!  Today we learned how we share with others, even when they are strangers.

Beginning our time together with gigantic voices declaring that "This is the Day that the Lord has Made", we brought several dozen pounds of food to the altar and danced our way back into our seats.  Lifting our hands way over our heads to form a banner, we sang that Jesus' "Banner Over me is Love".  Brian directed our eyes to the breadbasket chart that several of our youth made, and we celebrated the clear visual representation of our gifts of food.  After a prayer of invocation led by "Farmer" Trista, Rev. Karen blessed us and sent us out towards our rotation stations.

For arts and crafts, we encountered fruits and vegetables cut in half and stuck with a fork.  These were sitting in paints of all kinds of different colors.  We were very excited!  White canvas bags with our names already on them were neatly laid out on the table and our craft helpers were delighted to show us what we were to do.  Grabbing one of the forked veggies, we stamped onto our canvas bags and danced around when we saw the lovely prints they made.  Onions, apples, bell peppers and beets all make such different impressions!  What fun!

In recreation time, we divided into two teams - fruits and  vegetables. We held playground balls between our knees and made our way across the field, trying not to drop our precious cargo of "fruits" and "vegetables" while racing against the other team.  It was quite a challenge, but we really enjoyed it!  We also played a game called "grab the loaf".  A squishy ball representing a loaf of bread was in the middle of the field and we were lined up on either side.  When a particular number was called, the person from either team who had received that number raced towards the "loaf" and tried to bring it back to their team before the other team's person tagged them.  We sure do love running games!!!

After some stretching and vocal warm ups in music time, we continued to work on our "Call of Love" for Sunday's Mass on the Grass.  We're learning how to sing it in a round with the help of dear Jessica.  We can't wait to show you what we've learned!  We also sang a song that has become a favorite at St Thomas VBC over the years: Wendeyaho.  Translated it says, "I am of the Great Spirit, it is so".  Truly we are all born from one Creator God and all connected to the rest of creation by God's Breath, the Holy Spirit, who enters us anew each day, helping us to grow in Jesus' name!

Our story time today was about Elijah and the Widow of Zerepath.  Our fantastic teens acted out the story for us.  We were amazed by the way God provided for the widow and her son when she offered the very little that she had to live on!  When the little sack of flour and the jar of oil were suddenly found to be filled when they had been nearly empty before, we gasped in wonder and surprise.  Elijah had promised that the widow and her son would not go hungry because they had given so generously out of their poverty.  The man of God really spoke the truth!

In service and outreach time, we remembered our connection to the children, women and men all around us who do not have the food, clothing and shelter that we all have access to.  After Tami led us in discussion and reflection about what it might be like for the children in our communities who struggle to find food each day, we talked about what kinds of food we might be able to share with them.   

Filling the bags that we created yesterday in craft time was our task during the service rotation.  Each group had a different task.  Some made sandwiches, others packed grapes or cheese slices, and others put in water bottles and decorated cards.  At the end of the day we had many, many lunches to give to the Salvation Army kids camp.  We certainly do share what we have with others, even when they are strangers!  Today's focus became very tangible in these activities.

In chapel time, "Baker" Rev. Karen showed us pictures from a book called What the World Eats.  This book is filled with pictures of what a typical family looks like in different countries throughout the world.  We noticed all kinds of things in the picture, from the size of the family to the kinds of food they have on their tables to the amounts of food that they each had.   

We wondered together about what we eat in a given week and if our food looks like the fresh fruits and vegetables in India, the rice and beans and grains of Mali, or the pre-packaged supermarket food of England.   We consider what we have and who we can share with, and we were all very moved by the pictures in this book and the questions it raises for us and for our families.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..."  How might your light shine today?  Who might you share with, and what might you choose to share?  We invite you to consider these things as we prepare for another new day together.

We also extend a warm invitation to you.  Please join us tomorrow for the Great Feast of the Eucharist at 10:00 a.m. in the nave.  This will be a wonderful service!  All are welcome!