Rebecca S. Ramsey's Blog, page 29

Love Wins- Words from the Story of a Song, We Shall Overcome

This children’s sermon was written to fit the theme that God always holds the last page in our stories- that when things look bad, God has the last word. The scripture preached on during the sermon was Zechariah 14:12-21.

Good morning girls and boys! I have a book to share with you today. It’s called We Shall Overcome, The Story of a Song. Do you know that song? It’s written by Debbie Levy. I’ll read a little of it and we can talk about it.

Read all of first page.

(Read the first few pages, then skim the rest, depending on your time restraints, all the way to when it refers to the song reaching people in other countries.)

The song held hope and went all across the world. To South Africa, India, the Middle East, to East Germany, wherever people worked for a better life. The message is powerful! It’s powerful because at the root of the message is LOVE- we are ALL human, made & LOVED by God! Because of LOVE, the MOST POWERFUL THING- we can overcome.

Is racism gone? No. There are many people who still try to have power over others. But they don’t know the secret- they may want power, but God’s love is so much more powerful. In the end, Love wins. So what do we do?We look within ourselves, to make sure that we are acting with justice and mercy, and we keep joining in God’s work, loving others and standing up for justice and mercy. And we keep trusting that even in the darkest times, God has a good ending to the story. In the end, Love wins.

Let’s pray: Dear God, Help us trust you when we go through really hard things. Remind us that You will have the last word in our story. We love you, God. Amen. 

Taking Baby to College…and the Dark Secret of Parenting- A Look Back

Hey y’all! Within the next two weeks, several people I love will be putting on their big girl panties and big boy briefs, ripping out their own hearts and taking their babies to college. So I thought I’d replay the freak out/weirdness/stomping-on-my-soul-while-pretending-it’s-all-normal fun that I experienced last year, just for old time’s sake. If you’re going through it, chin up. I hope this post helps you feel more normal- and I hope you have someone to cuddle you when it’s over or feed you cheese curds or Krispy Kreme doughnuts or whatever comforts your soft heart and helps you get on with things.

And if you have a big flaming argument in the middle of the dorm with your man-child or woman-child, remember to thank them next time they’re home on break. Nothing helps the separation go better than a little obnoxiousness.

Anyway…here you go! Blessings on the journey ahead!

This is the little boy we took to college two weeks ago.

See, he’s all packed up.

Our baby. In the big city of Chicago. Fourteen hours away by car. Where he knew no one.

During our road trip up there, I rediscovered that people handle stressful situations very differently. Surprising when they’ve been married to each other more than thirty-one years.

My husband handled the stress of taking his youngest to Chicago like our golden retriever puppy would handle it if I were married to her. He hid Sam’s shoe behind the shower curtain in the hotel bathroom. He took pictures of Sam and started to post them without permission. He Snapchatted Sam weird photos while we were standing three feet from each other. He told Sam dumb dad jokes that Sam has heard at least 31 times before. He touched Sam a lot and stood too close to him…until Sam said, “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME MAD?”

We went out to lunch somewhere in Indiana and Todd ordered a sandwich with about 12 things on it. “What’s all that on your sandwich?” Sam asked.

“Mayonnaise,” said Todd.

I don’t understand Todd sometimes.

I also don’t understand myself.

In the days leading up to our departure, while we were loading up suitcases and I was trying to convince Sam that no, one bath towel was not enough, and he needed to take at least a comb OR a brush (at which he said, “Silly mommy, don’t you know that’s what fingers are for”) I started having strange obsessions. Like why hadn’t I forced the boy to make his bed every day? And why was Sam so resistant to using capital letters and proper punctuation? Didn’t they teach that in high school anymore? And why wouldn’t he let me buy him new underwear? Just what is so bad about having too much underwear?

As we got closer and closer to Chicago, my brain made lists of things I wanted so badly to tell him that I had to press my mouth into my fist so that the words wouldn’t escape, revealing me as Lunatic Mom. Things like: CAPITALIZE PROPER NOUNS. Don’t skip classes. Google where bad parts of Chicago are and don’t go there. Take your vitamins. Don’t get anyone pregnant. Wear a coat. Eat vegetables.

