Brings A Smile to My Face

Do you need a smile? Consider these backstories producing a few of my recent smiles:

Chatting with Lina recently and she told me how much she loves Nighttime Prayer with Lucy and the two youth young women (Abby and Serena)

ME: what do you love about it?

LINA: sometimes we click on links to listen to daily examens on different subjects.  Last night we listened to one about aging and the lady said ‘perhaps you feel you are coming to end of your life…’  We all shouted we hope not!

During Children’s Worship, kids prepare themselves to come close to Jesus for this special time we set apart each week.  Sometimes, I move little people figures into a circle on my coffee table as if we were sitting crisscross applesauce together in real life.  Recently I started adding a figure representing Mr.Eric joining us with the Communion of Saints. Little  Kieran, never one to let something pass by questions this.

Kieran: I didn’t know when people die they automatically become saints

M.E: (deftly drawing on my Catholic upbringing) Well there are capital “S” saints made official by the Church and little “s” saints. We think of Eric as a little “s” saint the way a family friend is “uncle.”

Katie: wait…we’re an official church.  We should make Mr.Eric  an official saint!

Corona Haircuts

This one I got third hand.  But it still made me smile.  Jack covered for me in Children’s Worship one Sunday telling the gospel story.  Used to leading high schoolers, I know Jack pulled out all of his little kid abilities to tell the gospel story.  He cues up the whole story of salvation, atonement, forgiveness and asks some questions.

Jack: can you think of any big gift Jesus gives us that is mentioned in the bible?

Silence.

Jack: what did Jesus do for us that is like a big gift?

Silence.

Five year old: what is it you want us to say?

Sometimes after sharing a bible story I’ll ask for kids to bring an object from around their apartment that might help complete the story. We’ve had lots of items like Storybook bibles, cross, cup of water (for the baptism story).  But we’ve also had: play-doh, legos, a piece of waffle.

During night time prayers one boy was telling me about his day camp and how a girl had acted up and was excluded from the field trip for the day.

M.E.- I wonder if the girl felt badly about being left out?

Child- well it IS Anger Management Day Camp. She’ll work through it.

Sam Wedelich led a discussion on finding Jesus in Chicken Little during Children’s Worship a few weeks back. Yes…the story is rife with spiritual implications. Sam’s kids tuned in and watched happily from another room until little Alistair came to sit next to his mom.
Lennox: Wait!!! That little boy was just in one house and now he is in another house!!