What Happened to All the See-Saws?
If you are of a certain age you most likely remember a playground or park with see-saws. Several years ago in an effort to make playgrounds safer, see-saws were taken away. (Some playgrounds don’t even have swings anymore…don’t get me started on that trend!)
Anyway…because of the no see-saw rule, many children have not experienced the power rush of jumping from the top, sending your see-saw mate crashing to the ground. Neither have they encountered the awesome experience of being that friend who, while falling to the ground, has to decide in a split second whether to be okay hitting the ground or risk trying to get his feet down fast enough to catch himself. (Side note: I was the kid who BEGGED my friends not to make me fall before I would even agree to get on the see-saw) Yep, gone are the days of risking life and limb in the pursuit of fun.
As I ‘wax nostalgic’ for a bit, I did wonder what our kids are losing - all in an attempt to keep them safer. This reality became apparent to me two Sundays ago as I was reviewing the topics we’ve covered in the “It’s a Mystery” series.
Introducing kids to the idea of how God keeps all things in balance, specifically being both a God of answers and mystery seemed like a large topic to tackle. Since I’m very visual myself, I’ve tried to help children connect a visual with this concept. A simple balance scale seemed like my best bet. For kids who have seen these in school, it was a great option. For others, who have never seen one, I had to teach them what it was, how it was used, and what it meant to be balanced before I could use it to demonstrate my point.
I couldn’t relate the mechanical genius of a balance scale to the see-saw because no one knew what I was talking about. Literally…I don’t remember a single child who knew what I was describing when I referenced the see-saw. Big deal- right?
Probably not a big deal, but then again I think the see-saw is the perfect picture of another layer of God’s balance- and the balance He wants us to keep in our minds and hearts. Picture this…
If a person doesn’t fully understand that God has the answers; if he/she thinks they do, they are out of balance. Any person who thinks they have all the answers themselves will also think they don’t need God. They are what we as Christians would call- “lost.” On the other side of that is a person who thinks that life is one big mystery- there is no purpose to it at all; we’re all just spinning in space until we die. These people are also lost.
If we’re doing it right, we’re staying right in the middle of both- we’re in balance. We know that God is a God of answers, that He wants us to know and understand Him and His world. At the same time, we understand that God is a God of mystery- His thoughts are not our thoughts.
What does this have to do with see-saws? I think- if we’re really honest, our minds and hearts do an up and down with this balance thing. Depending on what is going on in our lives, we’re either trusting God fully for the answers, or we’re questioning His mysteries. Leaning too far to one side or the other is a dangerous thing- much like jumping off the top or plummeting to the bottom. Wherever we are, we need to ask God to keep us in balance. We want to ride but we want to be safe…better yet, secure.
If you think about it, and actually have memories of riding a see-saw, wasn’t it great fun to sit in the middle and just enjoy the up and down with no fear of falling off?
This Week’s Announcements:
Help still needed!
We are so blessed to have more than 80(!) volunteers who said YES to serving your children.
Even with that incredible number, we are still in need of help in certain rooms/areas.
Our specific needs are:
An adult male to lead 3rd-5th grade boys as a small group leader at 9am
Nursery help at 9am and 11am
What God is Teaching Us:
This section will have links to the previous Sunday’s lessons. Feel free (I encourage it!) to open, read, and review with your children. Click on the links below to view our lessons from 10/19 and 10/26.
*Note that no lessons are included for 4k-5th grade for 10/26. This is because small groups did not meet; children were engaged in outreach projects instead.
This link is no longer available
Funny Things Kids Do and Say…
While leading the outreach project with the 4k/K children this past Sunday, the leader was telling the story of the 10 Lepers who Jesus healed. (If you don’t remember the story, look it up in Luke 17) As she told the story, one child yelled out, “I know about lepers! They have spots so they can hide in the jungle.” Hmm…I think that’s leopards- just a little different.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Monday, October 13, 2014
A Game of Uncle
A Game of “Uncle”…or better named- “Mercy”
If you are of a certain age, you’ve undoubtedly played a game of “uncle” at some point in your life. That same game of torture is known now as “mercy.” In case you’ve forgotten, you grab hands with another person (most commonly played with a vicious sibling) and then try pushing their hand back until they yell, “mercy!” This is a game that many of us- myself included- tried to avoid at all costs since you were never quite sure if you’d be the victor or the victim.
When we consider God’s mercy, we certainly don’t think of a game of torture; however, it is interesting that the very definition of godly mercy is “compassion when you have the power and/or right to punish.” I guess calling ‘mercy’ in the game is calling for such compassion.
This past Sunday we explored the next “both-em” of God- mercy and justice. God holds both of these in perfect balance. They are not opposites; they aren’t even at odds with each other. In reality God’s justice is really His mercy.
Since justice is best understood in a child’s mind as discipline/consequences, let’s think of it that way too for a moment. Think of how you mead out justice in your household. You direct and guide your children. When they make a decision to stray from your direction with disobedience in some form, you discipline them. Is this because you want to be mean? Is this because you’ve stopped loving them? On both counts- of course not! You correct because you love them.
