God Community
Repost: Profound Moments in Children’s Ministry from AKAMary.com
May 3, 2012 | 
Author Note: This is a re-post of a recent article from Susan’s blog akamary.com. Used with her permission.
I’m pretty sure that the Sermon this week was on Sacred Space. There was definitely a passage about the church structure looking like an upside-down boat. I didn’t get the whole thesis though, I was distracted…
The story for Children’s Time this week was “The Good Shepherd and the Lost Sheep.” It’s a favorite with the youngest regular attender at our church, so I wasn’t surprised when he practically grabbed it out of my hand as soon as we were done praying. He was nice about it, just overly enthusiastic. What I was surprised about (since it’s been a year since we told this story and 6 months since we told the other Good Shepherd story) was the way he worked with it.
Instead of just setting out the felt pieces to tell the story, he set them out and then went and got every other story we’ve told in Jerusalem for the past 6 months (not the wilderness or water stories, mind you) and set them up IN THEIR RELATIVE PLACES on top of the Good Shepherd story. The Tomb, he placed in the ‘cool green grass’. The Temple faced The Walled Gates on either end of the story, between the ‘good clear water’ and the ‘places of darkness’. The Garden was between ‘the safe sheepfold’ and the ‘places of darkness. The Last Supper table was inside ‘the safe sheepfold’. They were all there in theologically deep ways, with Advent Candles surrounding them. He’s maybe 5.
So, if that wasn’t enough to make me completely miss the sermon (after all, isn’t that a sermon enough?) his sister (2nd grade) asks me (AND I’M QUOTING):
Why did the King of England want to kill all the people who wouldn’t become members of his church?
Seriously? Where is the Left Field that came out of? I mean, I’m glad that they’re smart and asking/exploring deep theology. It makes me all sorts of proud of them. But how am I supposed to explain why, how and with what reaction Henry V broke from the Catholic Church to a 2nd grader in less than 5 minutes? A subject, I’d like to mention, that I’ve never broached with them nor did I even begin to understand it till my last year of college.
I cobbled together a brief explanation of the break of the Church of England from the Catholic Church, but it wasn’t sufficient. Eventually I told her she needed to ask her dad (who studied much Church History). Don’t worry, I returned the freak-out favor prepped him after the worship service by telling him that “You need to talk with your daughter, she’s beginning to ask hard questions…” LOL… *evil grin*
Sacred Space? Yeah, Sunday it was what happened while the adults were busy listening to the sermon. I so never want to grow up 
Did you know I read The Most Anticipated Book Of The Year recently? Read all about it on AKAMartha.com.
Thinking about God…
As part of our “God Community” series, we invited Ginger E. to think with us about God. She’s an active member of FCC Pomona and in the larger Pacific Southwest Region of the Disciples of Christ Church. Ginger was gracious enough to share with us. Here are some of her reflections…
I think about God a lot. That might be because I do serve the church and Regional church in different ways. Certainly God has a presence in my life, I can’t imagine a time when God was not a part of my daily life. God is good, God is great, God is everywhere, God knows what you do, God knows what you think, God knows what you will do before you do it. Wow, God gives me a lot to think about.
In some ways, it’s that Wizard of Oz thing, “ The all knowing, all powerful Oz!” Not behind the curtain, everywhere. I see God in the sky, the earth, the trees, and flowers. I hear God in song and voice, birds singing, voices blending. Easter morning, I heard God in a singer’s voice, a trumpets trill, the bells and organ sounding. And I saw God in the dance of a woman who interprets song in the movement of her limbs, the joyous lifting of her hands and our hearts to God.
…Wondering Questions…
I wonder, how do you think about God?
I wonder… where do you find God in your life?
What did Jesus look like?
What did Jesus look like? Probably not like this! "Buddy Christ" from the movie "Dogma"
The standard picture of Jesus portrays him as White: usually with bond hair and blue eyes. We see this kind of picture so much that we usually don’t question how accurate it is. Sometimes people do a double take or are even offended if they see Jesus portrayed as being another ethnicity or skin color. However, Christians of every color have portrayed him as looking just like themselves. So, what did Jesus look like?
Jesus was definitely not White or light-skinned. The only White people around ancient Judea or Galilee were the Romans.
Jesus was a dark-skinned Mediterranean Jew. The closest we can come to approximating what Jesus looked like with someone alive today would be to look at Jews who are native to Israel/Palestine. They have dark skin, like Arabs. Arabs are a Semitic people, like Jews are, so they are related to Jewish people ethnically.
So, Jesus would have been Arab looking. He probably had long, dark hair and a beard. Razors and scissors were very expensive, so a shave or a haircut would have been rare for poor peasants.
In addition to being dark, Jesus’ skin would have been rough, especially his hands. Jesus skin would have been rough from being out in the warm climate of the ancient Israel/Palestine. His hands would have been rough from the manual labor of a tekton, usually translated as carpenter. The Greek word refers to an artisan, which was a skilled laborer who worked with wood or stone.