Ridiculous, I know. He knows all that stuff. It’s just where my brain went.

Sam had his own reaction to the stress of being taken to college by two crazy people.

He mumbled answers to all our questions and when we both said, “Huh?” he responded with such a booming voice that it shook the ears of the cattle we passed standing in a certain field in Indiana.

When Siri helped us find a Walmart on the way because I thought of more plastic items Sam MUST have and Todd said, “I wonder why she’s taking us around the back side of the building?” he answered, “Probably because she assumes you’re smart enough to look up and see where Walmart is right in front of you.”

I guess the dad jokes were getting to him.

I wasn’t off bounds either. “Look, I’m Mom!” he said, taking my phone out of my purse and waving it around. “Laa dee dah. I care nothing about battery life so I put my phone in my purse WITHOUT TURNING IT OFF! Mom, really! What are you going to do without me around to remind you?”

Maybe Sam’s brain had made a list of his own.

We finally got there and got him moved in, without much angst on anybody’s side. We went out to lunch and to Target for more stuff and then back to his room where we discovered that the light bulbs we’d bought for his new lamp were outlawed by the university because of their fire starting potential. “There’s an Ace Hardware at the bottom of that big building a block away,” I said. “Let’s go there and then we’ll get out of your hair.”

So we went. We found the right bulbs and then stood in the slowest line known to man in the history of Ace Hardware stores. Eventually Sam and I got bored and both walked around browsing through the wide assortment of nuts and bolts and extension cords. Todd had finally gotten to the cashier when I looked over and saw a sight that broke me.

Sam was standing in the corner, his big, 6’4″ self, wiping at his eyes.

My heart! Yanked out of my body! Stomped on and thrown into a Chicago city street where a bus rode right over it.

“I have no privacy anymore,” Sam said. “Can we go to the car before you leave and sit a few minutes?”

We did. We sat in the parking garage and all the while I was praying that God would help me hold it together ’til we got out of his sight– since not even Ace Hardware had enough nuts and bolts to do the job.  I put on my Cheerleader Positive Mom suit and so did his daddy, and after a few minutes, he said he was ready. We could go now. He was fine.

We gave him a hug and a kiss and tried to act like it was no big deal. Like he was just going off on a weekend away with the youth group. “Text us when you feel like it!” I called.

Then we turned left, away from his residence hall, into Chicago traffic.

“I need to find a liquor store,” said his daddy.

“Right there with you,” I said.

Then suddenly out of nowhere there was a unmanned toll booth in front of us. What kind of city puts up a toll booth with no warning? (There probably was a warning, but our hearts and brains were unfortunately mangled on the streets back in the South Loop.) We pulled off the road and pulled up our floor mats to find old candy wrappers and discarded straw wrappings. No cash.

We drove through.

As we drove silently out of Chicago, our hearts beating at us, the suburbs blurring by, I thought of something my daughter had said a few weeks earlier- just a week after she’d birthed Josiah, our first grandchild. As I was holding my precious sleeping grandson, she was hanging a photograph of him on their living room wall.

“Mom, do you think it’s okay for me to put pictures of Josiah up all over the house?”

“Of course I do, Honey. It’s your house. What’s wrong with putting pictures up?”

Sarah looked at me with big eyes and hesitated, the way she used to when she was little and had big feelings to reveal. “But,” she said, biting her lip with a slight smile that said ‘Don’t think I’m ridiculous,’  “I mean, what if he dies?”

Oh honey. Welcome to the pain of parenthood. The terrifying vulnerability of loving some one so much that it actually hurts.

“Maybe it’s the hormones,” she said, “but now I look at everyone and I can hardly stand it. We’re all somebody’s baby.”

That’s right. Love is powerful. Awe-ful.

Sometimes it’s awful.  That’s the secret nobody really talks about.

