Promises to Keep

"It's bubbling, it's bubbling, it's bubbling in my soul," my husband sang as he played the guitar and led the children in the spirited song, his favorite.  We, along with our son, were doing our first night of kids' church, and we were in for a delightful evening.

"I wish we had some bubbles to go with that song," I remarked, to which one child said, "I'll get some!" rushing out and returning a few minutes later with bottles of bubbles from her Sunday School classroom.  We let them take turns blowing bubbles while the others sang.  Later, winding up the evening, they participated even more enthusiastically, singing, dancing and blowing bubbles. Church was never like this!

I loved  working with the children!  Their fresh faces, originality, and enthusiasm were irresistible. Our lesson was on God keeping His promises, with the story of the priest, Zacharias, and the announcement of the angel Gabriel to him that he would have a son to be named John.

As an activity to reinforce the lesson, the kids were given twisty-sticks, a plastic pipe-cleaner like material to sculpt into angel shapes of their own.  The results were impressive!  The angel one boy made definitely looked as if it could have been Gabriel, with its almost body-builder shape.  Most of the others looked like the typical image with a skirt-like silhouette, but his stood on two strong legs.

"Would you be scared if you saw an angel?" I asked, as per the lesson suggestion.  When one child said an emphatic yes, I asked why, and she replied with up-thrust arms and palms, "Because it's an angel!" Duh!

They had great fun acting out the scene of Zacharias in the temple room (constructed by the kids moving chairs into a square enclosure) where he burned incense (with a yellow crayon).  "Zacharias," a 7-year-old boy, had his lips zipped by the 8-year-old "angel," when he questioned the promise of a son's birth.  Then he blurted the name, "JOHN," getting his speech back when it was time to name the baby.

The children were given time to talk about topics such as school, friends, and feelings chosen from a twisty-puzzle with several categories. One little girl talked about school,  saying she was sad about missing recess to do make-up work, but she was happy she got caught up!  Remarks like these give me insight into their world, learning myself as I teach these angels!