Snap Shots from Church School: Spiritual Accounts

The song came floating in from the back seat of the car on the drive home from soccer prqactice. "Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me," sang the little boy. This is the story one grandmother told me a few weeks ago.
Sometimes when I think of teaching children songs and stories, I think we are making deposits into their spiritual accounts. I know there are times in my life when a song, a saying or a scripture verse just comes floating into my mind - something I needed to remember at just the right moment; something I pulled out of my spiritual account that someone helped me deposit earlier in life.

We are trying to give children an account of spiritual tools to draw from through out their lives - in moments of celebration and in moments of struggle.

Snap Shots from Church School (October 10, 2010)

Selfless Giving:

This Sunday was the first time I didn't go into worship with the adults, but spent the entire time with the children moving from one classroom to another. ( I hope to be able to do that at least once a month). Each class had its own tone, some more reflective and quiet, others more exuberant. While I am immensely grateful for all our teachers, I was struck this week by the number of teachers we have who teach, even though they have no children or grandchildren in our church school program. They are models of selfless giving to me - of giving beyond themselves for the good of the larger community. They teach with joy, they teach out of a place of deep faith, they live out their baptismal coveanant - to love and accept every member of our community. To these teachers, I give thanks.

Amy

Snap Shots from Church School (October 3, 2010)

Feeding the Spirit...
This 4th grader admited that she didn't want to come to church that morning. Her family had gotten out of the habit of going to church over the summer, and getting back in the habit just seemed too hard. But mom and dad were going - so she would be going too.

She came into children's church and let the music of the morning wash over her. She later learned the Lord's Prayer in sign language and thought it was so beautiful. On the car ride home from Church School she told her parents, "I'm so glad we went to church today!"

It's true for me too - that even on the Sundays when I find it difficult to come to church, (yes, there are those days for me too), I find hidden treasures of love and joy when I come here, and my spirit is fed.

Each week the spiritual lives of about 30 children are treasured and fed through our Church School Program. I invite you to be a part of this amazing journey by volunteering your time and your presence to these children and I am sure that you will find your spirit fed at the same time.

Snapshots from Church School

This Sunday we baptized a little boy, only two months old. Whenever we baptize a child, the poeple of the church are always asked by the minsiter if we will love the child who is being baptized. In baptism we celebrate the love of God in the life of a child and we also make a pledge to that child to make God's love known to that child.

Clearly the children were learning that message these past few weeks in church school. Last Sunday I noticed a lot of the children were enthusiastically teaching thier parents how to say, "God loves you," and God loves me," in sign language. There is no other place in our lives where children will receive this important and significant statement of faith - that the love of God can be found and celebrated in everyone's life. In Church School we steep our children in that message of that love. And that is the very foundation from which faith begins to grow.

Thanks to all the volunteers of the church who make this happen every week!

Amy