When Jesus drove the merchants out of the temple, and declared His house to be a house of prayer and not a robbers’ den, that pretty much ruled out church bazaars for me. The downside of not having bazaars and fund-raisers is the loss of special events that can get church members working together side by side. For us, VBS has served that purpose.
Last year, however, we were unable to host an in-person VBS. We still had volunteers demonstrating how to make crafts and teaching lessons on video, and kids were given bags of materials to use at home, but not only was the excitement of VBS lost, the interaction between generations and the bonds made while working together was lost.
This year we didn’t know what we were going to be able to do. We discussed doing everything out-of-doors to maintain “social distancing”, but jumping and leaping and praising God together is an important part of VBS. And not knowing if it was going to be inside or out meant planning the decorations couldn’t begin as soon as usual.
When the decision was made go ahead with plans for what had become a traditional CCC VBS, I have to admit I encouraged Julie and Nikki to not go to the extremes they usually did when decorating the hallways. Obviously they ignored me. And I’m as delighted as are the kids that they did.
The burns caused by hot glue, and the hours put in by a bevy of volunteers to get the job done, was well worth it.
On second thought, maybe I should take back the part about getting burned since I wasn’t the one with burned fingers.
However, the one with bandaged fingers did say it brought her much joy to decorate the church for VBS. And I’m pretty sure that everyone who had a hand in this year’s VBS found joy in working together to do something for the kids, and for their Lord.
God Bless, Rick
Chatham Christian Church 