Why I think Children’s Sermons matter #1

“Samuel Wesley was a devoted priest in the Church of England, in whose heart there burned a desire to see the church renewed and revived. One day he was studying and praying while his two small children, John and Charles, were playing on the stairway. Finally, he became so distracted by the noise that he rushed out of his study and cried out at them saying: “Go play elsewhere. I am trying to pray for a great revival to come upon the church, and your noise is disturbing me.” Little did old Samuel know that the great awakening for which he was praying was running up and down those stairs, in the persons of his own small children, John and Charles Wesley.”

via ministrymatters.com

Sunday School

It’s Vacation Bible School week. As usual, I’m tired, tired, tired. We’ll be packing up and leaving soon to head down to church, but I thought I’d pop in and leave a note. The kids are all having fun. Chase has been running around saying, “Sunday School, Sunday School.” Apparently he’s enjoying VBS, even though he’s not in a class. He just wanders around and has fun.

I heard from mindiana_jones on Sunday night. Everyone is intact and having fun. Emily misses me but not too miserably.

Chase is demanding that we turn off the TV and leave now.

Once again, someone someone wonderful has offered to donate a dollar to Sufficient Grace for every comment received on their blog. Please go comment and support Kelly in her wonderful ministry to support parents who experience loss. Warning: the story may make you cry, unless you are made of stone or something.

Please help me with this…

I’m doing the Children’s Sermon Sunday. That’s nothing new. But (as you might have noticed) Sunday is also Father’s day. Lately Emily has expressed the feeling that she doesn’t feel like she even has a father. Mike has been even more unreliable than usual lately. He hasn’t even been making it for a visit once a week anymore or coming to church with us.

I don’t want to do the usual spiel about what a great Father God is, because that won’t work well for kids like Emily.

So, I’d like those of you who are religiously inclined, and I know I have some readers who are, to please give me some feedback on what to talk about. I have some thoughts, but I’d love to hear your ideas.
I’ll even give you my scripture references:

Mark 4:26-34 (New Living Translation)

Parable of the Growing Seed
26 Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. 28 The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. 29 And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.”
Parable of the Mustard Seed
30 Jesus said, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God? What story should I use to illustrate it? 31 It is like a mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the smallest of all seeds, 32 but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade.”

33 Jesus used many similar stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could understand. 34 In fact, in his public ministry he never taught without using parables; but afterward, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them. (from Bible Gateway.com)

I helped teach Sunday School this morning.

I was helping with Chase’s preschool class. We were of course telling the Easter story. We got to the stone being rolled away to reveal the empty tomb. Evelyn explained that Jesus was no longer there because he was alive. One little boy gasped and his mouth dropped open, “That’s so cool! That’s amazing! It’s like magic!”

I saw the wonder of Easter hit someone for the first time right there and it was awesome. Of course I’m not going to miss an opportunity. I told him that it was super cool and that he should go tell all of his friends about it.

We had a nice worship service today. “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” was not listed in the Order of Worship, but Pastor Rob said we had to sing it because it was Easter. I was happy, because it just isn’t Easter unless we sing it.

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So…tired….

It’s been a busy weekend. My nesting instinct has definitely kicked in. Yesterday Emily and I worked on cleaning her room while Chris took the dogs to the vet. She threw away two bags of trash, got a bag of stuff together for Tabitha, and got some stuff together to sell at our upcoming yard sale. If the weather is nice next Saturday I’m having a yard sale.

The vet cost $300. Both dogs got their shots and all the tests that they need, and heartworm meds. Gabby has hookworms, so both dogs have medicine for that.

Yesterday afternoon mom had a framing party and I finally got the Dust Puppy print we got at Chris’s mom’s cancer benefit framed. While I was doing that Chris went to the pet store and looked at corn snakes. I think he’s getting one next weekend.

After that I came home and packed up two big boxes of books from my bookshelf. The books are going to the storage locker until I have a place with more room. After I finished that I rested a while, then Marky called and we talked for an hour.

