Author: The Rev. Rachel Pedersen

A few weeks ago, I was enthusiastically sharing information about our upcoming VBC (June 22-26).  I was deep into the daily reflection questions, plans for decorating, and the eternal question about snacks, when my friend interrupted me.

“Wait, did I hear you correctly? You’re taking the students to Babylon? Isn’t Babylon supposed to be bad!?!”

Indeed, from their rise as a neighboring empire to their eventual conquest of the land to their New Testament role as a stand-in for everything bad and ominous, Babylon was often shown as counter to what God wanted.  Babylon was the anti-Jerusalem; it was not a place you wanted to go, and going there was dangerous.  And yet, God’s people spent a generation in Babylon.  It was there that the prophet Jeremiah told them to plant gardens and pray for the peace of the city.  It was there that Isaiah had his visions of a desert and a people restored.  It was in Babylon that young people taken into exile found a place to practice their faith.

This year, we are going to Babylon.  Not because it is easy, or because it will be fun to build some replica Ishtar Gates, but because we want every child to know that God is with them. Through the story of Daniel and his friends, we will help children understand that God is with them when they go to new places (willingly or not). God stands with them when they face dangers like Shadrach, Misrach, and Abednego. God stays through the night when you are alone and surrounded by lions like Daniel.  And God is there when you step up to lead in new ways.

We are ready to welcome 150 children into our church to explore and experience God’s close and loving presence.  If you would like to join us, we are looking for volunteers who can help the week of (June 22-26), but also in the weeks leading up to prepping projects, praying for students, and helping to transform the church into an ancient city.

You can sign up here to volunteer.

P.S. You don’t even need to read cuneiform!

A few years ago, I was working on a resource to help students visualize the gospels in new ways. In a moment of weakness, I started to categorize how many verses each of the Gospel accounts dedicate to different parts of Jesus’ story: 24% on teaching, 10% spent on parables, 11% on healing stories, 3% calling disciples, 4% on resurrection stories, and 5% on “other.” While I was intrigued to learn that more than 1% is dedicated to Jesus foretelling his death, I was struck by the fact that 30% of the Gospel’s witness focus on the events of Holy Week—more than any other section of scripture. Scholars estimate that Jesus spent around 3 years in active ministry, by time alone, Holy Week represents less than 1% of Jesus’ ministry. Or to be more accurate, .64% of his ministry becomes the central narrative of our faith and one of only a few stories we return to each and every year.

When I start a Bible story, there is a moment, just a few words in, when a child will squint and give me a wary look asking, “Haven’t you told this story before?” or declares, “I’ve heard this story already.” There’s an implied question, wondering if, indeed, this story is worth a repeat; if it’s worth their time and attention. I was taught long ago, to answer the question, with a shrug “I don’t know, maybe you’ll hear it in a new way.” Some of our students accept this challenge, while others continue skeptical. When I gave this challenge a few weeks ago, a student conspiratorially told their neighbor, “It’s probably another story about God’s love.” Indeed this old story that takes up so much of the Gospels, is the story of God’s love. But can we hear it in a new way? Can it speak to us this year? Can we hold it with the same care that made the Gospel writers spend 1 out of every 3 words trying to capture these seven days?

Maybe you have an answer to those questions. Maybe you’re looking for one. Maybe you know which part of the story will speak to you this year. Or maybe you’re ready to be surprised by the possibilities. Will it be the bright green palm fronds waving, or music giving voice to ancient words, or times of prayer, or the sign of bread breaking, or the solemnity of a cross on Friday at noon, or the cool of an early morning or the blast of brass and the bright white of an easter Lilly? I wonder How will you hear the story this year? I wonder how God will speak in new ways through ancient words? I wonder how you will see the story of God’s love poured out?

As you prepare for Holy Week, the 1st and 2nd graders are excited to share their work. Panels will be hanging in the atrium. Each panel tells one story from Holy Week. The projects are cooperative and process driven—look for the explanations to accompany each image.

