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!