I thought of all the love I have for Sam, for Ben, for Sarah and how it’s made me cry over the years for joy and pride and anger and fear and delight and frustration and longing. But all those feelings are all wrapped up together, and I’m so thankful for the tangled mess love is. I thank God for it today, this powerful LOVE. It’s worth the painful vulnerability. It’s worth having your heart mangled.

Sam is doing great, just so you know. He rides the L (not the subway- don’t call it a subway) to cool little coffee shops where he studies, just to get out of his room, even though his roommates are great. He texts us and tells us about how interesting his classes are and how he’s cooking his own meals and meeting new people.  “That’s wonderful!” I say, and resist the temptation to ask if he’s wearing a jacket and taking his vitamins. “I’m trying to be better about turning off my phone, by the way,” I said to him recently.

“Good job, Mama,” he said.

I think we’re going to be okay.

 

*Just in case you’re wondering, I had Sam and Sarah read this and approve it before sharing. [image error]

Easter and The Runaway Bunny

Good morning, girls and boys. I brought a book to share with you today that I bet you haven’t seen in a long time because this one is for little, little kids- though when I read it this week, I thought that maybe it’s for everybody! It’s called The Runaway Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown.

Raise your hand if someone used to read it to you. 

This book reminded me of Easter- not because it’s about a bunny, but for another reason. Maybe you’ll figure it out.

Do you remember the story of the Runaway Bunny?

(Flip quickly through the book, summarizing as you go, letting kids help tell the story.)

Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away, so he said to his mother, “I’m running away.” And she said, “I will run after you , for you are my little bunny.

“I’ll become a fish in a stream and will swim away.” “Then I’ll become a fisherman and will fish for you.”

“I’ll become a rock on the mountain high above you.” “Then I’ll become a mountain climber…”

“I’ll become a crocus in a hidden garden.”  “Then I’ll become a gardener…”

(Go through the rest of the pages…skip some if you need to.)

“I’ll be a boy and run in a house.” “Then I’ll be your mother and catch you in my arms and hug you.” “Shucks. I might just as well stay where I am and be your little bunny.” And so he did. “Have a carrot,” says the mama bunny.

Yes, this reminds me so much of Easter, but not because it’s about bunnies. It reminds me of Easter because Easter shows us that God is kind of like that mother bunny in the book, who loves us so much that God constantly comes after us, even when we act up, even when we do the worst thing possible. 

God sent Jesus, God’s son, down to earth, and when people put Jesus on the cross, even that didn’t keep God from loving them and wanting to be close to them. In fact, God took this horrible thing that people did and used it to remind us that Love always wins! Jesus rose again! God made the cross something so beautiful that we put the cross up in our church and decorate it with flowers. We look at it and we remember that there is absolutely nothing we can do that will keep us from God’s love.

Let’s pray: Thank you God for loving us with a love so great that there is nothing we can do that can keep us apart. We love you, God. Amen.

 

Inviting God and Other People into Your Story: As Good As Anybody

Good morning. We just sang, “I Love to Tell the Story”, a song about enjoying sharing Jesus’ story. That’s what we do at church, isn’t it? We tell God’s story and we think about how we fit into God’s story and how God is part of the story of our lives. I brought a book today to share. It’s called As Good As Anybody, and it’s by Richard Michelson. It’s about two boys who are part of God’s story and the amazing things God can do when we become a family with each other and invite God to be part of our story all together.

Martin was mad at everyone. It was hot in Georgia and Martin wanted to swim in the pool. But the sign said WHITES ONLY. He marched to his father’s church and stomped his feet. “What good is stepping on bugs?” Daddy King said. “You’re looking down when you should be looking up.” His daddy was a preacher. “The way things are is not the way they always have to be. In the next world, people of all colors will live together and respect each other.” Martin didn’t want to wait for the next world, but he knew he couldn’t stay angry. He grew up and became a preacher. He led people to protest peacefully to get laws changed. People tried to stop him but he kept marching. He organized a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and he put out a call for all of God’s children to join the march.

