I've got the JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY....

 

Thanks to Covid uncertainties, we were not recruiting for JOY Camp very much at all this summer. Some repeat campers signed up, though, which led to an unusual bunch of 14 campers from only 3 towns. They were ages 9-16, which means that one camper drove himself there and another asked me to tie his shoe. Several of them were also related, which gave a fun dynamic as well, as middle grade boys jockeyed hard for position in the older kid group, so as not to be thought of as little kids themselves. 

It reminds you a little of how the disciples acted- hey Jesus, can we sit at your right hand and your left hand? Are we your favorites? 

But, while the older kids were not unanimously accepting, (it's hard when you're too big to be little but too little to be big- and once you've left that stage yourself you block it out of your memory!) there were also some lovely moments of leadership and role models going on. I had the joy of introducing three of our oldest to the program coordinator so they'd have a familiar face when they apply for Junior Staff next year. Camp is full of people for kiddos to look up to, ones who are just one or two life steps ahead of them. God is always drawing us toward community, so we can learn from each other. 

Of course, sometimes we learn the hard way. As I write this, the world seems to have forgotten to look for the good in each other, that we are all children of God. Earlier this week, while taking the van back to Cherie, I made the mistake of listening to the radio- about an hour and a half of increasingly bad news. But when I hit about Lewis, another station began to compete with the news- and I kid you not, it sang out "I will trust You, Lord; I will fear no more." Oh, how we need that reminder- not that we should bury our head in the sand and ignore the problems in the world- but that having that foundation of trusting God, we're equipped to go out and let our little lights shine. 

Hey hey, Goliath...

So surreal to be back to Richland- in my first several summers working with MUMMs I went to Peg's house in Richland to prepare for VBS, and now here I am doing Bible school here. 

I've really enjoyed playing Two Truths and a Lie as an icebreaker during Bible time on the first day (Armor Up with Truth!) It can get pretty philosophical when you reflect on it (How can we tell what is true? Is it easy to know when someone is telling the truth? Is it always best to tell the truth? Should we always believe what we see on the internet?) I think I've used the same example two truths and a lie all summer, and I was super impressed with a girl here who answered as confidently as if she'd known me all her life. I asked her how she knew, and she explained very patiently- "You just look like someone who would play the ukulele." Goals. :-D 

We had great volunteers, but the science station was a standout. A retired principal dressed in cardboard armor as Goliath and let the kids shoot paper at him with slingshots. They won't forget that lesson anytime soon. 

As always, the preK group brought us lots of smiles. One girl raised her hand at three separate times on Tuesday night to tell me she hadn't been here before. The next day she came with a big smile- "I came here again!" Yes you did, little one. Keep on coming. I also had to stifle a giggle during the puppet time as I heard one girl very firmly correcting a little boy on my dragon friend's name:"It's SPARKY not SHARKY!" 

One of my favorite activities during Bible time was about making the best of a bad situation. Paul and Silas were unjustly thrown in jail, and they used their time to sing songs to God and witness to their jailer. This activity had kids use the power of the pen to turn the negative into something better- and we talked about how yes, you've always got the power of the pen. 

"Like, times a million."

 

Bonnie and I had a great week in New London. Around 26 kids came for their evening Bible school, a joint effort between the Presbyterians and the United Methodists, and 8-10 helpers made sure things went smoothly. These volunteers were fantastic- they had decorated a castle wall to go around the fellowship hall as well as snowflakes for the frozen side of Knights of North Castle. Our color-coordinated age groups were each guided by a fearless leader. I loved that the older group did not consider themselves "too cool for school"- we were able to have great conversations during Scripture time, and Bonnie reported that they were anxious to do whatever game they saw the younger kids playing during recreation time. :) Our younger groups had good discussion too, as we practiced locating the stories in the Bible. "I really love God," one boy announced, "I love God, like, times a million." I wonder if he would be willing to do some guest preaching somewhere- what more do you need than that? 

