VBC: Day 3

Howdy, partners! "Farmer" Trista here!

Welcome back to another exciting day of Vacation Bible Camp where we Taste and See that God is good!  A significant part of our morning centered around the Lord's Table.  Our communion service this morning was truly beautiful!

Many of our weekly Wednesday family members came to join us for the service this morning, and several of the children's parents came to take part in this very special service as well.  More on that later.  Let's walk through the day from the beginning.

We began our day together with worship songs, prayer, jumping with joy and receiving a blessing from Mother Karen.  Then it was off to our stations. 

In recreation, we played tag with a twist.  As they were being chased by whoever was "it", children would suddenly crouch down, raise their hands and say, "remember me".  Eventually this morphed into a game of tag where all the children would chase after the older boys and try to tag them.  The kiddos sure love to show off their running skills, and they can move very fast!

For crafts today, we had large pieces of tag board and all kinds of decorating materials.  Our groups had each had their photos taken on Monday, so today we glued one of those pictures onto the tag board as a centerpiece and then used stickers, dot paint pens, markers, mosaic tiles, markers and crayons to create a masterpiece.  These will each be laminated and sent home on Friday to be used as placemats and a reminder of their time at VBC this week.

 

In music time, we continued working on our special songs for Sunday's presentation.  We now know the "Call to Love" so well that we can sing it in a round.  It is awesome!

The highlight of our day was the morning Eucharist!

All of the children gathered in the narthex area and could hardly contain their excitement for what was coming.  I had the great pleasure of strumming on the guitar and leading them in "This Little Light of Mine" as they all processed in towards their pews.  I have to say that 80+ children singing a song while you are leading is enough to melt anyone's heart!

After the children found their seats, Mother Karen rang the singing bowl and received everyone's attention, then welcomed us all and led us in prayer.  Sunni shared the lesson with us and led us in a psalm in child-friendly language.  Then Father Steve declared that the gospel would be proclaimed by our youth, and they acted out the Last Supper so that we could see and hear the gospel in tangible form.  The youth also asked us questions that helped us to process what we had just seen and heard, and they prepared our hearts to come to the Lord's Table.

Mother Karen invited us all to bring an offering to the altar.  The children each brought cans, jars and boxes of food for Hopelink and offered them all to the Lord before returning to their seats.  Everyone was very excited and voices echoed through the nave.  When Mother Karen and Father Steve brought the bread and wine to the altar, however, it was suddenly quiet. 

The hair on our necks stood straight up.  The presence of the Holy Spirit was palpable!  Mother Karen could have whispered and still been heard as she offered the prayers of remembrance and the words of institution.  All of the children from the youngest three year old to the eldest in the room knew that this was a holy celebration.

Surely everyone should experience the celebration of Eucharist with this many children!

I've been in Vacation Bible Schools and Camps my whole life, and I've never experienced anything quite like this.  The Spirit was moving so powerfully that tears simply flowed down my cheeks.  Tiny hands crossed and stretched open to receive the gifts of Jesus, and blessings abundant poured out upon them like rain on thirsty soil.

The hushed tones of a quiet organ gently brushed our spirits.  Then a holy laughter broke out as the joy of God filled our worship space.  Everyone knew that something special had taken place just then -- in our communion time.  We know that Jesus was there!  We know that we were all connected.  And we know that somehow we were meeting all of the people from the past who loved God.  We came to VBC to encounter Jesus, and we certainly did.

What a blessed time this was!  I cannot even express how deeply moved I was during this celebration.  This truly was a Holy Eucharist!

On being serious and having fun

It seems I'm always hearing people tell kids there's a time to "be serious" and a time to "have fun" -- as if the two were opposites.

"Being serious" and "being silly" are opposites, to be sure. Nothing is more annoying than somebody being silly in a situation that requires some degree of tact and care. But "being serious" and "having fun" go together naturally for kids, and we do them a disservice when we tell them otherwise.

For example:  have you ever watched a child build something out of Legos? His concentration is something to behold. He filters through the box of Legos looking for the one that will fit just right. My brother Seth used to do this for hours. He would create Lego Transformers: yes, they were Lego robots that turned into cars, and back again! And he would build them from scratch, always working on the next idea. Not once did he act silly while engaged in this serious, focused effort.

What does this have to do with church? Everything. I spend a lot of energy reminding people that we do want children to be in church. If they don’t come to church as children, they certainly won’t come to church as adults. In a culture where kids make up their mind as early as the 3^rd grade about whether they want church to play a role in their lives—and have many, many other Sunday morning opportunities ready to vie for their time and energy—the unspoken messages we give our children about church attendance matter. If we don’t attend, they won’t attend. And if we attend but don’t bring them with us, the message is that church is only for adults. In my family, Sunday is more commonly called “Church Day.” It’s what we always do that day of the week, with very few exceptions.

Now, of course, different kids have different attention spans. We hold childcare and Sunday school during the first part of the service so kids can have an age-appropriate time in addition to multi-generational time. But time in church is our children’s primary faith formation—and it’s ours, too, as adults.

Occasionally a parishioner will complain to me about kids “misbehaving” in church. I patiently remind them that we don’t seek to rescue kids from immaturity. We allow them to be the age they are, knowing that our faithfulness to them as they grow up is the most important thing we can offer them. Their presence at the table is crucial. Over time, they will learn how to be quieter in church—just not yet.

I also field a lot of anxiety from parents who want to have their children in church but find it too much of a challenge. They’ve spent the whole week with their kids and want a little break to replenish the spiritual energy. I’m with you completely! So I have an idea: share your children. On a week when you have more energy, invite another child into your pew, and offer the crayons that have been lovingly provided and kept stocked by our 6-year-old “Crayon Ministry Coordinator,” Carter Chorlton. The next week, ask if your child would like to sit with a friend from Sunday school.

This Sunday, we’re replacing the old pieces of paper that said “For kids to draw on” with new ones that say “I Wonder” and “A Note to God.” Kids and adults are invited to keep their hands busy by writing on them and dropping them into the collection plate as it passes by.

Furthermore, we’re launching a new group for middle schoolers this week called “The Seekers.” Something like a Sunday school class, this group will spend most Sundays in church taking notes about things they wonder and things they notice. Then, once a month, they’ll meet during the Sunday school time and learn together about the things they noticed and wondered. Understanding what we do in church goes a long way toward making church interesting rather than boring.

I find our time in church to be both very serious and very fun. Serious play is what makes me feel most at home—I’m playing, but it means something more than just silliness. I think all liturgy should be like that.