A man named Abraham answered Martin’s call, and put his story with Martin’s. God used them to do good things. His daddy had been a rabbi and he grew up to be a rabbi too. He had gone to college in Germany but a man named Hitler became leader and changed the laws. Jewish people couldn’t vote or go to school. He moved back to Poland, and there he found people burning Jewish books. No Jews were allowed to buy food and they couldn’t get work. He heard that America was a place where people were treated fairly. After he moved there, he marched all over, speaking out for peace and equal rights. When he heard about Martin’s march, he decided to join.

On March 21, 1965, Abraham Heschel and Martin Luther King prayed together. They joined hands and they walked. No one could stop them.

When we are willing to share our lives with each other and invite God in, God can do beautiful things!

Let’s pray. Dear God, thank you for making us with all our differences, and for loving each one of us. Help us make each other welcome in our lives and make you welcome too. We love you, God. Amen.

God, Fear, and the Black Rabbit

Good morning, girls and boys. I brought a book to share today. It’s called The Black Rabbit, by Philippa Leathers. Someone may have read it to you when you were really little, but it’s a very wise book. I’m going to read it really quickly, but there’s a copy in the children’s Gathering Room you can see if you want to read it yourself.

(Read the book. It’s short.)

I wonder if you’ve ever been afraid of something or someone and the more you think about it, the bigger it gets in your mind. Rabbit was having a beautiful day until he saw the big black rabbit he had never noticed before, and it seemed to follow him around! What was it? (Allow for response.) Yes, it was just his shadow, but the more he looked for it, the scarier it seemed! The good thing was that it frightened someone else too, right? (Yes, it frightened the wolf.) Finally Rabbit saw it for what it really was, without fear, and he knew he was okay.

Our fears can turn something that really isn’t so scary into something much worse than it actually is.

But being a follower of God means being brave enough to face what scares you, knowing that God is there to face it with you. It means saying, “Fear, you are not the boss of me! God is the boss of me!” Do you remember the Bible verse we learned at VBS recently? “Be strong and be brave. Don’t be afraid for God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9) With God beside us, we can know that no matter what we face, we will be okay.

Let’s pray. “Dear God, thank you for walking beside us with every step we take. When we’re afraid, help us remember that you are there, so we don’t have to let fear take over. We love you, God. Amen.”

The Creation

Welcome to our lesson for August 12, Creation, taken from Genesis 1:1-2:3, and also found in The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Vol 2, the orange book, 14 Presentations for Fall.

What a wonderful story about gift giving and creating! As it says in the Godly Play book, you can tell much about the giver by looking at the gift, and what an incredible gift creation is.

Be sure to ask the wondering questions. They’re simple but they invite deep thinking!
1. I wonder which one of these days you like best.
2. I wonder which day is most important.
3. I wonder which day you are in or which one is especially about you.
4. I wonder if we can leave out any one of these days and still have all the days we need.


Classes at FBC Greenville might want to take a mini-field trip down the hall and  take a look at our world created in tiles years ago during Sunday school.

What can they find on the tiles that shows God’s creation?

For our Make a Gift for God time, here are some ideas to get the children started:
1. Choose a day (or assign a day) and invite the children to create and illustrate their own plaque or water color drawing- or clay sculpture or pencil drawing depicting that particular day. This could be done as a class mural or completed individually.
Here’s an example in which children did water colors and then put them together.


2.Each child could make her/his own set of days, as is shown here.
 
Check out dozens of more ideas at the Pinterest site here.
Thank you for all you do for our children!
Becky

Listen to God, Not Others’ Praise or Criticism: A Message from A Bad Case of Stripes

Good morning, girls and boys. I brought one of my favorite books with me today. It’s called A Bad Case of Stripes and it’s by David Shannon. Raise your hand if you know it. We don’t have time to read the whole thing but I’d like to share the story and see what you think it’s trying to say. (As you tell the story, show pictures.)

