Connections

Today at lunch Elizabeth thought her sandwich looked like a sailboat. This started her down an imagination journey with pirates and such.

Then she changed to Jesus walking on the water. She used the remaining crust edge of one of her triangles for Jesus walking on the water and her cheesestick represented the disciple. So she said, "God** is the bread; Peter is the cheese." And I thought that was a rather appropriate statement for the story. :-)

From the statement of God being the bread, she remembered the other Sunday when she and the other children joined the service for Communion. She spoke of the pastor breaking the bread and what the elements represent.

I am very proud of her making the connections and really listening to the pastor when she came in the service. I love that this church we visited has started to bring the children into the service each first Sunday so they can celebrate Communion with their families.

Okay, so this has started me on a bit of a thought tangent: We've been thinking a lot about what we hope to find in a church here. And while children's programs are fun and can be great, it seems that in so many churches the goal is just to have a place for parents to send their children to be entertained. My purpose in attending church is not for entertainment. Yes, I hope the pastor is not too boring, and I like certain types of music. But my desire is to learn and grow spiritually, and this is what I desire for my children. I don't like when a church practically shoves babies and children out of the worship service. I want my children to know they are welcome there. I do understand they can be a distraction at times, but they need to learn how to be part of the congregation....not just when they are 13 and sulk in the chair because they're forced to be there. But then again, Elizabeth will just about always choose to go to children's classes over staying with us....even at a brand new church. Sorry, for rambling. Just trying to sort through some of my thoughts. :-)

**BTW, I do realize I wrote "God" in her quote. That's what she told me. I struggle with how to address this. I don't completely want to correct her because we have taught her that we believe Jesus was fully God when He was on Earth, just as He was fully man. And if I do happen to gently mention that she should say Jesus, she says, "Jesus is God." Absolutely right! So is this something I should just let go and show her by example when I tell the stories? Any suggestions?