I Can't Use These Texts!

So much for enjoyment....I've been looking at the lectionary texts for our rally Sunday.

The first text is one of judgement with one of the more mild lines being "they are stupid children."

One of the (familiar) verses from Psalm 51 is "Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, a sinner from my mother's womb."

There's a lot of this kind of emphasis on sinfulness, judgement, etc. in these texts.

I do think awareness of sin, our need for grace and such things are important for several significant reasons. But how you teach that, especially if you use some of these texts, without doing it in a way that's demeaning to a child by communicating to them that they're a no good, evil doing, stupid kid and if they're lucky God will be nice enough not to do them in for it?

My Old Testament professor at United Seminary talked about texts of terror. He believes that there are some texts that no matter how they are presented in a context such as a church service will be heard in an inappropriate and damaging way by some people present. He believes these texts should not be used in church services, but reserved for contexts in which appropriate discussion about them can take place such as might be done in some Bible studies.

I had my own texts of terror when I was a kid. There were things that really haunted me, for years.

How do I be faithful to what I believe, to what we believe, to the texts, and to our tradition in a way that will be helpful and not harmful to the kids at church?

May I say that I think what it takes to work with kids in a church setting is, generally speaking, way under rated. Childhood is a formative time. Furthermore children's' cognitive abilities and skills are still developing, they are not the same as an adult's. This means that working with kids calls for an adequate handle on religious and theological issues, plus the ability to present them in age appropriate ways. In my experience, this is no small task.

Pray for me and for our kids.