Some Things Never Change in Children's Church

Today was NoNut's first Sunday in his first grade Sunday School class and first Sunday in 1st-5th grade children's church!  It was a day of excitement and a day of apprehension as we prayed that everyone would take good care of our son and know what to do in case of an emergency (anaphylactic nut allergies).  And, God heard our prayers!   

However, I was purely overwhelmed by the end of church today and it wasn't even about the nut situation.  And if I felt that overwhelmed, I have to wonder how families new to our faith must feel!  Between seeing the verses in Sunday school, getting a paper with several Bible verses that the kids are to memorize for children's church and then learning about the Bible memory for RA's (Wed. night boys program), I was on memory verse overload!  This is to add on top of the Bible memory work that we are enjoying as a family and for our homeschool! 

As I was sitting in my son's children's church, I felt like I was escorted back to my children's church days over 20 years ago as points were awarded to the children for bringing their Bibles, singing the loudest, answering questions, etc.  It was interesting seeing the whole points concept on the adult side of the coin!  But, oh my child is too much like me!  He was confused by the points and didn't understand why he needed to earn points in church (how do you explain that concept to a 6 yr old?!). 

As I reflected on our conversation and looked at the memory verse paper sitting next to me in the car, I couldn't help but remember all the times as a child that we "crammed" the afternoon before AWANA, Sunday mornings before Sunday School and Friday mornings before Bible tests so we could say our verses and get points and/or prizes (or a good grade) for each verse that we "memorized".  Oh, did we ever learn hundreds of verses through the solid Bible programs!

Yet as I sat in Bible doctrines at BJU trying to recall all of the verses I "learned" as a child, I couldn't help but notice how many verses that I didn't remember from my childhood (was counting on those to give me an easy A--yeah right...some of you remember all of those Bible Doctrines verse cards).  I remembered the gist of a lot of verses and sometimes the book where it was found.  I remember reflecting on these very issues as I saw that my childhood was spent learning verses for the sake of learning verses while never really internalizing what I was memorizing.  The personal application of these verses got lost in the program, the points and the prizes.

Through my son's conversation about earning points at church and thinking about all the Bible memory that will be coming up for him at church, God began to whisper, "Take a step back and see what I am already doing in your family's life!"

God began to remind me of the sweet moments over His Word throughout our parenting and homeschooling journeys.  Part of hearing the Word, reading the Word and memorizing the Word is taking the time to understand the Word.  It means deciphering what God is saying, what He means and how it applies to our lives.  We need time to let His Word sit and soak and develop meaning to it.  The meaning that God gives as we feast on His Words, especially as we see His Word in action in our lives, brings the verses to life and etches them even deeper into our memory!  To me, that is far richer than memorizing verses for points and prizes.  The prize is in having God's Word firmly planted into our minds and hearts! 

As I began to pray about everything and how to incorporate even more Bible memory into what we are already doing, God was saying His familiar, "Let go!"  Let go of traditions, of the way it's "supposed" to be, of the fear of man's opinions if we don't do the selected memory work or the fear of my child being the oddball.  God wants me to let go so we can keep experiencing the ways that His Word is changing our family and bringing our hearts closer to Him.  He wants us to be open to memorizing His Word because we want to know Him and what He has to say.  Memorizing His Word shouldn't be "something else we have to do" or something that feels burdensome.  It's a delight and an honor...one that changes our lives as we internalize it! 

So for now, the stress of Bible memory is gone as I see that God has already been leading us down a path of Bible memory that is working for our family.  There isn't a right or wrong way or right or wrong place to do Bible memory.  My prayer is that my child will desire God's Words more than fine gold (or in the short term, more than earning points and prizes)!

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Psalm 19:7-10

(This, incidentally, is a portion of scripture that we learned in Sunday School as one of the men brought in his guitar and taught us this passage through song!  Little did he know that this song/passage would be passed on down to the next generation through the same song!  Now this was a verse that was internalized for the long haul!)