Play! Listen! Talk!

Have you ever been totally prepared for Sunday School and instead of the usual numbers you were expecting, only one child showed up? What did you do? Teach your class anyway? Was it worth it?

Well, that was my experience today! My husband and I had a story about Jesus ready to tell, a game to play (tossing beanbags onto paper-plate faces), play dough objects to make and lots of pretend kitchen toys. We were all set to play, listen and talk about being thankful for the good things God gives us—just like the one man who came back to thank Jesus after being healed of leprosy. But it was one of those Sundays when many families were gone on our annual church retreat, so we had one preschooler—Zoey—who came to class. Zoey’s mom offered to keep her in church, but Zoey chose to come play with us. And so we started in: Sunday School for One!

We told the Bible story, we tossed beanbags, we “cooked” and served chicken and hot chocolate in our pretend kitchen, and we talked about thanking Jesus. Tonight as I asked myself, “Was it worth it?” I realized that every week Sunday School is about the one child. Even when the room is full, it’s about each individual child. So I hope Zoey enjoyed Sunday School for One today (I know I did!), and I hope that in the middle of lots of kids and lots of activity, I remember to look for ways to connect with each one.

Do you ever wake up on Sunday morning and think how good it would feel to just stay in bed? Or how relaxing it would be to leisurely enjoy that second cup of coffee? Believe it or not, even after teaching Sunday School for many years, I’m often reluctant to get up and get going to church. You’d think I’d have learned by now!

Here’s what I’m (still!) learning: my supply of energy gets filled up by teaching kids at church! It starts when I see my co-teachers faithfully arriving—keeping their commitment just like me. It builds when I see the look of anxiety on a preschooler’s face change into a big smile when she sees that her teacher is ready to welcome her. It gets stronger when I hear about an active boy who got the message of Barnabas (also known in today’s story as Mr. Helper!). By the end of the morning, I’m so thankful for the opportunity I’ve had to hang out with my church family and to play, listen and talk with kids about Jesus.

Vacations are great, and time off is great, too! But really, nothing’s greater than getting to be part of a team of people who give and receive energy every Sunday morning! I’ll try to do a better job of remembering the words of Isaiah 40:31: “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.”

Have you ever come home from church and asked your child “What did you learn today in Sunday School?” We did that when our oldest son was four years old. We figured that on Easter Sunday it should be pretty obvious to everyone what was learned that day. Well, much to our surprise, our son answered “Jesus was in prison.” What??? We couldn’t believe our ears! Jesus in prison? On Easter?

Suddenly, though, we realized that all morning Andrew had been hearing the words “Jesus is risen!” Preschoolers don’t say the word “risen” or even hear the word used in everyday conversation, so Andrew automatically thought of a word he had heard of: “prison.” He knew there were Bible stories about people who had been put in prison. Once we figured out the problem, we knew what to explain. “The word ‘risen’ means to be alive again. On Easter, God made Jesus alive.”

This story is one I like to remember because it encourages me to watch the words I say—in the middle of playing, listening and talking, I need to use words that kids understand. Because I don’t want them to miss out on the good things to know about Jesus! (And I'm glad my curriculum gives me the words kids understand best!)

Check out my Wordle! It came from Wordle.net, a website that creates cool "word clouds" from the text in your blog. I simply entered my blog address and it created my Wordle for me. The largest words are the ones I use most often. Here's what mine looks like right now. It's just what I'd want it to look like: talking about following Jesus in every lesson!
You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. Have some fun yourself at Wordle.net :)

I actually started this blog the day BEFORE Easter—just because I was struck by all the unknowns. Would we have enough supplies—and teachers--for the kids who came? Would we have kids who were fearful and upset at being left with unfamiliar teachers in unfamiliar classrooms? Would the worship service greeters remember to tell families where the children’s ministry programs are located? And last, but not least, in the middle of all these unknowns, would we be able to connect each child to the life-changing news of Jesus? I ended up doing a lot of praying on Saturday, thinking about Easter’s coming!

Now, AFTER Easter Sunday, I’ll let you be the judge of whether my prayers were answered. We had enough materials to go around and we had enough helping hands so that each child was welcome (some of our teachers called themselves the unofficial Life Saver Club). And peeking into our classrooms you could see happy babies in the nursery (despite some being left for the first time), a caring preschooler who gently applied a bandage to her friend’s blister from new Easter shoes, and two older kids who lost teeth within minutes of each other during the Bible story. In the midst of all the activity, the story of Jesus’ resurrection and His love was not only told, but demonstrated. So now, I’m praying again—this time, thanking God for His goodness which never fails.