Camilla Cream loves what? (See if kids know.) Lima beans! But she never eats them because ALL her friends hate them. She was always worried about what people thought about her.

It’s the first day of school and she tries on 42 outfits, trying to pick something everyone will like- looks in the mirror and screams! Stripes! She stays home.

The doc says she can still goes to school and gives her ointment.

The next day was terrible- they laughed at her, called her Camilla Crayon. She breaks out into stars when she gives the pledge of allegiance.

The kids thought this was great! “I want to see purple polka dots,” someone says, so she turns purple polka dots.  Someone else said checkerboard- she changed checkerboards on her skin. She was changing over and over. The school sent her home- she was being a distraction.

What would make her feel better? She wanted lima beans but didn’t want to be laughed at. Specialists came and gave her pills- she began to look like a big pill!

Experts came, saying that it’s a virus, it’s bacteria, it’s a fungus.

The news came telling the story of “The Bizarre Case of the Incredible Changing Kid.” She had all kinds of people telling her all kinds of things and she began to look like all of it!

One day a woman came to the door. She said Camilla had a bad case of stripes and pulled out a container of lima beans.

Camilla wanted to eat them, but she was afraid to admit it.  She let the woman go, but then stopped her. “The truth is I really love lima beans!” she said. She ate them and was cured!

From then on she ate lima beans. Some kids thought she was weird, but she didn’t care and never had stripes again.

What do you think this story is trying to tell us? (Let children respond.) We are supposed to be who God made us to be- the real us inside. People will always have things to say about how we live. Sometimes they’ll give us compliments and praise. Some people will criticize. But as Christians, we just keep on going, being who God calls us to be, and that will make God happy and ourselves happy.

Dear God, as we try to become the loving people you want us to be, we know people may like what we do or they may not. Help us remember that it’s You we are trying to please. We love you God. Amen.

This children’s sermon was give April 15, 2018, Year B, Third Sunday of Easter, to accompany scripture from Acts 3:13-15, 17-19.

Belonging in God’s Kingdom- Ideas from The Name Jar

Good morning, girls and boys. Raise your hand if you’ve ever been the new kid? Okay, my next question is, raise your hand if you’ve ever been in a group when a new kid comes in. Today we’re thinking about belonging, and what it takes to really feel included.

I brought a book you may know, just to help us think about it. It’s called The Name Jar, by Yangsook Choi, and it’s about a little girl named Yoon-hey (spelling to help me with pronunciation), who moves to the United states from Korea. On her first day of school someone on the bus asks her name. (Show pages.) She says Yoon-hey. “Oh it’s yoo-hey, like You, Hey! What about Hey You?” When she gets to the classroom and they asked her name, she says, she hadn’t picked one yet. She’d let them know by next week. She goes home and tells her mother she wants an American name. She doesn’t want to be different. She starts trying out different ones.

The next morning she finds a jar on her desk full of names. Her classmates are giving her suggestions- they say she can pick which ever she likes. Her friend Joey says, “Don’t you have any name?” She shows him her name stamp, the red Korean letters on the paper. He asks if he can keep the paper.

Later Joey runs into Yoonhey in a store and hears her name. Mr. Kim says it means Grace. On Monday the jar is gone. She decides to introduce herself as Yoon-hei. They mispronounce it but keep trying.  They talk about names and the meanings behind them. Then they say goodbye to Yoonhay. Who took the jar? Joey. He wanted her to keep her own name. And she did!

So it sounds to me that by the end of the book, Yoonhey was starting to feel like she belonged. What did it take for her to feel that way? (for everyone to accept her as herself, for her to be brave and be open to others, for others to be open to  her) This reminds me of someone who believed that we all belong to each other and to God. Jesus. Jesus always treated everyone with respect, as one of God’s treasures. He took time to let each person know that they belonged-important. Little ones to him belong. That sounds good enough to be in a song!

Let’s pray. Dear God, thank you for Jesus, the one to whom we belong. Help us always remember to welcome others into our circle, the way that Jesus did. We love you. Amen.