The same is true of God’s justice in our lives. His correction is always because He loves us. Sometimes that correction is gentle, and sometimes it feels more heavy-handed. Either way, it’s always mixed with a heavy dose of His mercy.
We live lives that cry out for God’s justice. We can also cry out for His mercy. When we cry out for one, we receive both. And…if we’re smart, we won’t wait until our hands are being twisted in pain to cry out for either.
This Week’s Announcements:Help still needed!
We are so blessed to have more than 80(!) volunteers who said YES to serving your children.
Even with that incredible number, we are still in need of help in certain rooms/areas.
Our specific needs are:
An adult male to lead 3rd-5th grade boys as a small group leader at 9am
Nursery help at 9am and 11am
What God is Teaching Us:
This section will have links to the previous Sunday’s lessons. Feel free (I encourage it!) to open, read, and review with your children. Click on the links below to view our lessons from 10/12.
This link is no longer available
Funny Things Kids Do and Say…
On any Sunday in the fall, you can find at least one child who wants to discuss a college football game from the day before. (It’s not just the boys!) This week one guy was talking about his beloved Clemson Tigers. Another child, overhearing only a portion of the conversation, interjected, “I like tigers, but I like rhinos more!” Confused…I asked, “What team is that… with a rhino as their mascot?” Puzzled look, and then, “Oh, I thought y’all were just talking about your favorite animals.”
If you are of a certain age, you’ve undoubtedly played a game of “uncle” at some point in your life. That same game of torture is known now as “mercy.” In case you’ve forgotten, you grab hands with another person (most commonly played with a vicious sibling) and then try pushing their hand back until they yell, “mercy!” This is a game that many of us- myself included- tried to avoid at all costs since you were never quite sure if you’d be the victor or the victim.
When we consider God’s mercy, we certainly don’t think of a game of torture; however, it is interesting that the very definition of godly mercy is “compassion when you have the power and/or right to punish.” I guess calling ‘mercy’ in the game is calling for such compassion.
This past Sunday we explored the next “both-em” of God- mercy and justice. God holds both of these in perfect balance. They are not opposites; they aren’t even at odds with each other. In reality God’s justice is really His mercy.
Since justice is best understood in a child’s mind as discipline/consequences, let’s think of it that way too for a moment. Think of how you mead out justice in your household. You direct and guide your children. When they make a decision to stray from your direction with disobedience in some form, you discipline them. Is this because you want to be mean? Is this because you’ve stopped loving them? On both counts- of course not! You correct because you love them.
The same is true of God’s justice in our lives. His correction is always because He loves us. Sometimes that correction is gentle, and sometimes it feels more heavy-handed. Either way, it’s always mixed with a heavy dose of His mercy.
We live lives that cry out for God’s justice. We can also cry out for His mercy. When we cry out for one, we receive both. And…if we’re smart, we won’t wait until our hands are being twisted in pain to cry out for either.
This Week’s Announcements:Help still needed!
We are so blessed to have more than 80(!) volunteers who said YES to serving your children.
Even with that incredible number, we are still in need of help in certain rooms/areas.
Our specific needs are:
An adult male to lead 3rd-5th grade boys as a small group leader at 9am
Nursery help at 9am and 11am
What God is Teaching Us:
This section will have links to the previous Sunday’s lessons. Feel free (I encourage it!) to open, read, and review with your children. Click on the links below to view our lessons from 10/12.
This link is no longer available
Funny Things Kids Do and Say…
On any Sunday in the fall, you can find at least one child who wants to discuss a college football game from the day before. (It’s not just the boys!) This week one guy was talking about his beloved Clemson Tigers. Another child, overhearing only a portion of the conversation, interjected, “I like tigers, but I like rhinos more!” Confused…I asked, “What team is that… with a rhino as their mascot?” Puzzled look, and then, “Oh, I thought y’all were just talking about your favorite animals.”
The Ugly Truth about Wrath
The Ugly Truth about Wrath
From A to Z, there are words in the Bible that many of us can’t pronounce. Need some examples? Here you go: Artaxerxes and Zerubbabel. That’s just one A and one Z… think of all the others in between! In addition to the brain-boggling task of deciphering some terms in God’s Word, there are also those words that we just don’t understand.
These words are easily pronounced for most anyone. We can read a definition in the dictionary or a Bible commentary. We may even have some way of defining it in our own words, but do we really understand them? You know the words…wrath, justice, judgment…just to name a few. Do we really understand God’s wrath, tempered with grace?
Wrath was the topic of last Sunday’s lessons for our elementary kids. Kids understand anger. Just imagine the sea of hands raised when I asked if anyone had ever been mad at a brother or sister. And…I won’t tell you how many kids (unsolicited) wanted to tell how mom or dad showed wrath!
Wrath is a word that is not talked about a lot in children’s ministry. God is loving. God is kind. God is powerful. Kids “get” a God that is loving, kind, and powerful, but looking at a God Who is also capable of great anger is a little harder.
