Tonight we begin that age old summer festival known as VBS. Vacation Bible School means our church will be overrun by children and filled with the sounds of crafts and snacks. The decorations are spilling over into every part of the building, and there have been some serious hours devoted to making this a good event for the kids who come. And don’t be too cynical. The kids really do love this stuff.
This year we gave special attention to treating our subject—Joseph—and his saga with a bit of nuance. A few weeks ago John Fortner, a wonderful Old Testament Theologian, came and talked to our VBS team about the theology of the story. I think the reflection that came out of that session was really helpful to our group in developing a nuanced, deeper understanding of the whole Joseph saga, and particularly how it fits into the larger story. Often adults haven’t reflected on such a story and its real theological meaning—they may have not even been asked to think about it much since they were small kids in VBS themselves.
VBS, and anything like it, holds multiple values. Obviously we hope that in some way that may well be significant it plants a seed of this story in the mind of the kids who come to see it. But it also holds great value for all of the adults working the event as well. This is a major teaching opportunity that the church usually misses. We have tons of adults that are invested in serving, and are themselves immersed in some part of the story of God, but we miss the chance to help them do some serious reflection on the theology of the story. As a result, kids and the adults all walk away with an immature version of the story. Indeed, it may be that the immature, unreflected upon version is what gets passed on from generation to generation.
This something I want us to get better at doing as a church—acknowledging that service brings the opportunity for growth, particularly when we reflect on how it all fits into God’s story.
Over the next couple of nights, we’ll explore what VBS can mean for big boys and girls.
