MONDAY MUSINGS

June 23, 2008

Vacation Bible School

This is the week of Vacation Bible School at St. John’s UCC.  For as long as I can remember, many congregations have invested time and talent plus a little treasury to provide an occasion for this summer time Christian Education.

When I was growing up in St. Paul, MN, we cooperated with Cyprus Street Baptist Church, about a block east of our church.  This brought together three groups of children, Baptist children, Peace Evangelical and Reformed children, and some neighborhood children who belonged to neither church.  We heard Bible stories, sang some songs, new and old, did some fun crafts, and always had some good snacks.  This was a welcomed interlude into the summer school vacation, new experiences to enrich the lazy summer weeks.

In today’s world we face new challenges in offering Vacation Bible School.  Working schedules make a day-time program difficult to staff, so many churches offer an evening program, as we do here.  Our children’s lives are much more programmed than ours were, with soccer, basketball, swimming, baseball, volley ball, dance, and gymnastics, plus family vacations.  Every week has its complications, making participation possible for some and impossible for others. 

In our situation here we plan for as many community children as children who are associated with this congregation.  While it is true that some children will participate in a number of Vacation Bible School experiences, ours being one of the many, I feel this is a worthy evangelistic effort.  There are a variety of ways in which the story of God’s gracious acceptance of us in Jesus Christ can be told and experienced, so the more the merrier.

We are gifted with a cadre of willing and able people who generously give of their time and talent to make this a memorable week for us all.  Landon Brothers may be the most visible of our people but there are many others who make it happen.  I just enjoy “floating” in and out, filling in where needed but usually just another willing volunteer to help make this an enjoyable week.

“Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.”  Proverbs 22:6 Our summer program is one of the ways we are engaged in this process of telling the Good News of Jesus Christ to our children.  It is a story we adults need to hear again and again.  Peace.  John Krueger