This week is Vacation Bible School at our church.Since I am working just up the hill from the sanctuary, I have been hearing little voices singing and playing and learning about Jesus all morning.
I am reminded of the many, many summers I spent at VBS as a child. My best friends, Allison and April, and I were always in the same class and were always competing over whose craft was better, who could last the longest at Red Rover, who knew the most about Jonah and the Whale, etc, etc... It was never ending, and I find myself easily relating to some of the kids here this week!
I remember marching in straight lines into the sanctuary to the piano playing and singing traditional songs like "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and "Jesus Loves the Little Children." We said the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag, to the Christian flag and to the Bible. I still remember every word of those pledges.
Mrs. Irena, our pastor's wife, would then introduce the story that we would be learning about that day.
At snack time we drank red Kool-Aid and ate Ritz crackers with peanut butter in the middle and played outside until we were so hot and sweaty that we begged to go in.
Gone are those days, my friends!!
This morning, during our staff meeting, the kids were jamming out to some CRAZY music in the sanctuary! The theme for our VBS has something to do with wilderness/camping/survival. There are theme-appropriate songs, tents on the stage, elaborate skits and room decorations like you wouldn't believe. I am pretty sure that I didn't hear a single Pledge of Allegiance.
The crafts have also changed. My friend Lucy is in charge of them this year, and has nearly had a nervous breakdown over the task. What happened to taking a baby-food jar and filling it with sand or throwing some glitter on a piece of Styrofoam and calling it art?
The snacks are way more high-tech than slapping some peanut butter on a Ritz and probably cost a small fortune.
And the kids don't even play outside on the playground!
I am not saying that anything is wrong with what VBS has become. I believe the heart of the week remains the same--to share and show the love of Christ. I am just amazed at modernization, and can't believe so much has had to change in order to reach kids today.
Maybe I deserve to be a "ma'am" after all.
I found you!!
ReplyDeleteI bet the crafts are top notch this year. Those little girls of mine were drug to Bible school every year of their life and their mama was the one having the breakdown ! I taught them well...I don't have to get hot anymore though cause I do the refreshments for the Bible School workers and make them feel specail now that they are all grown up. Robs
ReplyDeleteI thought the same thing about the VBS at our church, way more involved than the good old days. But you have so much to compete with to get their attention these days. It gets worse as they get older, how on earth to you get kids to pay attention to a lesson on the English Civil War when they text, listen to Ipods, chat on MySpace and watch TV all at the same time??? Now we know it starts young at VBS.
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