Prayer: God's Story

Last week we read about how Jesus was God's plan to bless the entire world. We read that God was going to use Jesus to show every single person on earth how big and how good God is. And, God did use Jesus. Jesus came as the Christ that all of those people had been waiting for. He died on the cross and He rose again and then He left His followers on earth to finish what He had started.

But, before He left, before He rose again, before He even died, Jesus did something else. Jesus lived.

Jesus ran around here, on our messy earth, with a group of guys who were probably only teenagers. Those guys are called the twelve disciples. Disciple is a big word that just means “follower.” These were the guys who followed Jesus around and tried to live like He lived. Now, being a teenager might sound pretty old to you right now, but teenagers, just like all grown ups, are still learning an awful lot about life. These teenagers had a lot of questions for Jesus, and Jesus spent a lot of time answering their questions and letting them listen in while he talked with other people. If you were a teenager and you could ask Jesus any question in the world, what do you think you would ask Him?

Those are some good questions. We don't know all of the questions that the disciples asked Jesus, but we do have stories in the Bible that tell us some of the answers He gave them.

One of the things that He talked about a lot was called the 'kingdom of heaven.' Jesus told them that the kingdom of heaven was like a little tiny seed that had been buried in the ground. Even though you can't see the seed yet, it is still there, and, someday, it will fold up out of the ground and grow into a giant tree.

Jesus knew that there were bad things in the world. In fact, He told His disciples (and lots of other people!) this story in Matthew chapter 13: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

God was the one who made the earth good. Satan came and tried to trick God. He convinced Adam and Eve to break God's image, even through they still had God's breath in them, and, now, the good is all mixed up with the bad. Good things, like food, are all mixed up with bad things, like weeds...

Download a PDF of the entire story here and click on the coloring pages below to download.

Sunday, Sunday

Sunday, Sunday. Biting cold outside, but warm enough inside to sweat as I run after children. Goofy songs and fourth graders who extract payment for last week's absence by leaning against me and borrowing ponytails to play with each other's hair during story. High schoolers who weren't on retreat but want to talk about what they've heard, even as children shush us when the clock rolls over and it's time to sing. 

Fifth grade smiles as we talk about the story and fourth graders bright with star stickers as they puzzle through a verse on their own, studying about this Jesus. 

Brief greetings with high schoolers who will forever carry Haiti in their eyes. Leaders' meeting, gaga ball, and a sixth grader's scolding when I step out to watch instead. Kids from school who are suddenly at church and twelve year olds who can not comprehend that I would willingly be anywhere second hour besides here, with them. 

Link tag, gold stars to sixth graders to finish a longstanding joke, and gaga ball again, until everyone's gone home, even the one who wanted me to be able to watch kids at his care group and is trying not to care that I can't. 

Perspectives' childcare. Tag and Danish Rounders. Coloring pages and fruit snacks and listening in on music practice for Sunday PM. 

Dinner in the car and iNTERSECT. High schoolers with plans to do anything in the morning besides go to school. Talking about #change and a senior girl who curls into my side, because our breakout room is cold. Red hands, tempera paint, laughter, and willing hearts. The smell of cookies and bonfire. Sinks splattered with the pink of a dozen hands and a drive to deliver a freshman home. 

It's January, and we've finally fallen into a pattern, a rhythm. There's a dance to the way that we split off the fourth graders and the timing that we use to switch them back. There's a place under the stairs and a piece of hallway that they have run back and forth since September. 

There's a schedule to Perspectives and certain things that always are in Ignite. 

It's January, and we need that rhythm, because they're still just off of holidays and just back to school, just through finals, and just walking into another long weekend. And, their lives are all kinds of sideways and upside down. 

So, we do Sundays. 

Big: God's Story

Last week, we read some more of one of my very favorite stories. It was a story about God and how He wants to be known by every single person on the planet. We read about Sarah and Abraham and how God had a plan to bless the whole earth through just two people. We also read about how Abraham and Sarah were sometimes scared and tried to do things their own way.

God was bigger than their fear, though, and He still had a plan, a plan to bless everyone. Do you remember what that word, 'bless,' means? Yes. It means that God has a plan to show everyone how good and how big He is. Let's read some more of that plan.