This children’s message was given April 29, 2018, on the fifth Sunday of Easter,  Year B, to help illustrate the theme of belonging in God’s kingdom. The scripture of the main sermon was Acts 8:26-40.

Is Anger Okay? What to Do About It

Good morning girls and boys. A few weeks ago during the children’s sermon, we talked about how God created us to feel different emotions- like the ones from “Inside Out”. Today I want to talk about one of those guys in particular. This guy.

(Show photo of the character, Anger.)

Have you been angry in the last twenty-four hours? I’m sorry.  Sometimes we get angry over important things other people do (like seeing someone mistreated) and sometimes we get angry over silly things (like when your brother is annoying you in the car). Sometimes we get angry at ourselves. (Like when we can’t do the math homework.)

How do we know that someone is angry? (Let kids respond- if they don’t, add their face turns red, muscles tense, they want to break something. They may stop talking to you – some people hold it in, get stomach aches or cry.)

What Should I do if I get angry? What do you think God would want us to do?

Losing control never helps anything.

Admit that you are angry and try to figure out why.

What can you do to keep this from happening again? Ask for ideas.

Here are responses to add if they don’t give them:

It helps to talk to an adult about your anger. (Instead of ripping up your notebook, ask for help with your homework)

*Talk to a friend you trust

*Count to 10

*Give or get a hug

*Run around the house or do jumping jacks

*draw a picture of your anger

*Sing really loudly with the stereo

*Do something- take a bike ride, play basketball

*Visit Meanie McMadface (the monster rag doll I keep in my office that kids can pull on or punch or throw if mad.)

God made us to have feelings, and it’s okay to feel them and try to figure out why they’re there. It’s not okay to take anger out on other people. But sometimes anger can help us understand what changes need to happen, and make those changes to make the world more like God wants it to be. We can change ourselves and help others around us.

Dear God, thank you for all our feelings. When we feel angry, help us do what we need to do to figure out where those feelings come from, and try to talk about whatever is bothering us. Help us as we try to become closer to you. We love you God. Amen

God Loves Us from the “Inside Out”- Including ALL Our Feelings

Good morning girls and boys. I’ve got a guessing game for you. I’m thinking of a movie. The first line is:  “Do you ever look at someone and wonder, ‘What’s going on inside their head?’  Well, I know.  Well, um, I know Riley’s head.”

That’s right. I’m thinking of “Inside Out”. Inside Out is about a girl named Riley who is uprooted from her life in the Midwest and moves to San Francisco, and all her emotions are in an uproar as she tries to get used to all the new things. 

(Introduce emotions by showing a pic of each of the characters from the movie and having them guess which is which. Just google it to find the pics.)

Raise your hand if you’ve had this feeling this weekend. (Call each one individually and let kids raise their hands.)

Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, Anger

Yes, things in our days-in our lives- change all the time, so part of being human is that our feelings change too. That’s how God made us.

We can see in the Psalms that it’s okay to talk to God about all your feelings.

(Now read each line from a psalm below, letting them identify which feeling each line expresses.)

83- My God! I’ve had it with them!    Blow them away! Knock the breath right out of them, so they’re gasping for breath, gasping, “God.” (Anger)

96- Let Wilderness turn cartwheels,Animals, come dance,Put every tree of the forest in the choir—13 An extravaganza before God as he comes (Joy)

12-How much longer will you forget me, Lord? Forever? How much longer will you hide yourself from me? (Disgust)

17-Deadly enemies surround me; they’re around me now, wherever I turn(Fear)

39-Hear my prayer Lord, and listen to my cry; come to my aid while I weep. (Sad)

Feelings change all the time. But the thing that doesn’t change? God is present with us through each one. God stays right with us and listens-even when it’s too hard for our parents. God can help us through them, the happy and the sad.

Let’s pray. Dear God, thank you for staying with us through the easy times and the hard times. We’re so glad you’re there, God. We love you. Amen.