July 23, 2000

July 23, 2000
Rose McLean

It was a great week! We had about 200 persons here for Vacation Bible School and up at Spruce Acres for Day-Camp. Kids were singing, playing, learning, making crafts, worshipping, eating, and helping. Adults were too, except they were working harder at it. Teen-agers were saving the day at every turn by providing extra-hands and energy. It was a great week!

The theme for VBS/DayCamp this year was Can Do Club. The idea was that our club includes everyone and everyone Can Do positive things to help in God’s world. Each day had a Bible story and a theme that was carried out in the crafts, games, music, and even the refreshments! Although I’m still trying to figure out the theological significance of gummy worms.

Our theme on Monday was "Welcome". The story was the first scripture Will read. The NRSV titles that pericope, "Jesus blesses Little Children." It seems people were bringing their children to Jesus so that he could touch them. I guess it was a sort of a blessing they wanted, or maybe since by now Jesus’ reputation as a healer had become well known, parents were bringing their kids to Jesus hoping that if he touched them it would ward off illness and other misfortunes. You can only imagine the chaos that was being created.

If you were here on any morning this week between 8:45 and 9:15 when parents were bringing their children and they were gathering in the Triangle Room trying to get with the correct class group and Day Camp kids were waiting in the Bayshore Foyer for transportation to Spruce Acres, you had a small glimpse of the confusion that surrounded Jesus.

You can imagine each parent trying to work their child up to Jesus for a blessing. The disciples were just trying to help and maintain order. You can almost hear them saying, "get those children out of here; the Master has important work to do. He doesn’t have time for your child!" The scripture says that when Jesus saw what they were doing, he was indignant. He expressed his anger at this unjust treatment of the children. He went even further to not only intentionally welcome the children to himself, but also to hold them up as an example of who will be welcome in the kingdom of God.

"The mission of St. John is to be a welcoming family joyfully sharing God’s light." What can we learn about being welcoming from this example of Jesus in our Scripture? Sometimes when I am in the building alone in the evening and I see someone I don’t know wandering down the hall, my question to them gives the message they aren’t really welcome. "Can I help you?" I ask, which really means "what business do you have here". It was the question I asked the woman who walked into my office one time who was looking around at my considerable disarray. "Can I help you?" I asked. "Oh," she said with sudden realization written all over her face. "This is your office. I thought it was a thrift shop."

Sometimes there are visitors or work teams who come to church and rather than being welcomed, they get the feeling that they are trespassing.

Jesus welcomed the littlest and the least. The church is the body of Christ and as such, we should also welcome all who enter here.

On Tuesday, the scripture was 1 Samuel 3:1-20: Samuel’s calling and prophetic activity. Perhaps you know the story of Samuel serving the priest, Eli, in the temple as a result of a promise his mother, Hannah, made to God if she could have a son. Eli and Samuel both gone to bed; Eli in his room, and Samuel in the temple. Samuel hears his name called and assuming it is Eli, runs dutifully to the old man and says, "here I am for you called me." Eli responds that he had not called. This is repeated three times before Eli grabs a ticket on the clue bus and instructs Samuel to respond the next time with these words: "speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." Samuel does as he was told and sure enough, the Lord gives him a message to pass on to Eli. This is the part of the story that we are less familiar with. Do you remember what the message was that Samuel was to give? It was not good news. As a matter of fact, God says that when people hear about it both of their ears will tingle. The bad news was that Eli’s sons had blasphemed God and Eli had not restrained them. God continues that no amount of sacrifice or offering will appease God’s anger. The whole house will be punished.

Eli had been faithful to God, but he hadn’t been a very good parent. His sons had run a-muck. Let this be a lesson unto you: being a strict parent is a good thing. It is a hard thing, but it is a good thing. I know. I’m the world’s foremost authority on marriage and motherhood having never married or given birth, I have a perfect record.

It is also good to note that Samuel did as Eli told him and gave the message God spoke. That, too, was not easy, but Samuel was strong and obedient. Samuel told the truth in love.

Day three’s theme was "show love" and was the story of Miriam and Moses. You remember when the edict was given by Pharoah to kill all the Hebrew boy babies, Moses’ smart mama and sister plotted and planned how they could save him by floating him down the river at the precise time that the princess came to take her bath. They trusted her budding maternal instincts to save the child and even arranged for the mother to become Moses’ wet nurse. This took considerable courage on the part of all of these women. First, Moses was hidden in his home for three months while his mother defied the Pharoah’s order. Second, Miriam approached a member of the royal family to offer a suggestion. A very bold act indeed. And third, Pharoah’s daughter was willing to defy her father. All of these women took a risk so that Moses could live.

You and I know the rest of the story and can see how God was at work so that Moses could ultimately lead the people out of slavery. But at the time, those women were acting out of love and compassion.

I don’t doubt that there is a parent or sister or brother sitting here that would not risk their own life for the welfare of another family member. But would you act as courageously for any of God’s children? I pray that I won’t ever be put in that position. I’m sort of a coward. I profess to believe strongly in gun control and I contribute money to that cause. But I don’t even have the courage to put a bumper sticker on my car, because I don’t want the criticism from those who disagree with that issue.

Trust God. Ah, the familiar story of David and Goliath was Thursday’s theme. You know the story: Goliath was the huge, arrogant Philistine who came out daily to challenge the Israelite Army and in doing so taunted them and blasphemed their God. You would have thought it would have made them fighting mad. But they were too scared. But David who was there inadvertently because he was bringing supplies to his brothers who were in the army, heard the challenge. "What’s this?" he said, in so many words. "I’m not afraid to fight. God has protected me from lions and bears when I was watching the sheep, and I trust God to protect me now." He took his puny little slingshot and three stones and felled the well-armored giant with one shot. Then to add insult to injury, he used Goliath’s own sword to kill and decapitate him.

I don’t mind telling you I had problems telling this story to little children who had just finished singing "we love, because God first loved us." Exactly what is the message here? Isn’t it a greater blasphemy to the God of love and forgiveness to kill someone who blasphemes God? The message this story teaches is that we can trust God. I hope the children didn’t learn that it’s ok to kill in some circumstances.

These violent bloody stories from the Old Testament make great skits and musicals, but thank God for Jesus who came to reveal the God of love and the New Testament which tells that story.

Our final story comes from the New Testament: the feeding of the 5,000. Our daily theme was reach out. How can we give God’s love to others. The answer is modeled by the boy in the story.

This is not a lesson in sharing what we have, for to share is to give part of what we have to others. No, the boy didn’t share. He gave all. We are called to give all to Jesus, not just a little bit, saving the greater portion for ourselves. Have you been holding out on Jesus? Have you been afraid that if you do completely commit your life to him you won’t have any left for yourself? It’s a scary thought alright!

But what does the rest of the story tell us? Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks. This is one of the few stories that is recorded in all four gospels. In the other three, Jesus doesn’t simply give thanks. The scriptures say that he looked to heaven and then blessed the loaves. The result of this blessing is overwhelming. Not only were all 5,000 people completely satisfied at this "all you can eat" buffet, there were 12 baskets of food left over.

I suspect you have a firm grasp of the obvious here: when we completely give all that we have to our Lord, our blessings will be multiplied and all will be satisfied. That’s quite a promise.

We certainly didn’t give all of our financial resources this week. But the children did contribute over $450 to the Red Cross to meet the current needs of the many families who have been affected by fire this summer. That is something to celebrate.

So what did we learn at our Can Do Club this week? To be welcoming, to be strong, to show love, to trust God, and to reach out. Welcome to the club.

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