Matthew starts talking about the plan this way: “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. 

Hold up! This doesn't sound very much like a plan yet, does it? It just sounds like a long list of crazy names. Did you recognize any of those names? I did too. I've read stories about some of those people. Sometimes they were super brave and made the choice to listen to God. Rahab hid some of God's friends to keep them safe. Ruth moved to a whole new country, and David stood up to a giant even though nobody thought he could do it...

Download a PDF of the entire story here and click on the coloring pages below to download.

#change

Often, I come back from youth group trips spilling over with words - words about the kids, words about Jesus - so many words that they all get tangled up in my head and my heart and the only way to sort them out is to write it all down. 

Other times, like coming back from Haiti this summer, much of it already seems to make sense, seems to fit, and it seems silly to try to write it all down, because, well, inside of my head, it's all been sorted out. And, really, I only write to know what it is that I am thinking. 

Winter retreat was a little like that this year. 

It makes sense in my head. Too much sense. So much sense that there are no words for it. 

 But, someday, I am going to want a record of what I was thinking, so, here goes the best attempt. 

I could give you physical sensations. 

I could give you the red a of an Ecuadorian poncho borrowed from a leader, as one of the freshman guys jumped off the stage flying squirrel style to crowd surf before a chapel session. 

I could give you the soft orange of Sunday morning reflected across the snow, or the way that the bitter cold didn't stop the boys from waiting outside of the girls' cabins, ready and eager to haul away luggage as it was packed. 

I could give you the sounds of hockey on a frozen pond or the cup song in the cafeteria.  

I could try to give you the feel of melting ice as powder covered gloves press up against my bare hands, a fifteen year old spilling over with a story that means nothing more than that we are both here, both now, both waiting for the same God. 

I could give you hikes through the snow and breathless runs uphill in the dark just to get a pack of gum. 

I could give you the charcoal and gray and navy of dozens of #change sweatshirts piling off of a bus and out of vans on Friday night and then back in again on Sunday morning. 

I could tell you about hands raised high in worship and try to explain these kids, the words that they sing and the words that they don't. 

Or, I could give you the sound of this song echoing through a gym that somehow didn't seem too big or too empty, because it was full of everything inside of them. 

I could give you the achey feeling of standing in one spot for 2.5 hours as the each of the leaders prayed for every student in turn, the rustle of fabric as they all stood and lined up, the hugs and the tears and the quiet hope each time that a hand was laid on a shoulder. 

I could tell you about how they joined on to the end of the line when they were finished and about how some of them waited for two hours just to get to the first leader. I could tell you that this was important enough that they waited. 

I could give you the gut feeling that every minute of those hundred and fifty was worth it. 

I could give you the echoing sound of dozens of prayers layered over one another in a stream so much longer than we could have ever anticipated. 

 I could give you laughter through frozen air, snowflakes big enough and cold enough to hold their shape after they hit the ground, and high school boys teaching each other how to braid, "in case they have girls someday."

I could give you knitting needles and fires and homework on the bus home. 

I could give you a glove used as a talking stick and quiet questions with quiet answers. 

But, I am not sure how to really explain it all, how to pull it all together into a convenient whole that makes sense outside of my own head. 

It was neither an adventure nor a party. I suppose that it was simply a chance to get together and to #change, because, where God is, things grow. 

Go: God's Story

Last week we started a reading a story. It was one of my favorite stories, about God and how He wants to be known by every single person on the planet. We read about how God created the earth, and how he put two very special people here, two very special people who were created in His image. Do you remember what that word, 'image,' means?

That's right. An image is like a picture or a movie, something that tells a story about someone. Eve and Adam got to be the image of God. They got to tell His story to the whole world. Or, they were supposed to. But, you told me that something else happened next. You told me that they messed up. They tried to tell their own story, and it broke the image of God in them.

When we left them, people didn't live in the Garden anymore. They had just started to try to figure out this new way of living, and it wasn't always going very well. It didn't go very well. God's plan looked like it was broken. The whole earth wasn't hearing His story. Even when there were people who tried to tell His story, tried to tell the parts that they remembered, something always went wrong.

