Sunday was a pretty serious day in the Middler classroom. Not only were we focusing on a very sad story but we had an unusually large number of people we needed to pray for this week. It was a gift to be able to lift up our classmates’ mother recovering from surgery, Dennis Lin from Sunday Fellowship, people still recovering from Hurricane Matthew as well as the Grigorieff family following the sudden death of Norah’s son, Jacob. As we placed out written prayers into a bowl in the middle of our table, we talked about how we were symbolically placing all of these people in God’s loving care. Even if we couldn’t fix any of the situations, I think we all felt lighter for having invited God to be with them and to help us carry our concerns.

I wrote last week that the Middlers have spent the fall learning about the ups and downs of ancient Israel as well as the good and bad choices made by its leaders along the way. This Sunday we told the story of one of Israel’s lowest points, the Fall of Jerusalem and the beginning of the Babylonian Captivity. We heard how Zedekiah, Judah’s last king, tried to flee the city, abandoning his people before the arrival of the huge Babylonian army. After two years of starvation and siege, the Babylonians finally broke down the city wall, burned all the homes, looted the Temple built by King Solomon and marched thousands of Jerusalem’s most skilled residents all the way to Babylon.

We took a break from heavy stuff for a few minutes to do some more work on our wood round project for the church auction. It felt really good to use our hands paint wood conditioner on the wood to bring out its beautiful grain patterns.

Afterwards, we came back together for discussion about places in the world where people are currently being forced to leave their homes and become refugees. Countries like Syria and Iraq were named. To get a better idea of how difficult it is to be a refugee, we walked slowly around the room while listening to One Green Apple, a story written from the perspective of a young Muslim girl newly arrived in the United States.  After the story, we took a few moments to pray while listening to some calming music. I hope we could feel that while leaders may disappoint us in difficult times, God stays in good times and in bad. Special thanks to parent helper Kathleen Reidy.

Beginning our time together with the Middler class was such a treat on Sunday, as we learned the beautiful song What Does the Lord Require of You? and even sang it as a three-part round (sort of)!  From the words of Micah, we sang of justice, kindness, and humbleness in the eyes of God.  Our story on Sunday focused on the tragic and violent fall of Jerusalem when Babylon destroyed the city and the temple, and the people had to flee for their lives.  Imagine what that might have felt like!  We thought about having to leave our homes at a moment’s notice and what we would bring with us (favorite blanket, pillow, stuffed animals, and a Pokémon Go phone – the essentials).  After our story, we sat down together for a snack and noticed there wasn’t enough food for everyone!  The children QUICKLY pointed out that leaving someone out would be terribly unfair, so they worked together to split the snack so everyone got a fair share.  Justice and kindness in action!  As we ate, we read a beautiful story called One Green Apple by Eve Bunting about a young Muslim refugee who is struggling in the US and misses home, but begins to find friendship in an apple orchard.  We also watched the first 1:55 of the video To Be A Refugee and talked about how brave all these children are.  We lit candles in our darkened room and prayed for peace and healing among all people and nations. 

Our new children’s books on the topic of diversity have arrived!  They are currently in a basket, complete with library check-out cards, right outside the sanctuary waiting to be borrowed and read!  As the adults of our congregation read Waking Up White together, we now have resources for our children to participate in these important discussions on race and cultural differences.  I invite you to take advantage!

Check out the photos from our apple picking adventure last Sunday!  Pizza, pumpkins, donuts, hot cider, apples, tree climbing, and some very wet feet rounded out our wonderful afternoon together.  Can’t wait for next year!

This week we learned that God is like a light that guides and protects.  We started our time together reciting an interactive chant using a flashlight. “Light of God, shine on _____ .  Light of God, shine on me.  Shine on everyone I see” and listening to a song, “God is with us”. We talked about how lighthouses are like God – sturdy, strong and a light that guides and protects.  And we practiced the Bible verse, “You are the Light of the World”, tapping it out to help us to remember it. We watched a Vimeo called, “God is Always With Me: Pillar of Fire/Cloud” and acted it out.  Then the children divided into “families” and packed pillowcases with clothes, books, utensils, toys, crayons & paper (necessities for traveling in the desert!).  The Pillar of Cloud guided the families on their journey.  When it disappeared, the families unpacked and rested. As the Pillar of Cloud reappeared, they packed up and continued on the journey.  As it got dark, a Pillar of Fire appeared.  The families unpacked and camped for the night and the Pillar of Fire gave them light.  When the Cloud reappeared, they packed up AGAIN, traveled and finally reached their destination.

