Lesson: Attitude, according to Jesus
Scripture: Matthew 5:1-12, Philippians 2:1-5
Verse: Philippians 2:5 - "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus."
This was the first Sunday on the new schedule, and the early start was not aided by icy conditions outside. At 9:30, only our three most faithful kids were at church: Norman, Hi, and Javiy. We started on time, but with craft, which is usually at the end of the service. By the time the original three had finished their foam creations, the round table was more or less full. Chris showed up to claim the older kids, but all except Norman and Jorge opted to stay. They're Sunday school regulars, so I understand their reluctance, but I think next Sunday they need to at least try the jr high group. After craft, I passed out Bibles and we read the Beatitudes together. This was a great change from the bigger Sunday school model, where we have more kids than NIRV Bibles and not enough time to help each find one breif passage at a time. The kids at church today could all read well and followed along easily. We discussed some tricky concepts - many of which corresponded well with the Romans 12 sermon, although I didn't plan that intentionally. By the time we finished the Philippians passage, all we really had time for was snack.
Emily lined the kids up for "Big Church," handing out paper bags of "sermon supplies" - crayons, kids bulletins, leftover candy canes, sharpened pencils - before filing the group up the stairs and into the our designated spot in the sanctuary. The paper bags proved to be a mistake: the children pulled out the bulletins immediately and had them half completed before the first song began, and even small amounts of bag rustling during the sermon sounded distracting. Next time I think we'll try ziplocks and wait to pass them out until after the kids' sermon. Other than that, though, everybody sat well and listened fairly attentively, scribbling answers to the questions Emily wrote on their bulletins. I especially loved seeing the kids' enthusiasm during worship: they clapped, nodded, and bellowed along even to unfamiliar songs. It was really cute and encouraging!
We probably had about eight kids downstairs (although at least three of those should have been with Chris), but by the end of the upstairs service our reserved row had spilled over by at least four. I think it worked pretty well, and will hopefully get better as the families adjust to the earlier time. A tighter schedule for Sunday school will also allow more variety: I'll have to rotate some of the "extras" (craft and game, for instance) to alot enough time for the lesson, worship, and memory verse. I'm excited to see how the mornings even out!
Chinese Sunday school was okay, but not great. Pete helped me run an extended version of the morning lesson and nine kids came - eight boys and one very lonely girl.