God tried to help them. He gave them new languages so that they would spread out farther with His story. He even started over, with just one family, Noah's family. It didn't really look like any of those things were working. The whole earth still didn't know His story. But, just like at Creation, God had a plan. Let's read about some more of that plan from the book of Genesis...

Download the PDF of the entire story here and click on the coloring pages below download.

In The Beginning: God's Story

Today I want to read you a story, one of my very favorite stories, about how God wants to be known by every single person on the planet, every single one. Just imagine all of those people.

Today, we're just getting started with class, even though we already kind of know each other, and, so, I think we're going to just get started with our story too, even though I bet you already know how the story ends. Because, our story starts in the Bible. It starts in the very first verse of the very first book of the Bible, Genesis 1:1. I'll bet you've heard that verse before. Can you say it with me?

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

“In the beginning.” In the beginning, God was there, and, in the beginning, God had a plan. He had a plan that made the whole earth, every type of animal and plant and rock that you have ever seen, every snowflake you've ever eaten, and every puddle you've ever jumped in. And, God didn't stop at the beginning. Let's keep reading the story and find out what happens next.

2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, "Let there be light "; and there was light. (Genesis 1:1-3 NASB)

26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness ; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

[7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living being. 8 The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden ; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. ](Genesis 2:7-8 NASB)

Did you notice that I skipped some verses there? You can go back and read the rest of the verses later, but, right now, I want to read about one special part of the story. Can you guess what that special part of the story is? Let's find out...

Download the PDF of the entire story here, and click on the coloring pages below to download.

Cluster

"What happens in cluster stays in cluster."

No blogging allowed. But, a few snapshots that are classically this group of high school girls... 

Knitting. Our Christmas party involved tacos, a gift exchange, the Polar Express, and piles of girls knitting/Knify Knitting/crocheting for several contented hours. The winter months mean yarn and needles/hooks coming to cluster, just like the summer months mean hair wraps and henna.

Pushups. This is our second time through the E100 Bible reading plan, and the girls decided early last summer that there was a penalty of five pushups for every missed day of reading. Only small group I've ever been involved in where pushups are a regular part of the schedule!

Steel drums. Several of the girls play steel drums together. It sounds awesome. Enough said. 

What Works for Me: Relay Races

 Every few years, I end up with a group of Sunday school kids who think that relay races are the best thing ever invented. Typically, it has been my 3rd or 4th graders (or 5th graders with limited exposure to running like crazies at church). The great thing about relay races is that they are a wonderful way to work on memory verses.

And they can be modified to fit the needs of the group.

In the past, we have used rocks to spell out virtues (summer months), or kept it simple with "Run down. Read the verse off the sheet. Run back. Tag the next person." Weeks with more visual, tactile kids who are confidant in their spelling/copywork skills have involved a giant sheet of paper and a large Sharpie. The week we talked about Abraham leaving his home involved adding a couple of Kenyan skirts to the mix.

Lately, though, we have gone from an all girls 4th grade group to having 25-35% of the group as 4th grade boys - and often been adding 5th graders into the crew at the end of the hour. Reading all of those big words, with the added pressure of needing to do so quickly, has tended to put our 4th grade boys at a disadvantage, and, well, no one likes knowing that they are going to loose, so...

Our most recent modifications:

1) Two lines. Run down to Jessica. Draw a card from the stack. Follow the instructions to get back. Tag the next person. 

On the back of each card is a sticky note (so that we can use the cards more than once) with part of the verse. First team to get all of their cards back and put the verse in order wins.

We often, but not always, give them the large print sheet to leave on the floor between the teams for reference.

2) Run down to Jessica. Pick up one puzzle piece. Run back. Tag the next person. First team to get their puzzle assembled wins. 

This time, two of the girls helped me fill in this template in the few minutes before music. 

Classic Sunday Afternoon Post:

One of those "easy" days in Sunday school this morning, where it feels like you've hit a sweet spot and the temptation is to think that you might be able to do this without praying. Because, well, this is simple, right? You put smiles into kids and you get smiles back. Kumbaya and daises and all of that.

