It's more than a musical

This post has been a long time coming, and I am glad that it has taken me so long to write, as I now get to include more insights from this past year as one of the Kids Music and Arts Co-Directors at our church.  Really I have been working with out church's children's music programs since my son was in kindergarten, and he is now in the 5th grade, so 6 years now.  It's hard to believe that it has been that long.  For my first two years I helped as a volunteer, then the 3rd year, the program had grown so much that our pastor hired my friend and me to take it on as a part-time position with the church.

We both grew up with musical backgrounds and educational backgrounds working with children, so it was a great fit.  Our first couple years were merely survival.  In the fall, it was making sure the kids stayed focused during the hour we had them each week, so the Christmas musical would be at least enjoyable for the parents that attended.  In the spring, we tried to teach the kids more about music basics, different instruments, and a few art projects.  We developed relationships with returning kids, and our program continued to grow.

After year 4, we seemed to hit a stride, but I started to feel a push to make it more than just music and arts.  Yes the kids were singing about Jesus and God, but were they just singing or really learning?  My co-director and I were in the same mindset because when we started planning out the new year, we brainstormed way to teach the kids beyond words and choreography.  We wanted them to know the backgrounds of the songs, and that some of the words actually came from bible verses.  We took a little time out of each hour to take prayer requests and then pray as a group.  In the Spring we provided an opening session at the beginning of programming, leading them in a worship song and providing a message.  We changed our curriculum to alternate 6 week sessions with our Children's programming, so we could have the whole 2 hours on Sunday night for the season of Lent.  We worked on prepared to perform with the adult choir's Easter Cantata on Palm Sunday through chimes, singing, and/or art.  We talked about what Lent really means, the symbols of Lent, stations of the cross, told the story of Jesus's love for us.  How He loves us enough that he would die for us.

Where we used to see a large drop off in attendance once the Christmas Musical was done, as most kids just wanted to be in the big performance, we had kids coming back to continue the experience of learning about God though art and music.  It was such a great experience for everyone because we were learning more during our preparation to teach the kids.

This past year during our Christmas musical, it really hit me that this is more than a musical.  We had a friend tell us that their family was dealing with a rough medical issue, and she should listen to one of the songs, "God has a Plan," in her car even when her kids weren't with her because it brought her comfort.  It's more than a musical.  We had a precious little boy that my friend and I have known for years that is diagnosed with a condition called Tuberous Sclerosis (to learn more about this condition, you can click on the link).  Due to the tumors on his brain, he has delays in his development, sensory processing issues, and seizures.  We weren't sure how much participation he could have in the musical as his attention strays easily and he is quite the busy body, but we were determined to have him up there.  He learned the songs with some hard work and repetition from practice at church and lots of practice at home, and he was able to participate in all the singing parts, which he did so joyfully!  It brought tears to our eyes.  It's more than a musical.  We had kids talk with their families at home about the concepts that we spoke about in practice.  It was really amazing to see how God worked in their little hearts (and in ours) to bring His word to life through song, acting, dance, and chimes.  It's so much more than a Christmas Musical.

This past Sunday following Easter, we celebrated Children's Sabbath.  This is a joint event between Children's Programming and Kids Music and Arts at our church.  Our Children's director assigned kids to do everything from greeting to serving communion.  We prepared the kids to sing three songs (two songs for worship and one special music piece for our exiting 5th graders - and one lone 4th grader :)  )  It was so amazing.  The kids didn't just get up and act cute to perform, they actually lead worship!  Some kids even chose to write their own prayers to say, instead of having the Children's Director provide them with one.  The kids understood the importance of the roles they were assigned and fulfilled them with grace.  People were commenting on how blessed they felt by the kids, and there were many a joyful tear from all throughout the congregation.  We felt the same way leading them!  It is hard to not to be awestruck when you see your son close his eyes and feel the words he is singing his solo during Amazing Grace, My Chains are Gone. God can do so mighty things through the little people at our church.

So when you drop your kids off for children's music or are attending a performance, please remember that it is so much more than a musical.

To view our Children's Sabbath services or other services, you can click on the Live Stream links below:

First Frisco UMC Children's Sabbath 9:30 service
First Frisco UMC Children's Sabbath 11:00 service
First Frisco UMC Palm Sunday Easter Cantata
First Frisco UMC KMA Christmas Musical

Go Get Your Sister

We had an ice week about a month ago where we were stuck at home, schools were closed, and it was really too icy to even venture outside to play.  So there we were all at home...together.  It started off pretty well, and I have to say that I love that my children are getting more independent in keeping entertained.  One thing that I did start to notice though was something that moms have dealt with since the beginning of time.

Me: "Go get your sister and tell her it's time to get ready to eat."

Son: (From the couch yelling upstairs) "Wash your hands, and get ready to eat!"

Me: (in the kitchen rolling my eyes as I could have yelled on my own) "No GO to your sister and tell her to get ready to eat."

This is nothing new.  I remember doing this as a kid, and I am pretty sure my parents did it to their parents.  In fact, I am pretty sure it has been going on since Bible times.  

The word "Go" is used so many times in the Bible.

*GO, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites GO out of his country. - Exodus 6:11 (NIV)

*GO!  I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. - Luke 10:3 (NIV)

*But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or turn back.  Where you GO I will GO..." 

- Ruth 1:16 (NIV)

*Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "GO and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." 

