Photos!!

Photos!!! Yeah!!! This is the amateur "let the little children come" photo I've wanted to post...A year late, but my computer savy home-for-the-summer children are wonderful!! (This little person really isn't a baby anymore. He has his own blog and he's running and speaking in sentences). Oh, and the clock is right. Artisan gathers for worship in the late afternoon.

There are probably better, more profound photos that show the love, awe, and beauty of children encountering God in community or maybe not because we interact with an invisible God.

Anyway...

Example

. . . the boat where Jesus is asleep while the disciples are being scared witless:

Little kids probably weren't in the boat (teenagers, maybe) but I bet they played on the beach and dipped their toes and fingers in the water. I bet they even played in their father's boat when it was on shore. Did you ever feel the water-worn wood of a fishing boat? Or the smell? :-) I bet they fingered the ropes and the fish and the nets. If they ever got to ride in the boat, they felt the rocking of the waves and the splash of the surf. I bet some of them saw waves taller than themselves. [Engage your own imagination here, anytime!]

I bet that children by the sea quickly learned to discern when there was a storm coming. And when the storm came, what did it feel like to live in their houses? Their houses weren't like ours are.

Know what else I bet? I bet every adult who was in any way associated with that eventful storm ride went home and told the story to everyone and anyone who would listen....and we all know how children love stories! "Say't again..."

Such is the stuff of taking wonder questions beyond the question and into the imagination- to become engaged in the story and hopefully encounter the greatest Story-Teller ever.

Imagine being 2 or 5 or 10 or 15 ... Where would you be? What would you be doing? How would it affect you?

more concrete

Understand that part of this is coming from the fact that the pastoral staff at Artisan is still ( hooray for the pastoral staff at Artisan!!) working with this idea of including ALL ages every week in our worship service. Using"concrete" and "simple" is to ask what's the most basic touchable/doable in this passage? Think 1-2 years old (water, wind, boat, "night-night"...)

That doesn't mean that you can't spiral it out to include more complex observations or "teaching" as you (and your little people) grow and experience more of life but, the way I read the scriptures, I'm left believing that the crowds scripture talks about included moms with little children (probably more than two children and close in age by the way - if you really want to engage your imagination- walking and hauling groceries!)

I'm also guessing (not to be belligerant or anything) that Jesus didn't have to run down the hall to the Sunday school room to point to a child and use him/her in an object lesson.

Let me challenge you (and myself) everytime we look at a scene in scripture to ask, "Where were the children?"

Simple and Concrete?

Notice I'm not trying to "teach a lesson" here.

Here's a passage from yesterday. Actually the story presented also included the lady with the issue of blood being healed and the little girl being healed (bandages, doctor kit, pictures of lady, child, crowd...) but let's just look at this one.

Mark 4:35-41

4:35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side."

4:36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.

4:37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.

4:38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

4:39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.

4:40 He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?"

4:41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"

The concrete words are in bold. There are also a couple of "teaching" concepts in bold but you don't even have to go there because the teaching concepts don't really mean anything if you don't know about wind and waves and storms or being afraid at night, trying to wake someone up or thinking that someone doesn't care.

That's what I mean by simple and concrete. Next time the wind is howling outside or you find yourself with your child listening to a thunderstorm, you can pull out the story again. Listen to your little person's observations and pray together see what God will do.

Getting Through Worship

Music and rhythm instruments usually take care of themselves.

If there's new decor, "Do you see..."
Visuals on the overhead, "do you see..."

Confession? A time to confess? "Is there anything you're sorry for that you need to whisper to Jesus?" "Is there something special that you love about God?"

When there's a scripture story presented from the pulpit, having a Bible picture book in your hands for little people really helps, even if you're flipping pages looking for all the boats or storms or a lady, or a crowd, or a child, or someone who's hurt.

Having props helps, too, but you'd need to know which story they're going to do ahead of time. If you have a story about Jesus healing, a doll with bandages to wrap or a doctor kit or tape and gauze will keep little people quiet and busy for a bit. If it has to do with animals or creation bring picture books with animals or a stuffed animal or little plastic animals or play dough. If it has to do with a vine. Bring a vine and knot it and weave it and make something. You don't even have to talk. Be creative. Think simple and concrete.