A couple of Sundays ago, I attended the soft opening of a new worship service which will fully launch on Easter Sunday, 2018. Like a new pair of shoes, it fit, but it felt awkward. It felt just enough different/new to let me know this may take some getting used to.

I’ve never been one with expectations for worship. I’ve never understood those who insist worship has to be a certain way. Liking all kinds of music, offering the tithe in all kinds of receptacles (once in a kiddie pool), prayers, and greeting folks with a smile or a handshake, a well communicated Bible-based message, these are staples to every worship service I’ve been part of. All that happened. Which is why I can’t even explain why it felt awkward.

The space is unfamiliar. The order of service is unfamiliar. The sights and sounds are unfamiliar. The people we seek to reach may be unfamiliar, too. That’s the most exciting part for me. My role? To offer support and resource the children’s experience so that it jives with the new service, yet still has the level of excellence and enough shared DNA to know we are all part of the same family of faith of the local church I serve. The opportunity to collaborate with lots of voices makes me downright giddy!

What will the new, Sunday, 1pm service truly look like, sound like, smell like, and feel like come Easter Sunday 2018? I have no idea. But I get a front row seat in the movement of the Holy Spirit. I’ve met and begun to share life with both the clergy and the laity called to champion this endeavor. I think about it a lot, which prompts me to pray through my jumbled thoughts. That’s a good thing.  This I do know: I have been invited into history…a remarkable and sacred moment in the life of the local church family I now call home. I’m excited about it! Stay tuned. Or better yet, will you pray with us as we answer God’s call to reach the world with the love of Jesus…even if it’s in MY awkward-unfamiliar?

We moved to New England 25 years ago the first week of November. I had never lived north of I-10 and was truly a southern fish out of warm water. Family staples like grits, Jimmy Dean pork sausage with sage, Rotel tomatoes, and Duke’s mayonnaise were not to be found. This young mama was just trying to feed her babies!

Three weeks in and it was Thanksgiving. My mom had her hands full when we were younger and I don’t recall a Thanksgiving meal being prepared. Most of our holiday family traditions came from my step-mother, Ms. Bobi. She could set a feast on a table like nobody I’d ever known and use every pan in the cabinet to do it. Sweet memories of all the women folk cleaning up and belting out “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” So, breakfast with cheese-eggs, bacon, and blueberry muffins I could pull off without a problem. But it was my mother-in-law who taught me the most important part of Thanksgiving: How to have everything ready and on the table at the same time. A quick phone call on our first New England Thanksgiving morning, I wrote it down as she dictated to me Kay’s Thanksgiving Routine.

Depending on what time everything needed to be finished and ready for the table, the day begins with the pie. Really!  The pumpkin pie sets the day in motion. All the details of rubbing oil and sage all over the Butterball to the gravy from the pan drippings are written down. Kay’s Whittlesey family of independent women also had a dressing they prepared with white bread, sausage, apples, and sage. It’s lethal, but oh, so delicious.  It took me about three years to perfect it. My hand-written notes get pulled out each year and I still hear her voice. Oh, how I miss her.

Yesterday I was texting with a friend and I shared that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Food and family are the only expectations around a table that is set with my mother-in-law’s china that just so happens to match mine. Interesting, she was with me when I picked it out. As the day goes on and the number around our table increases, I tell the stories of the china, those cold days in New England, and the silver pieces. Family history around the table. Many recipes pulled out for this day written in the handwriting of so many who have gone on to Glory.

Sally Clarkson writes in The Life Giving Table Experience, “The story of our family has been written at tables. Not with pen and paper, but with words and people, food and fellowship, talk and time. When we sit at our tables, we’re not just an aggregate of individual family members eating and drinking to stay alive; we’re a congregation of communing souls hungering and thirsting to experience the goodness and beauty of the life God has designed just for us. It’s not just about the physical act of eating, but about sharing and enjoying life as God designed and gave it to us. That is the essence of the lifegiving table.”

May your table give life this Thanksgiving and the Lord find us faithful to give thanks for those who set the table before us.

“She has set her table.” Proverbs 9:2b International Children’s Bible

Movies are the one thing that can give my brain a reset because I get all involved in the story. When I got the evite to attend a preview showing of an animated story of the Baby Jesus, I was all in. As I registered for tickets, I was encouraged to bring kids. So I met the grands and their sweet Mama at The Varsity for dinner and we settled in for their first theater movie.

Sony Pictures Animation has a winner here. The story of the first Christmas is told from the animals’ perspective. Once Bo (short for Boaz) is befriended by newlyweds Mary and Joseph (six months into the pregnancy) the story moves quickly. Bo’s sidekick is Dave, a dove with lofty aspirations. Bo and Dave dream of joining a royal caravan, but when they see that Mary is in danger of a big meaner with two angry dogs, they head to Bethlehem to warn her. On the journey to Bethlehem they team up with Ruth, a loveable sheep who has lost her flock, as she knows there is something special about that bright star in the night sky. So much so that Ruth is now a lone sheep far from her flock.

Snippets of subtle Christmas music is throughout the story. The animation prompts me to want to touch the screen because it. is. beautiful. The fur, the eyelashes, Mary’s freckles, Joseph’s expressive eyes, the lighting draws you into the story immediately. The humor is plentiful and thankfully, nothing is crude. This totally impressed me in the storytelling. Even the sinister Herod and the meaner with the dogs never crossed the line of creepy-scary. When the wisecracking camels sarcastically called Herod, “sinister”, that’s enough to let you know who the villain is. His meaner henchman never says a word and I can’t even recall him making a sound. He wears an iron mask (yeah, think Man in the Iron Mask) and is just a huge guy who leads the two meaner dogs who undergo a transformation by the end of the movie because of the kindness of Bo.

