Bumpy Sunday

My time at church on Sunday was frustrating. Nothing horrible happened. It was just a string of things that were a bit off.

I got to church late...
...the exits and entrances for Children's Church were disjointed...
...kids were scattered when they shouldn't have been...
...I was poorly prepared which in Murphy's law style correlated to having a large group if kids this week vs the small group I had the week before when I was much better prepared (though of course large numbers of kids and good preparation are always both good things)...
...I couldn't remember names that I should know by now...
...there was a misunderstanding to sort out...
...my own kids got involved in helping me tell the story in a way that I didn't (and don't) know how I should best handle...
...we lost a sharp pin...
...I forgot the matches to light the candle...
...the story telling materials ended up in a jumble...
...just as someone wanted to lock the main door I was dashing in and out trying to help find a child who had apparently made an unreported "detour"...
...I was loosing my patience with my own kids who couldn't seem to respond appropriately to my directions to help clean up the kids' area...
... and by the time I got that all taken care of we were the last ones out of the church ...
...and I had about an hour to pick up lunch (my first meal of the day), get home, eat it and get to work.

"How are you?" a co-worker asked.
Response: "I'm not firing on all cylinders." I felt very tired.

Hopefully I'll suceed in getting tuned up this week.

The Sheep, the Wolf & the Shepherds

I had another good experience telling a Godly Play style story (really from Young Children and Worship) Sunday.

One child really seems to have grasped who Jesus is in these stories. When the Jesus character is introduced in other terms, like the Good Shepherd, this child is quick to interject, "Jesus!"

One kid had an interesting question: When the Good Shepherd stood between the wolf and the sheep that were scattered, were those sheep his own sheep or the Ordinary Shepherd's sheep?

The issue that resonated strongest with me was that one or two kids wanted to put the wolf (who of course represented danger or worse) in the sheepfold with the sheep. One of them who told their own story with the materials worked it out so that the wolf was friendly and wouldn't hurt the sheep.

Probably this is due to the naivete of the fortunate young who have, thankfully, not yet had to come to terms with much danger, darkness, or evil. But I wonder about the idea that it is a mindset not yet acculturated to so readily dichotomize the world into the good and the bad, us and them; a mindset not so quick to assume and label.

I find it interesting that the natural inclination of these children seems to be to care for the well being of the wolf, while the theological perspective of the story is seemingly otherwise, at least at an adult's first glance.

Of course I don't want to put any children at any sort risk by not applying the wisdom and perspective of an adult to protect them from all kinds of danger. But neither do I like the idea that our Christian agenda might often be to squelch or redirect this caring response of the children.

Likewise I found myself uncomfortable with the Good Shepherd vs Ordinary Shepherd Distinction. In common usage of the term, most of us are more or less ordinary, in ways we don't always identify as bad. Is there something wrong with the ordinary? Is ordinary not good? Is ordinary bad? Is this a statement of human nature as being inherently basically bad, sinful or inadequate? It's not that I approve of the job the Ordinary Shepherd did in letting the sheep scatter or in running away when the wolf came. But is ordinary the best term for these actions of the "Ordinary Shepherd"? Is this what an ordinary shepherd would do? What other terms might be used than ordinary?

At least I think we need to wonder if the children might be onto something that we adults would do well to learn from. I wonder if their responses have anything to do with what the gospel means when it talks about the need to become as little children to enter the kingdom of God.

Who Ate the Bread?

What bread?

The answers are in "In God's Hand's," a book by Lawrence Kushner and Gary Schmidt, Illustration by Matthew J Baek, published by Jewish Lights Publishing that I found at the Hennepin County/Minneapolis Public Library. Here's the catalog entry.

It tells the story of two people who think they are subjects of miraculous interactions with God and then discover the agents of action are each other. At first they are disappointed, thinking that God has not been involved after all. Then then come to understand that their hands are God's hands.

The story is much more delightful and compelling than my summary. However, even if I were sure how to give a better explanation, I'd want to leave the joy of discovering the story to you. And as always, good children's books aren't just for kids...