John has started attending church services with us. At our church children age four and under can attend children's playtime during service, which Amelia did until she turned five. Amelia seemed to enjoy the playtime and I enjoyed having an hour uninterrupted to focus on the service.
However, John has expressed interest in attending "big church" with us so I try to take him when I am up for the challenge. John is actually pretty good at being quiet when he has to and his favorite activity is children's time. Just before the sermon, kids are invited up for a short lesson with the children's minister. I can tell that John thinks it is fun to talk to the front of the sanctuary with his sister.
Today John was very vocal in answering Pastor Rachel's questions about the story. So vocal in fact that two different church members came up to us after service to comment on "how funny" and "so outgoing" John was during children's time. John made comments that made the entire congregation laugh, and I tried not to feel embarrased since he clearly was engaged and was just being honest with his thoughts. But of all the kids up there today, John was the only one who spoke aloud on his own while Pastor Rachel was talking with them.
The theme of the lesson was that today is the fourth Sunday of Easter, and that even though we celebrated Jesus rising from the dead four Sundays ago with traditional Easter activities we still celebrate for 50 days after that Sunday. She explained this, and then said that each year we will celebrate Easter for that long to remind us about how much Jesus loves us.
Pastor Rachel: "So next year when it comes time to remember Easter, to remember the story about Jesus on the cross and then rising from the dead, we will do that and then celebrate his rising for 50 days afterwards. Even though we have easter eggs and chocolate bunnies and all the fun things you enjoy with your family on Easter Sunday, we always want to remember how much Jesus loves us."
John (raising his hand): "Pastor Rachel, can I ask you something? Did you know that my dad threw out all of our Easter eggs? I was so angry with him. Can you believe that?"
Pastor Rachel laughed (so did the rest of the congregation) and then got the children to refocus on the idea of why those who believe in Jesus are called Christians. She said that it's because we are always trying to act in the ways Jesus would want us to, and that we are called Christians because we are all continuing to learn about Jesus. Pastor Rachel said that just as children learn stories about Jesus in Sunday School, moms and dads and other adults are always learning about God too and how important he is to us.
Pastor Rachel:" Even the oldest people you know, even me and the other pastors in this church, everybody, is always learning new things about God and what it means to have God in your life."
John (not even raising his hand this time): "Even astronauts? Are they learning about Jesus all the time too?"
Pastor Rachel: "Yes, John, even astronauts".
I don't know where the astronaut comment came from, but John's reference to his dad throwing out the eggs was because we used to keep spare eggs in the garage and every now and then during non-Easter season the kids would hide them for each other in the backyard as a game. Scott must have gotten tired of seeing them on the shelf so they were thrown out the last time he cleaned the garage. The children found out that they were gone and were upset.
Anyway, I don't know that my translation of John's comments came across well here, but he definitely stole the show during children's time and the fact that people came up to comment on it afterwards makes me wonder if we are in for repeated performances on Sundays to come.
However, John has expressed interest in attending "big church" with us so I try to take him when I am up for the challenge. John is actually pretty good at being quiet when he has to and his favorite activity is children's time. Just before the sermon, kids are invited up for a short lesson with the children's minister. I can tell that John thinks it is fun to talk to the front of the sanctuary with his sister.
Today John was very vocal in answering Pastor Rachel's questions about the story. So vocal in fact that two different church members came up to us after service to comment on "how funny" and "so outgoing" John was during children's time. John made comments that made the entire congregation laugh, and I tried not to feel embarrased since he clearly was engaged and was just being honest with his thoughts. But of all the kids up there today, John was the only one who spoke aloud on his own while Pastor Rachel was talking with them.
The theme of the lesson was that today is the fourth Sunday of Easter, and that even though we celebrated Jesus rising from the dead four Sundays ago with traditional Easter activities we still celebrate for 50 days after that Sunday. She explained this, and then said that each year we will celebrate Easter for that long to remind us about how much Jesus loves us.
Pastor Rachel: "So next year when it comes time to remember Easter, to remember the story about Jesus on the cross and then rising from the dead, we will do that and then celebrate his rising for 50 days afterwards. Even though we have easter eggs and chocolate bunnies and all the fun things you enjoy with your family on Easter Sunday, we always want to remember how much Jesus loves us."
John (raising his hand): "Pastor Rachel, can I ask you something? Did you know that my dad threw out all of our Easter eggs? I was so angry with him. Can you believe that?"
Pastor Rachel laughed (so did the rest of the congregation) and then got the children to refocus on the idea of why those who believe in Jesus are called Christians. She said that it's because we are always trying to act in the ways Jesus would want us to, and that we are called Christians because we are all continuing to learn about Jesus. Pastor Rachel said that just as children learn stories about Jesus in Sunday School, moms and dads and other adults are always learning about God too and how important he is to us.
Pastor Rachel:" Even the oldest people you know, even me and the other pastors in this church, everybody, is always learning new things about God and what it means to have God in your life."
John (not even raising his hand this time): "Even astronauts? Are they learning about Jesus all the time too?"
Pastor Rachel: "Yes, John, even astronauts".
I don't know where the astronaut comment came from, but John's reference to his dad throwing out the eggs was because we used to keep spare eggs in the garage and every now and then during non-Easter season the kids would hide them for each other in the backyard as a game. Scott must have gotten tired of seeing them on the shelf so they were thrown out the last time he cleaned the garage. The children found out that they were gone and were upset.
Anyway, I don't know that my translation of John's comments came across well here, but he definitely stole the show during children's time and the fact that people came up to comment on it afterwards makes me wonder if we are in for repeated performances on Sundays to come.
After church it was time to burn off some energy (for the kids at least) so we went to the park. Our weather has been absolutely spring-perfect gorgeous all weekend long that it would be sinful to stay indoors. I ran the kids ragged this weekend visiting various parks, playing in the backyard, and riding bikes and scooters around the block. Below is a shot of John chasing random kids on the playground, of course looking quite athletic in his "exercise clothes" and his beloved Crocs.
Amelia loves the monkey bars! This was a new park for us, one where Amelia had never mastered the monkey bars before. Instead of traditional bars placed in a row there were discs placed on an angle, so that they spun once weight was placed on them. Amelia was quite strategic in trying to figure out how to use the spinning to get her connected to the next disc, and thus travel across the playground.
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