myopic pilgrim

Some things I’ve said during weboggle.

What’s a snet? Since when was that a word?
I got the word shoe, but not shoes?
How can someone with a handle like “b00tylube” score higher than me?

And yet I don’t stop playing.

This is the last game.
Ever.

The Save Darfur Coalition is calling for a National Day of Action on September 21. They report that leaders of religious and humanitarian aid agencies will be in Washington, D.C. to will meet with elected officials to discuss the Darfur crisis. You can support this by planning an event that brings attention to the genocide in Darfur. Now’s the time to start planning.

You can do something relatively large like asking local bands to play at a show where people can hear news about the genocide. Have someone tell the stories of the people of Darfur. Give them something to take home and some action they can take. You can order wristbands for people to purchase to raise money.

You can do something modest too like just inviting your friends to learn more about Darfur. You can pray. You can rent or purchase a movie about genocide to watch (you can purchase Sudan: The Quick and Terrible from here). You can coach each other on how to talk about Darfur.

[tags]activism, Darfur, genocide[/tags]

My prayers to You are a trail of my brokenness.
They mark where I have fallen short,
fallen apart,
fallen behind.
You are gracious to me.
You do not leave me in my weakness.
You bandage me up, disinfect my cuts and scrapes.
You ice my bruises and give me a place to rest my head.
I called out to You and You answered me,
time and again You answered me
My prayers to You are a trail of my redemption.
They mark where I was rescued, when I was set back on the road.

Rachelle from Monkfish Abbey wrote not too long ago contrasting two VBS things she took her children to. Apparently, she brings her two daughters (who do not do to Sunday school) to a different VBS each month. She’s encourages her children’s spirituality in more of (what others may call) a touchy-feely organic way as opposed to a programmatic way. Still, in June she brought her kids to the super church in town to attend VBS (written in-house). It was slick and smooth and her kids had a great time. In July she took them to an Episcopal church where they what they called a “cathedral camp.” There was no chubby bunny to be found and no thumping sound system. Did her kids like it? In fact, they did.

Vacation Bible School (VBS) is a week long day camp that some churches sponsor. It serves mainly as outreach tool though it seems most times the kids who attend are already in Christian homes. I’m sure there are churches out there who create and run a program of their own creation, but many churches purchase a themed program. This week is our VBS and we’re doing Group Publishing’s Serengeti Trek. And I have to tell you, I like it.

It seems scalable, so it’s not just for large church. You can follow the step by step instructions what to do and what to say, which is helpful if you’re totally lost or annoying if you’re pretty confident in what you’re doing. But if you’re confident, you can glean the main points you have to cover and just say it in your own words.

There are two kinds of teachers, one who prepares a single station (e.g. crafts, games, stories, etc.) and one who guides groups to the different stations. The groups are mixed ages, which is pretty cool. The interaction between the big kids and little kids can be fruitful. Prayer happens all the times in different ways, including call and response and praying for kids with different jobs.

Besides learning the key verse and lesson every day, they encourage the kids to act out what they learned. They recommend bribing the kids, but rather encourage kids to do it because it’s good and right and God likes it. I like the tone of it. It’s not manipulative, trying to get kids to say the prayer (you know the one). It has a genuine desire to have kids meet God.