Daily Reflection | Connected in Christ

Tues. Mar. 8, 2022

Young Biblical Scholars

Brad Lown

Kid’s Church, formerly Sunday School, is a chance to tell St. John’s youngsters about the bible stories and characters.  We try to summarize some of the important stories and then play games that involve the stories.  Sometimes the kids get quiet and listen intently to the story, and then offer their original thoughts.   Here are a few examples from the group of 5th and 6th graders.

We were reading the story of Noah’s ark, and how God wanted to wipe out everyone except Noah, his family, and pairs of animals.  “Why was God so mad?” someone asked.  I asked them what they’d bring on the ark if they had been invited.  “a bouncy house”, someone said.  “Lamby and Piglet, my stuffed animals” another said.  The common denominator on the lists of what the kids would bring on the ark was “friends and family”. 

We were telling the story of Abraham and Isaac hiking up Mt. Moriah with firewood.  After the story, during the game, I asked them to name the mountain, and I hinted that it began with “M” and that there was one in NH.  “Mt. Major!” two kids said.  And when I told the story about Abraham cutting animals in half, someone said, “Oh, now we’re doing fractions in here?”.

We showed the class the scene from the Ten Commandments where Moses (Charlton Heston) comes down from Mt. Sinai and smashes the tablet with the ten commandments, and we asked the kids to come up with their own commandments. 

Here are some of them:

  • “Thou shalt not spend over 15 minutes in the room of powder”

  • “Thou shalt not killeth thy brother”

            “Thou shalt not waste phone plan minutes”

  • “Thou shalt not attack thy teacher”

  • “Thou shalt not give thy classmates candy and rot thy teeth”

  • “Thou shalt not get sent to the Principal’s office”

  • “Thou shalt not treat thy friends in vain”

One day we discussed the concept of honesty and what a conscience is and where it comes from.  “From the heart” someone said.  “From your soul” another one said.  And then one girl asked, “do dogs have a conscience?”

The young and innocent can be unexpectedly wise, and often funny.