One of my favorite kid quotes from the week came at suppertime. This preschooler had decided he wanted just a hot dog and a drink. Coaxing him toward the fruits and veggies also on the table, I asked him how he was going to get his vitamins from just a hot dog, and didn't he want to get vitamins so he could grow big and strong? He considered this for just a moment, then went back to a song we'd been singing about David and Goliath. "That song says the bigger they are the harder they fall," he pointed out. How do you argue with that? Kids listen and pick up on things, even (especially?) when you think they don't. And often our most energetic young friends were the ones who were able to remember the details from the stories the best. Of course sometimes you can help yourself remember things, too- I got a big kick out of the older kids. When I was preparing them for the program on the last night, where I planned to have each class help teach us about one of the Bible stories, most of the kids in the older group voluntarily decided to take notes. Love it. 

These notes came in "hand"y during the program.

Often we stay with a host family when we're on the road like this, but given the odd year and Covid uncertainties, the churches offered to put us up in a hotel. They were incredibly generous and hospitable, and we were so grateful to work with them! It was so great to see so many community members come out for the program on the last night to hear our songs, be reminded of stories that point to God's love, and eat some ice cream! 

No Skillets Were Thrown Here Today.

 Today Sparky and I went to Macksburg United Methodist. We were a week too late for National Skillet Throwing Day, held here in town annually, but maybe next time. 

We had13 kids and several grandmas and moms join us on this sort of rainy Saturday morning. I was happy to see the place was already castle-like when we arrived, and one helper came with some big cardboard shields to help us get into a knightly mindset. Our craft helper brought homemade bubble solution and also homemade play-dough (hair conditioner and corn starch. Smelled great!) We roasted hot dogs at lunch. 

My picture does not do it justice, but we entered castle doors. Hi, Sir Knight of the Window!

We did a one-day event from 9:00-2:00, doing a more-or-less normal VBS day schedule, then lunch, then a repeat of the morning with a different story. If a week-long VBS seems daunting, doing a Saturday is a great place to start! You can learn a lot in just one day, though we did have a request at the end from an upper elementary kiddo- "See you next summer- and next time make it longer!" He was also pretty excited to hear that there was no age limit- you're never too old for Bible school. 

Cherie will be glad to hear that we had fun with the science today. The kids loved making the Jesus walking on the water pencil flippers and were especially excited that they could use them as actual writing utensils as well. 

My favorite kid quote of the day, though, came when we were making the seismograph. I was setting up the soda bottle with attached pen. Seeking some student input, I asked, "How do you think we could measure the waves with this?" (I was hoping they'd see the piece of paper nearby and connect the dots.) A four year old raises her hand. (Alright! Young confidence, right!) Her response? "If you don't know how to do it, I don't have a plan!" :-D 

I really love churches next to cornfields. If you look closely, you can also see the wind farm in the distance. To me, this is a lovely reminder that even in these crazy times, even if pews aren't as full or if ministry needs to look different than it used to, rural churches are most definitely renewable. 

We're baaaack!

Well, everything's back in the van, I have a hand-colored picture of Sparky the dragon, and the chorus for "Hey, hey, Goliath" is firmly entrenched in my head. Week one of VBS- complete.  

A knight's armor...in edible form. Why yes, that is a Pringles shield of faith and cheese puff shoes of peace. 

I was happy to spend my first week back on the post-pandemic Bible school circuit in Newton. If you've ever wondered if Mobile United Methodist Missionaries serves only United Methodist churches, the answer is no! We'll hang out with anybody who wants a hand sharing God's love in their southern Iowa communities. This week brought me to a community VBS joining First Lutheran and United Presbyterian, and I could not have asked for better help. We had somewhere around 25 kids join us for at least some of the week, and some older sibling teenage helpers were worth their weight in gold. 

We are using Cokesbury's Knights of North Castle curriculum this year, and we were all pretty excited to realize that the fellowship hall where we were holding opening and closing time looked pretty castle-like all on its own. This proved to be an even better location when the other church lost air conditioning in its sanctuary the week before VBS, so that worked out splendidly! (Thursday set heat records and there was work on the roof, so we were a little more inside than we had originally planned.) 

