End of Phase One

For our anniversary celebration, we didn't have our usual activities, which meant I didn't have to plan/write/lead them.  Yay hurray!  One big thing we were going to do instead was look at six years' worth of pictures on the computer.  Well, look at them on the computer we did, as when we hooked up the projector we discovered the bulb had burned out, and no, we didn't have a spare.  Sigh.
Ironically, I had been halfway to church carrying computer, projector and potluck dish when I realized I did not have the cord to connect the computer to the projector, since there is no room for it in the case & we stash it separately.  So I had to haul everything back & forth again, and then it wasn't worth it!  Sigh.
Other than that, it was a good morning.  I had realized I was seriously stressing out over the new curriculum, worrying that people would think I should be able to produce it with no hiccups, no trial-and-error, since after all I have so much "experience" now.  So I shared this with the parents and received assurance of their support and appreciation for whatever I can do.
Here's the "official" photo for the sixth anniversary.  The Chinese characters are the same ones we displayed for our opening day photo (except for one that got so moldy it had to be replaced).  As part of the celebration, we had the kids climb on stools and take the characters down from the windows were they had been proclaiming our meeting place for the past six years.  Next Sunday, new location!

I had nothing to do with the arrangement of the characters; I was busy positioning the camera and setting the timer.  Turns out the way the characters read is clockwise!  First from right to left along the bottom, then from left to right along the top.  Funny.

God forgives sin

 For our picture of God’s willingness to forgive, we chose the story of Peter’s denial.  We began with several disciples sitting around the dinner table with Jesus.  Jesus announces that He is going to suffer, and that all of them would desert him.  They all say they will not, but Jesus says they will.  Peter stands up and says, even if no one else sticks by you, I will.  Jesus tells him that he will deny Him three times before the cock crows.  Peter denies it.  Dinner is over and they all go out for a walk.  They get to a park and Jesus asks His disciples to sit with Him for a while while he prays.  He kneels to pray and all the disciples put their heads in their hands and snore.  Jesus gets up and finds them sleeping, and tells them to wake up because the soldiers are coming.  A few people with swords come and grab Jesus, and all the disciples run away.  The swordsmen take Jesus into a corner of the room and guard Him.

Even though Peter ran away with the others, he really does care what happens to Jesus, and he tries to sneak in closer to find out what is going on.  A servant at the gate says, oh, are you one of His disciples?  He denies it.  It is a cold night, and several people are warming their hands around an orange-tissue-paper fire.  Peter comes to the fire too.  Someone asks him, didn’t I see you taking a walk with Jesus earlier?  He says no, I don’t know Jesus.  Then a girl says, but you have an accent, you must be one of his friends.  Peter loses his temper and says he doesn’t know anything about Jesus.  Then one of the parents crowed like a rooster.  And Jesus from behind his guards turns and stares at Peter.  Peter realizes what he has done and cries, and runs away.

Now three days later, the disciples are sitting together in a room.  Peter is in one corner with his head in his hands, too ashamed to look at anyone.  A girl comes into the group and says, Jesus’ tomb is empty, He has risen!  Peter and another disciple run over and look into the storeroom.  The other disciple jumps up and down and says, “Yes!  Jesus is risen!”  But Peter says, how can you be so sure?

The rest of the story, I confess I took more from Don Francisco’s “He’s Alive” than directly from the Biblical account—but I think it’s true to the spirit of the Scripture!  Peter goes back and sits in his corner.  He says, even if He has really risen, He won’t want me for His disciple any more.  Then Jesus appears.  All the disciples start jumping up and high-fiving each other and Jesus.  All except Peter.  Jesus comes over to Peter and pulls him to his feet and hugs him.  Peter says he is so sorry, and Jesus says, but I have conquered all your sin by rising from the dead!  Do you still want to be my disciple?  Peter says, yes, yes, I do!  Jesus says, then never worry about it again.  I love you.  End of story.  Of our final story in our old-curriculum Merciful Love Family Fellowship!

