Sunday, Sept. 14th 2014

Beautiful day wasn't it?  A baptism.  Bright, warm sunshine. Hopefully some Sabbath rest.  Randy's words of encouragement to model love and thankfulness to a watching world really sunk in for me today, and I hope they did for you to.  Just as we confessed our commitment to join with Christ in his covenant to little Benjamin, so to did we act on that promise made to so many of the children in our church, and to our community as a whole.

Here's a little update on what each classroom looked like today:

3s & 4s:  Elizabeth Gunnink & Yarek.

Scripture: Luke 15:11-32 - The story of the Prodigal Son (Jesus Storybook Bible)

After a welcome and some time singing, the kids dug right into the story.

Craft:  Coloring pictures of the prodigal son story

Snack: Popsicles....but you'd never know from how well Yarek cleaned them up!

K-2nd Grade: Sarah Lewis Assink, Heather Whitney

Scripture: Luke 5:27-32  - Jesus called Matthew and Matthew followed him.

Basically the kids learned about how Jesus befriends Matthew the tax collector, a man who had NO friends. Eating and drinking with sinners was strictly for- bidden, and it implied acceptance of their sin. He called Matthew to a new life as his dis- ciple, and that invitation was so compelling and liberating to Matthew that he threw a party so all his disreputable friends could meet Jesus.

The whole class threw a party together to celebrate, in solidarity with Matthew.  In Sarah's words "who needs an excuse to have a party anyway?"  Indeed.  What better to celebrate than a sinner being welcomed into the family of God?  Sounds strangely familiar doesn't it? :)

3rd-5th Grade: Chris Gunnink

Scripture: Acts 4:36-5:16 - Ananias & Sapphira

The focus of this lesson is that members of the Christian community should be honest, sincere, and truthful and should not be concerned with being number one in the community.

Chris confided in me that it was a tough passage and lesson for him to teach and for the kids to grasp.  Understandably so when the plot of the story mainly entails a husband and wife being struck dead for lying!  My encouragement to him, to the kids, and to you as parents would be not to ignore or gloss over these TOUGH place in the Bible, but to have a conversation about it.  Questions like, "was that a scary story for you" or "why do you think that's even in the Bible?" are good!   You don't need to have the answers....because honestly it can be good to be confused or scared together.  It may cause you to dig deeper into the Word to find out more.

I think the lesson does a good job of describing the reason for this passage:

Today, we tend to think of the church as a voluntary organization that we may freely join and that should answer to our needs and desires. In the Bible the church is the creation of the Holy Spirit, who brings us into fellowship with Christ and each other. While this story does not teach us to be afraid in church, it does teach us to take our place in its fellowship very seriously.