The Gift of Belonging

 

Last night as we were sitting around the table at dinner, my husband, Stew, explained to the girls (Maggie, 10, and Sally, 8) that they had a couple of options for the weekend.  They could go with him up to Moosehead Lake to take Tanka, the dog we’ve been taking care of for the last six weeks, back to his owner, and spend the night, or they could stay at home with me, because I had to be at St. Mark’s Sunday morning.  Sally promptly announced, “I don’t want to miss Hearing the Story!”

“Hearing the Story” is one of the rotations we have in our new Sunday School program, along with “Arts and Friends” and “Movie Morning.”  The children move through the different rotations over the course of the month; for example, last Sunday, the 5^th graders and any children older than that watched a movie about the First Thanksgiving; the 3^rd and 4^th graders rolled their own beeswax candles, and the 1^st and 2^nd graders had a lesson about the prophet Ezekiel in Hearing the Story.  Apparently Sally had heard it was “cool” and is looking forward to it; the 3^rd and 4^th graders go there next. 

You can imagine that learning that my children look forward to going to church made me very, very happy.  It hasn’t always been that way.  And when I first told them that they would be staying in the service now, that Sunday School was happening first, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Now, however, they cram themselves into a front pew with a whole bunch of other kids, and have a really good time.  How much they are getting out of the service depends on the day, but I know they are contributing to it.  And they are learning that they belong.

Looking forward to going to a place where you belong.  I think if this is a gift we at St. Mark’s can give to our children, we’re doing pretty well.  We are each one of us a child of God; let’s give ourselves and each other that gift as well.

Bess