For our game, we talked about how Peter had three chances to either affirm or deny Jesus.  He chose three denials.  We played human tic-tac-toe to see if denials (X’s) or affirmations (O’s) would win.  X’s won on the second round.

 

We made roosters for craft time.  The rooster’s comb was each child’s traced-and-cut-out handprint; then we added the beaks and eyes.

 

Next week we celebrate our sixth anniversary, and then the new format begins!

God's Justice

We were on vacation over the first Sunday in August.  A couple of volunteers from Hong Kong came to lead the service.  But August is such a big month for children’s activities, that the attendance was very low.  So low that the volunteers decided not to lead the regular program.  There were only two Sundays left, then for using the old curriculum, but now three more stories.  So we decided this was worth keeping, and we’d skip the story originally planned for next week.

The story, then, to illustrate God’s justice in not punishing the innocent with the guilty was the rescue of Lot and his family from Sodom.  We first introduced Abraham and his nephew who came to Canaan together.  But because God blessed them both, they had so many flocks and herds they had to separate.  So Lot went to live in the city of Sodom (he goes & sits down).

So one day, God came with two angels to visit Abraham (three folks in haloes). First they congratulate Abraham that he will soon have a son.  Then, God tells him, another reason we are here today is that I have heard that the people of Sodom are terribly wicked.  My two angels here are going to go and see if this is really so, and if they are beyond saving then I will destroy the whole city.  Well, this was not good news to Abraham—his nephew lived in that city!  So he starts bargaining with God: since you’re so just, you wouldn’t destroy a whole city if there were 50 righteous in it, would you?  We lined up five people, each with a “10” sign around their neck.  God says, no, I won’t.  Well, how about 45?  Would you destroy it for the lack of just five of the fifty? (one of the “10” signs is exchanged for a “5”)  God says no.  Abraham continues: how about 40 (the number 5 person sits down), 30 (a 10 sits down), 20 (another 10 sits) or, please bear with me, how about if there are 10 righteous people (just one 10 stays standing).  God promises if there are 10 righteous people in Sodom, he will not destroy the city.

So God and Abraham sit down and Lot comes back to the front.  Lot has a wife (which he got to pick for himself, a cute visiting girl) and two daughters, that the girl got to pick.  So the two angels now come and spread a blanket on the floor, ready to spend the night in the open square of the city.  Lot goes out and persuades them to stay overnight at his house.  So they come, but while they are all sitting around with their bowls and chopsticks, everyone else in the room came and surrounded them, yelling, send those guests of yours out so we can “gaau” them to death (a great Chinese word that can mean almost anything you need it to mean).  Lot steps to the door and tries to reason with them but they start attacking him, so one of the angels grabs him and pulls him back inside.  Then says, in the name of God, you can’t see!  Everyone groped around and finally sat down.

So then we said, we see that everyone in the city is wicked except Lot and his family.  How many righteous did there need to be to spare the city? 10  How many are there here?  Count ‘em, four!  So the angels tell Lot that God is going to destroy the city, so they must hurry and leave.  They start slowly packing clothing into tote bags, but the angels say, there is no time for that!  They each grab two people and pull them back to the back of the room, and then God comes and dumps “fire” where they were just sitting.

Next came one of our favorite game times—everyone was split into groups of three: one Lot & two angels.  Whoever was Lot sat on a blanket, while the two angels donned haloes and dragged the blanket from one end of the room to the other.  This is especially fun when, as happened Sunday, an elderly grandmother got to be the carpet rider.  

 

For craft time we said that, no one knows for sure, but it is certainly possible that the fire that destroyed Sodom came from a volcano.  So we made little volcano shapes out of clay, filled them with a spoonful of baking soda, dripped in some vinegar and watched them foam!

And then after our Bible study, we all celebrated Sally's birthday.