Does this mean that we should change all our pictures because they are not historically accurate? I don’t think so. Seeing a picture of Jesus that looks like us, whatever ethnicity we may be, helps us relate to him.
However, it is good to remember that the pictures, like our own mental images of Jesus, are to a certain extant our own projections of how we would like him to be. It is good to let different pictures and different understandings of Jesus challenge our personal images of Jesus, so we can grow spiritually.
…Wondering Questions…
I wonder, what does your mental image of Jesus look like?
I wonder if this description of Jesus’ likely appearance makes you think about him (or other people in this world) differently?
Approaches to Understanding the Bible
Understanding the Bible is a confusing and often frustrating task. To address this topic, we asked Marc R. to think with us a bit about the different approaches people often use.
Almost everyone owns a family Bible. For our family, it was two large white Bibles (about the size of a folded towel) with scary pictures from the Renaissance artist Rafael sprinkled throughout. Such a daunting image! It screams, “go ahead, try to crack my code.” I don’t think this is uncommon frankly. People have Bibles (whether they are large and intimidating, black and skinny, or simply dusty) sitting on bookshelves and coffee tables daring their owners to open them. The problem is that once you open the Bible to reveal its contents, the image of the taunting book does not disappear. Actually, it grows. Its more intimidating. And often times, people close it back up and resolve that the Bible is simply impenetrable. Understanding the Bible, they say, is just simply not their bag of tea.
In this blog post, I want to explore what understanding the Bible really means. Today, I want to uncover some persistent theological misconceptions about the Bible that often formulate how we approach the Bible in the first place. As a Professor, I often tell my students that the question you formulate often dictates the answer you receive. In many ways, Biblical interpretation begins with earnest questions that then shape the answers people receive. Here are just a few approaches:
Understanding The Bible, as God’s word, to have instant answers for my problems.
I call this the chinese fortune cookie approach. It happens like this. I have a problem. I grab the bible, let fate open it where it needs, and point my finger. Whatever is there will certainly help me out. The idea is that the Bible interacts with you and can solve your problems simply by opening it up and reading a passage (as long as you don’t open it up to Lamentations, that is…rim shot please). Approaching the Bible in this way actually has a very risky side to it — people begin to interpret the Bible according to the events and occasions that occur in their own lives. In this way the Bible is not only living, but in fact never static. This approach is in stark contrast to a second (similar approach).
Understanding The Bible to issues Rules and Proclamations that, if I follow them, will Straighten my life out.
When I was in law practice, I had an older friend whose children were in their twenties, and frankly a bunch of hot messes. While having lunch one day he was complaining that his eighteen year old had wrecked the most recent car in his arsenal and said, I just don’t know what to do. I said I have three words for you: “French Foreign Legion.” Let him march his butt around the dessert for three or four years and he’ll figure it out. Well, there is a strong view out there that if I just get in line with what God’s Bible says, then my life will correct itself. In this view, the Bible becomes an unmoving, static and never changing patch of wisdom, or the “how to” manual for healthy living for all time.
These are only two of many approaches to understanding the Bible (and other aspects of faith), which I and other members will post on in the coming months.
…wondering questions…
I wonder, what is your approach to understanding The Bible?
I wonder, how you would define “The Bible”?
The God Community Experiment
Susan Reed edits our blog & built our website. She is the coordinator for the “God Community” experiment.
Every day people search for God on Google. Every month millions of people type in deep theological and spiritual questions into an automated program searching for reflections because they’re too embarassed, scared or lost to ask them of someone they know. Or they don’t have anyone to ask. They type in things like:
- having fiath in god
- god where are you
- kingdom of god
- searching for god
- why god
The God Community experiment is a 100-post experiment on our church’s blog by lay members of our congregation. It is an attempt to give visitors and readers from around the world a chance to experience the vital community of thought and reflection that is First Christian Church Pomona.
For the next several months, lay members of our church will reflect on 100+ keywords related to faith, Christianity, God, Jesus, spirituality and much more that people are searching for in Google.
We’re giving very little direction on these blog posts. Aside from some basic Internet Writing guidelines (smaller paragraphs, SEO keyword targeting, etc) we’re opening it up. Including not providing capitalization or any punctuation in the key terms we’re giving people – because “Why, God?” is MUCH different than “why god…”
Some will undoubtedly be funny, some will be moving. Some may even be confusing.
Whatever happens, it will be interesting.
Most telling, however, is that we are NOT turning off the comments on these blog posts. Honest theology only develops in conversation. We’re putting it out there. Stating who we are, as individuals and a community.
And the world is invited to respond.
…Wondering Questions, as used in our weekly Children’s Sermons…
I wonder…
I wonder if anyone will read this.
I wonder how you found this blog.
I wonder if you’ve ever asked Google a question of Faith instead of another human being.
I wonder if people will post nasty comments or be lovingly moved to deeper faith?
I wonder where YOU are in this new story…