• Join families for Fellowship After Worship in the Education Building.
• Come to Quizzo on Wednesday, March 4, at 6:15 p.m. in Congregational Hall
• Pack meals for neighbors on Saturday, March 14
• Walk the Labyrinth in the Children’s Chapel
• Join a Sunday morning class
• Go to a Tuesday Organ Concert
• Enjoy the artwork in the Gallery
• Pause and pray by the fountain

It is a little surreal to sit in the Education Building and count angel wings. Going through the stack (yes, we have a stack of angel wings!), we were testing to see if they’re still in good repair, checking to see if we need to make a few more, and generally fluffing the feathers. Sitting in a box, they look a little silly, but in just a few weeks’ time, they will be transformed. As a pastor who has the privilege of working with children, my December is filled with the Christmas story. Every Sunday and most weekdays, the story is rehashed in incredible detail: Magi gifts are dusted off, Advent candles are lit, nativities of every size and shape are taken apart and put back together, and the stack of Christmas storybooks just seems to grow! A friend asked me if it ever gets boring, if the story ever grows old.

I had to think for a moment about the question. Does it get boring? Is the story growing stale? It didn’t take me long to answer. The story can’t grow old, because each year I have the privilege of seeing it through new eyes and hearing it told in new voices. Practicing in the Sanctuary with our scripture readers, I hear a new cadence or a new emphasis on words that I have memorized, and the scripture is alive again. Sitting with students, new questions are posed, and I have to look at the story in a new way. Watching our angels as they turn and shake their wings, I see the heavenly host descending again, bringing good news to all people.

I hope each of you finds opportunities to see, hear, and experience the story of God’s love poured out in Jesus Christ. It might be at the Live Nativity this Sunday as Mary and Joseph maneuver through the sheep and goats. It might be in the fellowship of singing together at Carols and Cocoa, it could be in the gift of joy at the Youth Reindeer Games, in the beauty of the choir singing at the Christmas Concert, or in the quiet of the Longest Night Service. It may also be found in a simple prayer, the lights shining through the night, or returning to that old story again and listening for God’s new word today.

You may have heard it called a “reverse coloring” or “blob art.” The premise is simple—first someone (or you) make blobs of color. The shape doesn’t matter, the colors don’t matter, just blobs of paint, random brush strokes, even the ring of a coffee cup left behind on a piece of paper can work. From there, you are challenged to transform it into something. A fantastical beast? A comfy chair?  A complex flower? As one art teacher explained to me, “It is an exercise in seeing and imagining rather than the mechanics of drawing.”

I often think of my ministry in similar ways. As we imagine a year ahead, we know some of what we will be facing, but most of it is a mystery. Blobs are beginning to form, but there’s so much we don’t yet know. Is that the right classroom for a child? Is that friendship going to flourish or fail? Will they love or hate being in a play? Will they ever remember their lunch on a busy morning? Some blobs look ominous and others have such incredible potential.

This Sunday after church, we will pause for a moment of prayer before the start of the school year. Anyone with a backpack, school bag, or just a desire to take a deep breath is invited to attend. It will be an exercise in seeing, rather than in the mechanics of being a good student. We’re going to speak our hopes for the year ahead. We’re going to ask God to help hold some of our worries. We’re going to encourage one another. We are going to pause and remember that while we’re still seeing blobs, God is already at work and invite us to create something beautiful alongside the creator.

As you think about the children, teachers, school administrators, coaches, parents, guardians and grandparents around you, here is a prayer to start the year:

Bless your child for the year ahead.
Bless these eyes that they will look with kindness
and with awe on the world you created.
Bless these ears that they will hear words that help her grow.
Bless this voice as it speaks so that her words build up others.
Bless this mind with curiosity and wisdom.
Bless these shoulders that no burden is too heavy.
Bless these hands to do your work.
Bless these feet to walk in your way.
Bless this heart to grow and grow filled with your love.
Bless each breath and each step as you bless your child today and always. 

Amen.

Fred Rogers was famous for saying, “Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that’s mentionable can be more manageable.”  Our children are deeply aware of injustice in the world. They see, hear, and notice that people are treated differently and have access to different resources. Often, we allow children to sit with those observations. As adults, it can be difficult to talk about sad and difficult topics with children, so we remain silent, and children are left wondering what can be done.

Over the past few weeks, we have had the opportunity to talk about the hurt and reality that there are children who do not have all the supplies that they need to start the school year. It is not an easy conversation, but it is an important one. While we name this injustice, we also remind children that they have agency in helping our neighbors near and far.