The ugly truth about wrath is that…well, it’s Truth. The Bible is chockfull of times when God’s wrath was “poured out.” This makes us uncomfortable so we skip over those stories. The reality is that we shouldn’t skip over anything that gives us a better understanding of God’s character, including the parts that make us scratch our heads or shift in our seats.
Look at those stories where God’s wrath was poured out. What is He mad about? Sin. God is holy so therefore He cannot tolerate anything that is unholy.
It was explained this way to children…
Imagine that you created something perfect and wonderful. You loved your creation so much that you wanted to hang it on the refrigerator so you could enjoy its beauty every day. Now imagine that a big, hairy, nasty, slobbering (they loved that part) monster rips it off the fridge, tears it up, stomps on it, and then takes it outside to roll it in the mud. How would you feel? Mad!
Now, think about what happened to God’s world…
He created a perfect world and put His most prized creations right in the middle of it. He said, “This is very good.” He wanted to spend time with His creations, and enjoy the beauty of what He’d created. Enter the big, hairy, nasty, slobbering monster- sin. The enemy and sin are all about destroying God’s creation. How does God feel? Mad! That is what God’s wrath is about. He is mad at sin, BUT He is kind (in the form of grace) to us.
Wrath is ugly, but it’s Truth worth exploring. When we better understand what God’s wrath is about, we also understand more about those “comfortable” things too- His love, kindness, and power in our lives.
This Week’s Announcements:
Help still needed!
We are so blessed to have more than 80(!) volunteers who said YES to serving your children.
Even with that incredible number, we are still in need of help in certain rooms/areas.
Our specific needs are:
An adult male to lead 3rd-5th grade boys as a small group leader at 9am
Nursery help at 9am and 11am
What God is Teaching Us:
This section will have links to the previous Sunday’s lessons. Feel free (I encourage it!) to open, read, and review with your children. Click on the links below to view our lessons from 9/28 and 10/05.
This link is no longer available
From A to Z, there are words in the Bible that many of us can’t pronounce. Need some examples? Here you go: Artaxerxes and Zerubbabel. That’s just one A and one Z… think of all the others in between! In addition to the brain-boggling task of deciphering some terms in God’s Word, there are also those words that we just don’t understand.
These words are easily pronounced for most anyone. We can read a definition in the dictionary or a Bible commentary. We may even have some way of defining it in our own words, but do we really understand them? You know the words…wrath, justice, judgment…just to name a few. Do we really understand God’s wrath, tempered with grace?
Wrath was the topic of last Sunday’s lessons for our elementary kids. Kids understand anger. Just imagine the sea of hands raised when I asked if anyone had ever been mad at a brother or sister. And…I won’t tell you how many kids (unsolicited) wanted to tell how mom or dad showed wrath!
Wrath is a word that is not talked about a lot in children’s ministry. God is loving. God is kind. God is powerful. Kids “get” a God that is loving, kind, and powerful, but looking at a God Who is also capable of great anger is a little harder.
The ugly truth about wrath is that…well, it’s Truth. The Bible is chockfull of times when God’s wrath was “poured out.” This makes us uncomfortable so we skip over those stories. The reality is that we shouldn’t skip over anything that gives us a better understanding of God’s character, including the parts that make us scratch our heads or shift in our seats.
Look at those stories where God’s wrath was poured out. What is He mad about? Sin. God is holy so therefore He cannot tolerate anything that is unholy.
It was explained this way to children…
Imagine that you created something perfect and wonderful. You loved your creation so much that you wanted to hang it on the refrigerator so you could enjoy its beauty every day. Now imagine that a big, hairy, nasty, slobbering (they loved that part) monster rips it off the fridge, tears it up, stomps on it, and then takes it outside to roll it in the mud. How would you feel? Mad!
Now, think about what happened to God’s world…
He created a perfect world and put His most prized creations right in the middle of it. He said, “This is very good.” He wanted to spend time with His creations, and enjoy the beauty of what He’d created. Enter the big, hairy, nasty, slobbering monster- sin. The enemy and sin are all about destroying God’s creation. How does God feel? Mad! That is what God’s wrath is about. He is mad at sin, BUT He is kind (in the form of grace) to us.
Wrath is ugly, but it’s Truth worth exploring. When we better understand what God’s wrath is about, we also understand more about those “comfortable” things too- His love, kindness, and power in our lives.
This Week’s Announcements:
Help still needed!
We are so blessed to have more than 80(!) volunteers who said YES to serving your children.
Even with that incredible number, we are still in need of help in certain rooms/areas.
Our specific needs are:
An adult male to lead 3rd-5th grade boys as a small group leader at 9am
Nursery help at 9am and 11am
What God is Teaching Us:
This section will have links to the previous Sunday’s lessons. Feel free (I encourage it!) to open, read, and review with your children. Click on the links below to view our lessons from 9/28 and 10/05.
This link is no longer available
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