What I learned at VBS

What I learned at VBS

“Help me slow down, Jesus.

 Hheellpp mmee ssllooww ddoowwnn JJEEUUSS.

 Hhheeelllppp mmmeee ssslllooowww dddoowwwnnn, JJJEEEUUUSSS.

 Hhhheeeellllpppp, mmmmeeee,sssslllloooowwww ddddoooowwwwnnnn, JJJJEEEEUUUUSSSS.”

 “Bible Story Teller,” Rolling River Rampage: Experience the Ride of a Lifetime with God!, Cokesbury VBS 2018.

My friend, Mary Manning, and I were the story tellers at St. Mark’s Vacation Bible School (VBS) this summer. I have been the story teller at VBS at the other churches I served, but I always did it alone. This was so amazing to have a partner. Mary is a retired school teacher. I am a retired teacher of medical school students and residents and fellows, but Mary had a lot to teach me. I had decided how to tell the story for each group. At our first meeting, Mary told me she said we should do it another way. She was so right. I keep thinking what it would have been like if she had not been there with me.  It could have been a disaster.

Now I know why Jesus sent the disciples out two by two. At my late stage I am learning that almost any ministry we do should be done at least two by two if possible. We learn so much from each other’s experience and expertise.

This prayer for today about slowing down was our favorite one that we used the day we told the story of Mary and Martha. I try to say it sometime during my day, every day.

I learned one more thing at VBS. Mary and I were only with each group of children for 20 minutes. We told stories about Jesus calling the disciples, Mary and Martha, Zacchaeus, the Last Supper, and Jesus sending his disciples out and letting them know he would be with them always. Each day before telling the new story, we would review the story from the previous day. I was amazed how much each group remembered yesterday’s story, even the four-year-olds. Of course, the story was reinforced at crafts and music and games.

VBS taught me that what we teach and what we say can be a seed that may stay with children especially to germinate then or at some later date. I am reminded of teachers I had at VBS who taught me about the love of God through stories. I want to be like them.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com

Kanuga Chapel

Kanuga Chapel

“The God who existed before any religion counts on you to make the oneness of the human family known and celebrated.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu

The Chapel of Transfiguration at Kanuga Conference Center in North Carolina has always been a place where the family of God is celebrated for so many reasons. I love the outer and inner appearance of the chapel as it is made of southern Carolina white pine from trees downed from a severe storm in 1936.

My mind always wanders as I sit in the chapel waiting for any service to begin, and I remember more. The wood for the chapel was not pretreated so there are these unusual dark oval markings on the wood representing the oiled fingerprints of the workers. The simple markings are more prominent at the top of chapel where it was more difficult for the builders to work. When I am in the chapel I not only feel surrounded by the thousands of prayers of people on retreat who have worshiped here, but I feel surrounded by the hands of those who labored here as well.

I especially remember the day sitting  in the chapel when I had found out that my fingerprints for my TSA Pre-check did not go through strong enough. That meant I would be investigated by the FBI before I got my Pre-check, which would take some time before I could get my traveler number! This is the identification you receive in order to go through a special lane through security where you do not have to take off your shoes or coat or put your laptop out separately. I walk with a cane and have special long lace up shoes that are difficult to take off and on, so getting my traveler number is significant for me.

I have a new appreciation for the builders of this chapel who must have been so much stronger and have been tightly holding onto the wood to leave their prints in this a sacred space.

I remember other services in this chapel that I wanted never to end. I have memories from a preaching conference dancing around the altar with Barbara Brown Taylor as I offered the bread and she followed with the wine. I see Bishop Tutu dancing on the green after an amazing closing Eucharist at a retreat led by Trinity Wall Street. Priceless. I remember two Lenten retreats where we were snowed in. Breathtaking.

I played my harp at one of the retreats that Phyllis Tickle led in this chapel because the scheduled musicians could not get here. A privilege.

Thin places like Kanuga give us a full album of memories to go back to and remember times when God’s presence and love was eminently present or as Gordon Cosby would tell us, we lived in the real world.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com

Daily Protection Prayer

“May the guiding hands of God be on my shoulders,
may the presence of the Holy Spirit be on my head,
may the sign of Christ be on my forehead,
may the voice of the Holy Spirit be in my ears,
may the smell of the Holy Spirit be in my nose,
may the sight of the company of heaven be in my eyes,
may the speech of the company of heaven be in my mouth,
may the work of the church of God be in my hands,
may the serving of God and my neighbor be in my feet,
may God make my heart his home,
and may I belong to God, my Father, completely.”

Lorica of St. Fursa (Fursey), 9th Century, Translation composite, from Facebook Page of the Rev Dr Frederick Schmidt

clay banks  unsplash

Fred Schmidt puts a prayer on his Facebook page almost every day. I cannot get this one out of my mind. St. Fursa was an Irish monk who was among the first to spread Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England in the seventh century.  A Lorica is a protection prayer in the Irish Celtic tradition often used before going to battle. It may have come from the original Latin word lorica meaning breastplate or armor.  It is suggested to have been inspired by Paul’s writing in Ephesians 6: 11 to “put on the whole armor of Christ.”

We have so much to learn still from the Celts. We have a treasury of their wisdom because writing and education were so important to them. I think of others who worshiped God but we know nothing of their traditions because their experience not the writing was important. We need both.

This is the kind of prayer that should meet us as we wake up in the morning, maybe with that first cup of coffee or even before.

We may need to go back to it during the day, so we might put it in a convenient place where we will not miss putting on the whole armor of God. Sometimes life does seem like going into battle. My experience is, however, that when prayers like this one become part of our being, we see that the battle is over and that love has already won.

Joanna  joannaseibert.com