The Backpack Project is one of the tools we use to help children learn more about service, justice, and our obligation to care for one another. It is powerful to see supplies, packed backpacks, and donations arrive to make the project possible. Our students learn about how these backpacks are used by our partners at Gemma Services to support children at the start of the school year. This year was a little different. Our students made a bold decision. In the past, we have provided crayons and either colored pencils or markers. This year, our students asked that their offering be used to help purchase extra markers and colored pencils so that each backpack would include all three items. When your offering is measured in quarters and dimes, it’s a big decision to commit $100.

Last week, because of your generosity, children were able to start filling up backpacks. The project will continue this Sunday. Next Tuesday, more than 75 backpacks and a cash donation to help cover needed supplies will go to Gemma Services. Those backpacks will join 100s of others that will then be sent out. Each backpack is a testimony that we can work together and fight the injustice we see all while helping our neighbors near and far.

The Wednesday before camp begins marks the start of a precarious countdown. It’s the moment we start moving our carefully laid out supplies and begin setting up shop in the Ministries Center.  This Wednesday, we were facing a bit of a conundrum. Looking at the radar, there was a large swath of green heading for us.  In the education building, there were boxes and baskets packed with supplies, giant tissue paper flowers, and a team of volunteers with the singular question, “Can we beat the rain?”

“Of course we can.” Everyone moved into action: boxes that were larger than the volunteers, carts packed a bit beyond their capacity, carefully prepared props, and a pile of tarps all started to make their way across campus. Even when the sky began to spritz, the team didn’t slow down.

On the one hand, Vacation Bible Camp is a week designed for our youngest members and friends to learn more about God and themselves. But camp is also an expression of the church.  It is a multigenerational affair with an 80-year age span. It is a leadership incubator with our youth stepping up to lead and to guide. Camp is an expression of gifts as adults share their expertise and their willingness to learn.  It is an expression of love shared in 1,000 different ways from the materials you collected that will become art projects, gardens, bird feeders, instruments, and more. Camp is love expressed in the time given to preparing materials, and in those who take a week of vacation to serve. Camp is the trust families extend by bringing their children to our care.

I have one last request!  Please keep VBC in your prayers next week:

• Pray for our 3-year-old campers as they experience camp for the first time.
• Pray for our Prek-3^rd-grade campers as they explore God’s Very Good Creation.
• Pray for our 4^th and 5^th graders (and their leaders!!) as they head out into the community to serve.
• Pray for our youth volunteers as they step into leadership.
• Pray for our grown-ups as they pour themselves into a high-energy week.
• Pray that we stay cool, despite the heat.
• Pray for wonder and awe to shape our time together.
• Pray that every child has a sense of belonging.
• Pray for new friendships to grow.
• Pray that we don’t miss the incredible gift of growing in faith together.

My preschool teacher, Jossette Maddison, taught us to sing “Jesus loves me” in French, Spanish, and American Sign Language. We spent hours on the playground singing at the top of our lungs, sometimes merging three languages at once, but never doubting the meaning of the words. I remember the first night at church camp, gathered around a fire singing, “Be Thou My Vision” as the words took on new meaning when it was accompanied only by the sound of a river and the wind winding through aspens. Despite a language barrier, I knew it was “Christ the Lord is Risen Today!” being sung in a packed Catholic church at 6:30 am in Chengdu, China, and I even knew when to sing the “Alleluias!”

At different stages in my life, different hymns have provided comfort and guidance. There was a period of Taizé music that taught me how to meditate on the word of God. There was a period of ancient hymns that gave me a rich theological vocabulary and compelling images of the divine. There was even a brief foray into praise music that taught me something new about worship. At each stage, these hymns, ancient and modern, helped to show me that the church could be bigger than I had imagined. At each stage, the music helped remind me that I was connected to a community far beyond the one I thought I knew. Even the progression of hymnals from the Red to the Blue to the Purple was a visual sign that the church continues to grow.