To represent the day and night, we had orange slice “Suns” and tortilla “Stars” for snack. We created our own pillars of fire or pillars of cloud with tissue paper. Some of the children even made one of each! Our books this week were about lighthouses and shining lights and some of our books from previous weeks’ themes : God providing us a safe place and God gathers us close. The theme for our next session, on October 9th, will be “Let Your Light Shine” when we will learn about ways to let our own lights shine.

Thank you for sharing your children!

It was an all female cast in the Middler classroom on Sunday. We continued to emphasize the importance of questions over answers in attaining wisdom by asking each other the riddles we found inside our classroom Question Box. We then refilled the Box with our own questions and prayers. Questions about why bad things happen to people and why Jesus didn’t remain on earth were some of the submissions.

Special thanks to parent helper Betsy Martel and to all of the players who did a fabulous job dramatizing 3 scenes from the life of Israel’s second monarch, the wise King Solomon. There are some amazing videos to enjoy next week!

The scripture drama was followed by a deep discussion of why King Solomon went from a wise to a foolish leader during his reign. We wondered together why he chose to marry thousands of women, worshipping their gods and creating a gigantic army against the will of God. Was it because he forgot that the source of his wisdom was God? Or did the stress of leadership cause him to become mentally unstable? Or was he corrupted by his growing wealth and power?  Many of us wanted to know more about the mysterious Queen of Sheba visited Solomon. Encyclopedia.com has a short article about her and there’s some great video from the history channel on YouTube if you’re interested and learning more with your child. We wrapped up class with a foolishly wise dirt cake snack and a CNN video about the foolish burkini law. What would the Queen of Sheba thought about that?!

On our very first Sunday back together as a class, the Multiagers explored the story of King Solomon and the construction of the first temple of Jerusalem, almost 1000 years before the birth of Jesus.  After our story, we looked at a series of photos from the Huffington Post titled “The World’s 50 Most Unusual Churches” then discussed what a church really needs to be a church.  After listing bathrooms, lights, doors, an organ, and hymnals, the children settled on just three things you REALLY need to make a church: a leader, people, and a worship space.  Armed with a large variety of materials, the Multiagers then designed their own worship spaces and talked about what was the most important thing to them: “people,” “decorations,” “a garden,” “a place for the pastor to stand,” were just a few.  What is the most important aspect of the church for YOU?

On Thursday evening, March 24th, children, youth, and adults gathered together for a soup supper, foot washing, Communion, and a variety of interactive prayer stations as we remembered Jesus’ Last Supper and his final mandate to his disciples before his arrest and death.  Our prayer stations included an indoor Garden of Gethsemane with prayer candles, beautiful displays of different images of Jesus, a bare cross with stones for prayers of unburdening, forgiveness sand for writing and smoothing away, an interactive coloring poster, recreating the scene of the Last Supper with blocks, tiles, and figures, a variety of fragrant perfumes to remind us of Mary’s anointing of Jesus, and a meditative labyrinth walk.  Please enjoy taking a picture-walk through our evening together on Maundy Thursday as you browse the photos.

What better way to kick off the season of Lent than with a pancake and sausage potluck supper, beautiful beads, and an amazing candlelit labyrinth?  On Tuesday, February 9th – the night before Lent began on Ash Wednesday – 20 children and their parents joined us in North Hall for a Shrove Tuesday celebration and introduction to Lent.  After a short talk about the season of Lent and a delicious meal of pancakes, sausage, and fruit (do you know why we eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday?), we introduced our exploration stations: Lenten prayer bead-making, coloring of a big poster with the message “Listen,” and a walk through a candlelit labyrinth with a blessing of ashes at the end.  Our beads help us to count the 40 days and six Sundays of Lent, with themes and prayers for each Sunday: Listen, Sorry, Kindness, Fear, Hope, and Love.  Many children (and parents!) walked our labyrinth several times without shoes and in silence, eager to get another ash blessing on foreheads and hands, finishing the evening with many ash crosses all over their bodies! The intergenerational mix of adults and children engaged in all activities was a joy to watch, and we all left the event feeling full of food, fellowship, and faith, and ready to begin this new season of Lent together.

On Sunday, February 7th, three of our third graders (and one fifth grader!) stood up during worship to be honored and presented with their very own bibles from WCUC (two of our third graders couldn’t make it on Sunday so they received their bibles earlier).  It is always a treat to introduce these young, eager learners to our congregation and watch their faces giggle with shyness and delight when they are presented with this special gift.  Following worship, our third graders and their families joined me downstairs for a special reception and discussion about their new bibles.  Parents were just as eager as the children to explore the new bibles and ask lots of questions.  We filled out a fun scavenger hunt, introducing us to all the different features of the bible, and then the children were invited to decorate a special bookmark while parents wrote a wish or blessing for their child inside the front cover.  It was a wonderful time of sharing, exploring, discovering, and fun!