(Good news for my heart and humility is that, most weeks are far more likely to be messy, train wreck, herding cats, too much caffeine, and too many big feelings in too small of bodies sorts of days, where you hold on tight and pray that there is a divine plan under all of the layers of hurt and hyper.)

4th graders listened well during a long story, sang their best - even with songs that they weren't sure they knew - and, let me squeeze their brains into trying to understand Isaiah 53:7 for the memory verse. We "kept" the boys rather than sending them off to fifth grade and split off into two groups. They checked and double checked to make sure that the goofy thing that I did when the story teller asked for a volunteer was supposed to happen. We talked about promises and how, even though there are sometimes good reasons for humans not keeping promises, God keeps his no matter what. We ran a relay race to work on the memory verse and, then, after the fifth graders joined us, we ran it again.

And, it was nothing special, but they left content.

Easy peasy lemon squeezey.

A 6th grader caught me on the way and walked me over to middle school, where we found a couple other kids, talked for a while, and set up the octagon. Leaders meeting. Octagon. Still a klutz, but slowly improving. Continued conversations and narratives from previous weeks. Pulled in some kids who haven't been there in months. Played a game. Listened to a talk. Broke out into small groups and talked about every sort of God thing under the sun. 

These girls that we so often draaaggg answers out of had questions and thoughts and more questions and more thoughts, and one topic would spiral into another and another and another, until we had covered more ground than I thought was possible in twenty-five minutes.

Everything from the concept of truth to Ancient Egypt, American coins, 2012, sharing faith with friends, and inner and outer beauty and pride.

Yep. Jessica. Alone. In a room with twelve preteen girls. Talking about beauty.

This... is one of those things that my middle school aged self would have sworn was never going to happen. Proof positive that I really do, very emphatically, love these girls. (Although, yes, I did go directly from that breakout group to playing running, chasing games with "my" 6th grade boys. So, not all is bizarre.)

Again, simple, content.

Sweet spot for the week? Found.

What Works For Me: Large Print Verses

Each week, for the 4th graders, I have been printing off one large print copy of the current memory verse in the biggest font size I can get away with and still keep all of the words on one page. If their crumpled, beaten status at the end of every week is any indication, they are well used. 

1) If I hold it up, everyone can see well enough to choral read without crowding. This helps all of the kids get familiar with reading the crazy words in the verse before they are asked to do it on their own later.

2) It's big enough to mark up. I'll often have two or three kids come and put stars by any words that they don't know, so that we can use one of our tricks to make the crazy words seem less crazy. 

3) It's great for a cheat sheet. We often play some sort of a memory verse game. For things like freeze tag, where they have to tell me the verse to get unfrozen, we often give them an "assist" by holding the verse out and letting them read it. 

What Works For Me: Goofy Explanations

Isaiah 53 has a lot of hard words, especially for fourth graders. Fourth graders are pretty quick, though. They're at one of those stages of life where they are learning new terms every time they turn around. It just takes a few tricks, and a little repetition, to help things stick. 

One of the things that works for us in Sunday school this year is adding a little bit of silly to our explorations and explanations. After a few kids have given ideas for word definitions - or researched them for us - it is time for the goofy definitions to roll in. 

For example, the word "oppression" contains the word "press." So, I might reach over and press down (gently) on the kid/s nearest me and explain that oppression means that someone bigger - a grown up to a kid or a boss to an employee - or with more power is doing something unfair to someone smaller than they are, holding them down or "pressing" them down.

Then, I might let a few of them "oppress" me in return.

We pictured "afflicted" by my reaching over and repeatedly "flicking" the kid beside me (Yeah. I know that the spelling doesn't match up, but it sounds right to them, and that is what most of them need to be able to remember). Affliction is something painful - like being flicked - done to you by someone else  - like Jessica.

Ask them those two. They remember them. Actually, they remember a lot of words, but those two were/are their favorites, because I let them do them to me in return.

Every week is something a little different, depending on the kids who show up and 98% off the cuff, but, if silly can help make crazy/hard words memorable, then that works for me.