Sometimes when we are surrounded by stone and reading ancient texts, it’s easy to forget how dynamic the church is. This Sunday, we will celebrate a church that is alive and growing. We will celebrate as we recognize our 5th graders receiving hymnals and being welcomed into Youth Ministry. They are closing out their time in Children’s Ministry and beginning something new. They will teach all of us about God’s invitation to continue exploring our faith in new ways. When they receive their hymnals, they will be tied back to a man who loved the church deeply and who hoped these words would help guide a new generation of Christians. We will pause and offer our prayers and encouragement to our High School Seniors who are also leaving known things behind and are stepping into something new, and not yet defined. In that moment, we will be praying for one another, remembering that no matter what, God goes before and with us. When we leave worship, we will be invited to connect with our Confirmation Class as they share their Confirmation Projects in the Gym. An opportunity to learn how spirituality looks and feels to a new generation.

Our worship on Sunday will be different. Woven in with our celebration of our 5th graders and our Seniors will be an exercise reflecting on who we are as a living congregation through this year’s Hymn Fest. As we acknowledge the growth in our young people, we will also celebrate our own growth as a community. Through the words of the hymns, the beauty of the music, and the collective work of singing together, we will celebrate and embody the growing, learning, loving church God calls us to be. What a day to celebrate!

Just 144 days or 3,456 hours or ~29,000 episodes of Bluey until the start of this year’s Vacation Bible Camp! Beginning on June 23, our congregation will welcome over 150 children to see God at work, experience belonging, and explore faith in new ways. Each year, we select a theme that weaves together an important value of our congregation, core bible stories that define our faith, and the unique learning needs of our youngest members. This year’s theme explores God’s good creation and our place within it. We will learn about light, water, land, plants, and animals. We will also practice what it means to be caretakers of this beautiful creation.

I can’t fully describe the energy that fills the church when children are joyfully singing, enthusiastically exploring, and carefully considering where God is and how God is speaking today, but I hope each of you has the opportunity to experience it in person. If you would like to learn more about VBC and opportunities to help, please feel free to contact me. We’ll have meetings for new volunteers in the spring. . Volunteers can commit to helping in a number of different ways: (1) preparation, (2) working with a station/rotation, (3) working with a group of students, or (4) working behind the scenes.

Moreover, if you know someone interested in coming to camp as a camper, please register soon! Camp is already filling up! If you have a potential camper, please .

Finally, please keep VBC in your prayers. Pray for the students we will welcome, for the discerning volunteers, and for our church to be a place of safety and welcome for all of God’s Children.

“It will be better than Gordon Ramsey’s!” The statement was definitive and expressed a level of confidence I would not usually extend to bulk garlic powder, dried parsley, onion salt, and plain butter. However, with the energy that can only come from 4th and 5th-grade workers, the ingredients combined into what became incredible garlic butter. Similarly, ingredients were layered to create trays of lasagna, and the cookie dough was measured to fill four cookie sheets with neat round balls, just waiting to be baked.

Last Sunday, our children prepared a meal for their neighbors. Over the past few years, we have had the opportunity to build a strong relationship with the Ardmore Food Pantry. We have collected food, students have gone to Saint Mary’s Church to sort and bag, and we have prayed for and talked about the work they are doing to make sure our neighbors have good food to eat. Last week, we stepped into a new dimension of our partnership—making a meal.

While the Ardmore Food Pantry provides groceries for neighbors facing food insecurity, Director Beth Tiewater recognized the compounding hunger for community and respite. On Monday nights, while clients wait, a simple meal is provided. As a church, we’ve committed to help support this emerging ministry by providing one meal a month. Our first two meals were successful. The food was well received, and it was powerful to see people connecting around tables, taking deep breaths at the end of a long day, and sharing a meal together.

Our students are already planning the next meal to serve on November 11. There’s a big push for brownies over cookies and a question: can we find a way to make fried chicken? With each idea shared, with every dish prepped, and with each piece of garlic bread, our students are living out their faith: Loving God and loving neighbor and pouring that love into everything they do.

Here are ways you can help!

Support On-Going Food Collections: In the education building, we focus on one food category a month. This month is canned veggies, beans, and fruit. Our goal is to collect 75 cans.

Help with one of the Meal Preps: Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you would like to volunteer the weeks when Sunday school classes prepare meals.

Come and hear from Beth Tiewater, Director of AFP, on Sunday, November 10, at 11:15 a.m. in the Fullerton Room.

Get Ready to Volunteer! Starting in February, this will be an opportunity open to the whole church. Be on the lookout for how to sign up and get involved.