This morning we went to church. Our church service is reaching new levels of boring. I was liturgist, so I stayed awake. Next week, I think I’m going to go somewhere with a contemporary service. After church we went up to Uncle Steve’s house to look at furniture. We’re going to take some end tables out of there, I think. Then we did grocery shopping. I’m exhausted now. Emily is watching a copy of Happy Feet that my boss loaned me.

Still here, growing the baby

The baby is kicking a lot now – Chris felt him for the first time Thursday night. I’m not sleeping real well at night, but I haven’t slept well since I got pregnant. Now I’m starting to get bigger and it’s getting harder to get comfortable. Last time I was pregnant I was sleeping in a waterbed and I didn’t realize how it cuddled my belly. Now my back won’t tolerate a waterbed, so I have to sleep on a regular bed and cuddle my belly with pillows. I actually haven’t put on any weight overall, since I lost some with the morning sickness. The weight that I’m gaining back is definitely going on in the belly, though. It’s also getting a little harder to breathe. I had some asthma, which the doctors have mostly gotten under control. But my lungs are still feeling squished. My bladder is even worse. Bleh. I’m still having headaches, and still taking medicine to keep them under control.

In other news, work is going well. Church life is interesting. I have to get something going for the young adults – people my age. I’m going to do a Bible study this summer and see if we can get some people interested. We’re also going to try to get a contemporary worship service going by the middle of November. I’ve wanted to see that for a long time, so I’m going to champion that. That’s my official title. We had a planning meeting today.

Hopefully this isn’t too disjointed. I’m trying to blog a little more so that I have some record of this pregnancy to supplement my horrible memory.

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Happiness is a container of fudge sitting next to me

One of my co-workers brought in fudge last week that his wife made. I sent home the message that I love her, and she sent more this week. I love her yet more today. I may send her flowers. I weighed myself this morning and I’ve lost three pounds. I can’t understand how this has happened.

Anyway, I stayed busy last week. Tuesday night I got my hair cut short again. It was getting on my nerves. That might account for a pound, now that I think about it. Chris likes it this way, too. I came home and watched House and was really, really pissed. I don’t like the writers of that show anymore.

Wednesday Mindi came over and we made icing for Church club. I also baked a cake for church. They were having a funeral Friday and a lunch afterward. After we finished and she and the T-Monster went home, I watched Bones and was much, much happier with the writers of that show.

Thursday night was Church Club. We had a great time with the Gingerbread houses. Leaton came and played Santa and he was absolutely great. The kids all had a blast.

Friday I went out to Happy Hour after work. I had a couple of drinks with my friends and visited for a while, which was fun. Then I headed home and had a nice quiet evening with Chris. We watched “The Devil Wears Prada.” I loved the movie as much as I loved the book. Marky was absolutely right. Meryl Streep was fantastic in that movie. She was perfect for that role.

Saturday morning I woke up with a cold. I felt like crap. I took some Sudafed and it helped a lot. I did bake a batch of cookies, but that’s about all I did. Chris worked four hours on Saturday morning. When he came home we lazed about the house, played video games, and generally kept Emily entertained.

Yesterday we spent most of the day at church. We went to morning services, then went out to eat with my parents. We did a little shopping, then came home to rest. At 5:30 we picked up Tabitha (I agreed to babysit because Mindi was doing family stuff), then went to the church potluck. After the potluck was the children’s Christmas program. Emily and Tabitha were both in the Christmas program. I helped with the children, of course. Everything went perfectly and Tabitha was really good.

We got Tabitha home and put her in pajamas. We laid her down in Emily’s room. She did her bit where she kept getting up. Eventually Chris came and told me that she had cut her hair. And of course, she didn’t cut it a little bit, but about 10 inches, and totally cut off her bangs. She defiantly told Chris that she wanted short hair. I told her that she can’t be in Emily’s room anymore by herself. Fortunately, Mindi wasn’t mad at me, just at Tabitha. That kid has been nothing but rotten lately. And she is going to have short hair – I think she’ll have a bob when Mindi gets it fixed. At least it’s just hair and she didn’t hurt herself.