The Best Week of the Year!
“Our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.”
Romans 5:11
Our Vacation Bible School begins today at 5pm. It is an exciting time! We have transformed the church into a farm landscape, ready to share the love of Jesus with kids in fun and creative ways. We put a lot of time, effort, and focus on this one event in the summer. Is that the best use of our resources? YES!!! Even if we don’t see as many kids as we have in the past, even if we don’t hear many conversion stories, even if we don’t have as many participants and volunteers as in previous years… it is still the best week of the year!
Why? Because it creates a space for young people to know that they are loved. It creates an opportunity for adults to play and sing and dance with kids. VBS lets children know that they are important to us and to Christ! It reminds us that we are all children of God. Jesus encouraged his disciples to come to faith as children in Matthew 18:1-5
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”
As we welcome children this week at VBS, may we also embrace the opportunity to relish in the fact that each one of us is a beloved child of God. Let’s sing and dance and remember that God is not only our almighty Heavenly Father, but that Jesus also calls us friends.
God you created our hands beautiful and capable but… Too often we use them to grab what we want. We ball them up into fists to hit. We use them to hug only ourselves. So, we turn our hands up to you asking for forgiveness. Forgive all the bad we have done with our hands. Wash our hands and make them clean. Lead us to use our hands well.
Teach us to open our hands to share with others. Give us the power to shake hands with our neighbors. Show us how to join hands with our neighbors to build your kingdom of love. We pray in Jesus’ name, remembering his loving hands. Amen.