- Luke 22:8 (NIV)

*"Therefore GO and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." - Matthew 28:19 (NIV)

The last one hit my core when I was reading the book Interrupted by Jen Hatmaker.  (A great read, but be ready to be changed!)  How easy it is to just think "make disciples" and leave out the "go," just as my children do when I tell them to "Go and tell..."  Go requires action, requires sacrifice, requires commitment.  As frustrated as I got that day, it made me step back and think how frustrated God must be at me!  

"Go and get your sister/brother...

-and invite her/him to church.

-and bring her/him a meal.

-and invite her/him to a bible study.

-and have coffee just to talk.

-and give her/him a hug.

-and tell her/him about Me!

As uncomfortable or inconvenient these may be what about this:

"Go and get your sister/brother...

-and give them them grocery money instead of getting my nails done.

-and hold their hand and look in their eyes as they tell you their story even though you don't know them and you don't know how long it has been since they showered/washed their hands.

-and visit them in the hospital,

-and tell them that you love them and God loves them even when they have messed up and maybe even hurt you in the process.

-and help them out by bringing food to their apartment complex even if it means missing the big game on tv.

How often am I so comfortable to just sit on my computer and invite everyone to come to my church and church events?  I would so rather do that than actually face to face ask them (My introvert is showing!)  Isn't it so much easier to just give to a mission rather than GO and do one?  (Not that giving to missions is bad - both sides are definitely needed).  But just telling and giving aren't enough.  I am so much more likely to follow up on an invitation of someone's of I have been personally invited instead of "group" invited.  I am much more likely to attend an church or event with someone that I see "walk the walk" and not just "talk the talk."

We cannot help people understand the love of Jesus unless we GO show the love of Jesus through our actions.  

"As the body without the spirit is Dead, so faith without deeds is dead." - James 2:26

How many times has God told me to GO and get my sister or brother and do something?  How many times have I just yelled from the couch half-hearted because I was either too lazy to get up or was afraid to get off the comfort of the couch into a zone where I many not be so comfortable?  How many times have a flat out ignored him?  

All I can say is thank goodness for grace and second chances!

I am now making an effort to hear those GO calls and actually get my rear off the comfy couch and do something.  It's not always going to be easy and it definitely won't always be comfortable, but I have a feeling that I will come out ok in the end. :)

Go and get your sister!

Child-like Faith

In our Sunday School class, we have been discussing Simon Peter, and in our conversation this week, the topic of having faith like a child kept coming up.  I got a prime example of that this Sunday, along with a moment of humility.

This Sunday, our church celebrated a new mission that we have started called, Forever Families.  This ministry celebrates and supports the care of orphans through sponsorship, fostering, adopting, and any other way to care for those children who have no one else.  We had many local programs come to let us know of their organizations, as well as, international programs.  I gathered information on all the programs to look through later with my husband.  We already sponsor a little boy in Uganda, but I felt the pull to see if there was something more we could do.  My husband was home with our daughter because she woke up with fever that morning, so it was just my 10 year old son and me.  I had a ministry coordinators meeting right after church, and my son was happy so stay b/c he got to partake in the lunch that was offered.  I handed him the packet on one of the programs there, The Zoe mission.  He has been looking for something to give his money in his "Give Jar" to, and I thought he might look through and pick the $10 rabbits or something small like that.  

Well as we sat through our hour long meeting, I noticed he was reading the entire book, cover to cover.  When the meeting was over, he told me he would like to donate his "Give" money to this organization.  What he followed up with is what caught me off guard.  He told me that he wanted to take the book to his class tomorrow and challenge the other kiddos to give as well, and to see what they could collect by Friday.  He told me he would ask his teacher if he could talk to the class if they had some extra time.  Let me just say that my first instinct was to hold back my tears.  This kid gets it, and I couldn't love him more!!  I wanted to wrap him up in my arms and tell him just how awesome he truly is.  My second instinct was hesitation.  We go to public school, so I wasn't sure how he would be received or if he would even be allowed to talk about it.  I wanted to tell him maybe we should search for other ways for him to raise money, but I checked myself, took a breath, and told him I thought it was a great idea.  I did warn him that he may not be able to speak about it at school, and we would also need to figure out a way to collect the money, and he replied that he knew that, but he wanted to try anyways.

Oh how a 10 year old boy can humble me.  How could I stand in his way?  He knows that it may not be received, but he wants to try anyways.  He believes in helping others, and he really doesn't understand why anyone else wouldn't want to.  Why should I have hesitation?  I believe that as grown-ups that the "social norms" tell us it is not polite to talk about our faith, our passions for helping others even when it's not the popular thing to do, going against the grain of society, that we shut down when we are given that chance.  We are afraid of breaking the rules, offending someone, or just being looked at as weird.

I pray to have that fearless childlike faith that my son displayed for me yesterday.  I want to feel the pull of the Holy Spirit and follow it boldly despite knowing that I may face some obstacles and possibly be rejected.  How do we lose that along that way?  How do we get it back?  That is something I will have to reflect on this week.

I don't know what the outcome has been today.  I emailed his teacher last night just giving her a heads up, as well as, giving her the link to the mission, so she could see what it is.  I haven't heard back yet, so I am pretty much sitting on pins and needles until he gets home.  I know, I know. I am still learning to "Let Go and Let God."  One thing I do know is that he will not let this be a set back, if it doesn't work out.  Based on how pumped up he was last night and this morning, he will find a way to raise money for this organization.  Another thing I know is that I am blessed to be able to watch and learn from my child on how to have faith and let nothing get in the way.