The laughter of all the kids in the movie was a beautiful sound to hear because this movie is SO funny, but clean, encouraging, and not sassy. I admit to tearing up twice…at an animated movie! My grandson’s favorite line happened toward the end when the meaner dogs want to see the newborn king. Just as the scene could turn me into an emotional mess as the other animals let the meaner dogs near the manger, a wisecracking camel jumps in and yells, “Look only with your eyes!” which caused us all to roll in laughter. I heard the phrase a dozen times on the walk to the car in the parking lot.

THE STAR is precious. It is beautiful. It is hilarious. It is younger-elementary and preschool friendly. Our three-year-old granddaughter got startled at an action scene toward the end because she had dozed off in her Mama’s lap. She loved Mary and the camels, and was most excited about the colored pencils and coloring sheets that came in the swag-bag.

The facilitator of the preview said the movie was still in post-production so there will be more to come when it opens this weekend on November 17th. The preview was less than an hour which is a good time for preschoolers. At the conclusion of the movie we answered a question about the biblical account to get an early-reader book which my grandson started reading as soon as he was locked and loaded in his car seat.

The closest theater showing The Star to my local church is not close, but I am going to try to put together a trip for us all to enjoy. Road trip anyone?

Additional Resources: http://www.thestarmovie.com (includes discussion starters)

“Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, ‘We have seen remarkable things today.'” Luke 5:26

Got the small group of kids who are ready for more? Faithful to Sunday school attendance, but talk about more? Those who take on more than the bare minimums and their families are all-in…would even venture to say some of their parents might even have keys to the building? That’s why we started the Ambassadors.

My bucket of responsibility is Kindergarten through 5th grade. Preparing beautiful postcard invitations from vistaprint.com, invitations were sent to all fifth graders on the rolls. Since I observed leadership skills in some fourth graders in Sunday school, specific invites went to them, as well. Still trying to get familiar with the rhythm of my new community regarding the best day and times to offer faith formation opportunities, this was my first Wednesday evening event.

This was the plan:

Supplies – Cheese/Pepperoni pizza, plates, napkins, cups, water, Ambassador fill-in-the-blank worksheet
Scripture 2 Corinthians 5:20 “We are Christ’s ambassadors.”

5-5:30pm Pizza & Chat Dinner (some parents have quite a commute, so we allowed for traffic time)
Visual Faith Project images: Choose an image that represents a part of your life (a representative) and discussed during Pizza & Chat

5:30-6:30pm Welcome, Prayer, Game
What is an Ambassador?
Tour of the Children’s Ministry space
Fill-in-the-blank worksheet
Respond on large post it note

Ambassador – one of the best positions to meet new people and have fun; grow our communication skills (helps you get your ideas heard); leadership) … ambassador…representative…an example…aka a person chosen or appointed to act or speak for another

Tour and walk through the Sunday Morning Setup – carts, check-in kiosks, water, cups, snack

A – Arrive 30 minutes early to assignments (plenty of time to be ready)
M – Mature/Can be trusted (dependable, punctual, enthusiastic without craziness, positive attitude/no complaining)
B – Bible readers (we pour out what we take in; are you reading your Bible regularly and attending weekly Sunday school?)
A – Assist those in our area in a spirit of hospitality (kindness to a stranger) (Hi!, hand outs at end of services)
S – Smile (let’s others know you want to be here; makes the best impression on guests and those having a hard time)
S – Set up on Sundays, Tour of the Nativities, Christmas Eve readers and lit candle processionals
A – Assist in the K5 & 1st grade Sunday school classrooms and special events as needed
D – Dress appropriately for the event (flip flops; awards ceremony/representatives; brush your teeth, gum chewing; sneakers; clean)
O – Open the doors…of conversation, of encouragement, and the real doors, too.
R – Respond quickly with kindness; be aware of your surroundings and others

Game – Knee Tag

Roles for Fall Ambassadors 1. Partner with kid guests (weekly)
2. Tour of the Nativities (tour guide on Dec 17th)
3. Greet & serve on Christmas Eve (Christmas Eve)
4. Set up on Sunday mornings (weekly rotation)
5. Assist in K5 & 1st grade Sunday school (as needed)

Dismiss

The students were asked to consider if they wished to take on such responsibilities at the end of the orientation. If so, they were invited to write their names on the large post-it-note on the wall. They were eager and asked good questions. “Do we have to smile the whole time? My mouth might start to hurt.” (Man! I love these kids!)

The first Sunday following the Ambassador Orientation, many of the Sunday morning tasks were taken on by the Ambassadors without my even knowing it until I saw certain things already taken care of throughout the morning. I’ve received a few phone calls about the next orientation for students who were unable to attend the first orientation. Looks like we’ll schedule another Ambassador Orientation in the winter. Leadership opportunities are part of what every student should be able to experience in their home/local church. Jesus believes in them and I want them to know that their church family believes in them, too.

“We at Christ’s ambassadors.” 2 Corinthians 5:20

“First steps are scary. They stretch us and push us out of our comfort zone. But even though they may be uncomfortable, first steps are essential to moving forward into God’s best for our lives.” – from Connect by Nelson Searcy with Jennifer Dykes Henson