With small groups, I tried out some more of the active learning stories from the Bible lesson book. We had a lot of fun with that as well as practicing our Bible-handling skills by looking up the stories. This is a great time to get to talk with kids and see what they're understanding. In my preschool group, for example, we got to learn that a stable is not that little piece of metal that holds papers together. :) 

It was nice to get back into the swing of things again- the quest continues! 

A Pentecost Prayer

Getting a group of dignified Lutherans to stomp their feet and make wind noises in church is not an easy task. The trick is to work it into a children's sermon about Pentecost, or at least that worked for me last year, when I used a shortened version of the Bible storyteller lesson from VBS. My top favorite thing from that lesson, though, was about the speaking in tongues. This is perhaps odd, because glossolalia is one of these Bible things where I tend to smile, nod, and look elsewhere, like when Aunt Edna tells you that her first job was being Elvis's secretary. But the fun part of the lesson was that we learned a word in many different languages. To be honest with you, I don't remember now what that word was- peace? spirit? thank you? hello? But the kids loved getting to say it in Spanish, Swahili, Cherokee, Chinese...how often do you get the chance to do that?

Today is Pentecost. That is still my favorite part of the story. The Spirit came, and the people were able to understand each other.

Can I say that again? The Spirit came, and the people were able to understand each other.

If ever there was a time for understanding, this is it.

To recap, in the world right now:

-A police officer has killed a black man in Minneapolis.
-Some people are so outraged by this that they have burned businesses and a police station.
-Many people are so outraged that this country is still battling racism that they have peaceful protests.
-Some people have to worry about their loved ones in law enforcement trying to keep the peace.
-Many people are so outraged by this whole thing that they sit in their houses and seethe, then try to distract themselves because they feel entirely helpless.
-Vast swaths of people around the world have been in quarantine for months now because of Covid-19.
-Some people are so frustrated about this they have held armed protests.
-Some people are so frustrated by this that they spend their time sewing masks and checking on their neighbors.
-Some people have lost their livelihoods, and some businesses will not reopen.
-Some people have lost dear loved ones, and worry deeply about friends and relatives in high-risk categories.
-Some people feel more isolated than ever.
-Some people have found much-needed rest and family time in spite of all this.
-Some people work in crammed-like-sardines working conditions where viruses run rampant- yet a tiny few people remember them as we chow down on our hamburgers.
-Teachers, students, and parents anxiously await news of what school will look like in the fall.
-Also a couple people recently went to space (probably to get away from the rest of us) and I'm not sure anybody noticed.

There's a lot going on right now. I think it's safe to say many people just do not understand each other right now.

You know what's an uncomfortable truth? Replace "people" with "God's children." Because we all are, are we not? Are they? (Whoever THEY are? The THEY that isn't us?)

God's children have been treated unjustly.
God's children have been rioting.
God's children have been dying.
God's children have been helping.
God's children have been acting out of fear.
God's children have been complacent.

We sang "Spirit of Gentleness" in facebook church this morning. James Manley's words of the Spirit call us to "Awake from your slumbers and rise on your wings." We had best be praying for the Spirit to help us do just that.

The Spirit came, and the people were able to understand each other.

Dove of the Holy Spirit, Bernini, public domain 

Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

Freebie! Church Member Connect Four

So, my church has been doing a book study on the book Growing Young, and we've been discussing some small steps we can take to bring our church family closer together, especially across generations. One of the things we came up with (no surprise to this teacher/camp counselor) were some icebreakers! Yes, go right ahead and roll your eyes, but this is a useful thing. I sometimes give my own family a hard time when we go to ice cream (anti-)socials- you go, you start your own table so you can sit with the people you came with, you eat your ice cream, and you go home. It's often the same at church fellowship time.

Something is missing here.

In an effort to get people up talking to those folks who sit clear across the room, here is a connect four game. We're going to use it this Sunday at the church potluck, so some of the questions are a little holiday-themed. I'm happy to send you a version you can edit if you leave a comment here or message Mobile United Methodist Missionaries on Facebook. If you try it out, I'd love to hear how it goes!

Happy New Year!