Re: [ELCA-G] VBS: Glitter glue vs. memorizing the SmallCat

[John M. Hudson]

My prob with VBS is the cutesy themes. But I'm not a kid, either. But I didn't like cutesy themes when I was a kid.

So show me, please, how to teach the SC engagingly to little kids and I'll take it to the Xian Ed team. My idea to pay $100 to the first person who could recite the SC to me went over with a big thud. But I'll try anything once.

Another rquestion might be: Has VBS run its course?

Curmudgingly,

joHn

-----Original Message-----
>From: "Greg M. Johnson" <pter...@gmail.com>
>Sent: Jun 29, 2008 7:14 AM
>To: elc...@googlegroups.com
>Subject: [ELCA-G] VBS: Glitter glue vs. memorizing the SmallCat
>
>How do your congregations weigh in on this spectrum?
>
>Late one summer, about ten years ago, our congregation put examples of all
>the various crafts made by its Vacation Bible School on display in the
>narthex for folks to see. Our congregation had an Affiliated Pastor with a
>good sense of humor at the time. He said that when he saw all these crafts,
>he remarked to his wife that if he were running VBS, the kids would instead
>be memorizing the Small Catechism. And he told us how his wife rebutted,
>" And if you ran it, there would only be two kids there, and they'd be there
>because their parents forced them."
>
>So how do your congregations weigh in on the spectrum between glitter glue
>and rote memorization?
>
>Anyone with knowledge of how 16th-century VBS'es were run?
>
>
>
>--
>"Too many lifetimes are consumed by an irrational rebellion against the
>bullies of one's youth."
>
>Greg M. Johnson
>http://pterandon.blogspot.com
>
>>

John M. Hudson
895 Brunswick Forge Road
Troutville, Virginia 24175
Home 540.992.2058
Cell 540.293.0478

[Greg M. Johnson]

I may have told you I grew up LC-MS in Lynchburg, VA-- Jerry Falwell's town.

I have the fondest memories of attending a VBS in a Southern Baptist Convention- affiliated church that was only a block from my house.   (Jerry had left the SBC).

One thing is that a lady there gave me a silver dollar for each testament of the bible whose books I memorized in order.   That was an invaluable skill to have learned, and she made it great fun for me.  I think about that lady almost every time I'm asked to locate a less-popular book of the bible.   I've been trying to get up the nerve to suggest that to my cong's BoE.

Another is that I got exposed to "Thalidomide babies" who were now  my age-- they were brought in one day. I don't think I'd ever seen a person handicapped in this way.

Another is that I had the most positive experiences in ecumenism as a kid.   Jerry's agents often roamed our neighborhood, and at least once these adults approached me when I was all by myself, and told me that I ought to join a "real church".    VBS at that nice SBC church gave me the opportunity to meet nice and earnest people from another denomination who didn't have two heads.  It has given me also an innate fondness for the concept of "neighborhood" church-- I have this automatic fondness whenever I see a small church in a small town that folks can walk to.



I'm sure you were more than half joking with your suggestion-- the SmallCat would take like a year of catechismal instruction to learn, wouldn't it?

That all being said,  I was glad that visiting the local Assembly of God's VBS didn't fit into our summer schedule.  Unfortunately,  our congregation's VBS is less than a half day, and this didn't fit our schedule, even though my wife is only working part-time.   We did go to the Chinese Church's  VBS and found it uplifting.

--
"You need to come to church in the first place precisely because you are first of this world, not apart from it. You need to embrace Christ precisely because you have sins to wash away - because you are human and need an ally in this difficult journey." -- Barack Obama, June 28, 2006