On Sunday, May 19, families with children and preschoolers will gather in the Activities Building for lunch, enjoying BBQ and a potluck of sides. It will also be the Fifth Sunday in the season of Easter, which is more than halfway through the Great Fifty Days between Easter and Pentecost, where the Church celebrates the joy of new creation in light of the resurrection.
The sounds of the children and preschoolers will fill the Activities Building with plenty of “activity,” echoing the joy of new creation!
Whenever we gather to eat together around the table of fellowship, we turn to God in prayer. We “say grace” to express our gratitude for one another and the meal before us. As we “say grace,” while looking upon the children of the church, it changes our prayers.
As we watch the children play together, stopped occasionally by parents and friends, leaning down next to them and laughing with them, we are thankful to be their church. We are grateful to be their place of faith!
One of the prayers we have for the children of the church is that they will discover not only that the church is a place of belonging, but also a place that challenges them to discern their purpose as children of God. The church hopes to walk alongside them, calling them to lean into the ways of Jesus. Through the community of faith, they can discover more about God’s character, and also their own.
When we pray for the children of the church, we also discover the prayers we have for ourselves. Deep down we realize that the church is not only a place of belonging for us, but also a place that challenges us to discern our purpose as children of God. The children of the church remind us that we all bear God’s image, and we are called to lean into it!
We are all God’s children, and we are called to participate in new creation. We can lean into God’s grace, which gives us life, and life anew.
-Tripp