But there were also children who walked over to their neighbor’s houses and delivered VBS registration forms, inviting them into Jesus’ love too. And sure, there were games and snacks and laughter and silliness. We were teaching them to pray, to sing, to learn, to tactilely use their bodies to engage Jesus. The parents and godparents are not flying solo with the task of raising the child in the faith – we as a community pledged just last week that we would be active in raising Dallas up in the faith.Īs I watched our children at Vacation Bible School this past week, I slowly began to realize that we were doing just that – raising children up in the faith. When we prepare a child and their family for baptism, we talk about how their primary role is to raise the child up in the faith – get them to church, talk about Jesus at home, pray together, and read the Bible stories. On those hot, humid summer nights, with the cicadas chirping and the lightning bugs flashing, VBS accomplished for me what I talked about with the Baptismal family last weekend. My eight-year-old self was not sure what the pastor meant, but I did know a strange warming of my heart that night. VBS was the first – and probably only since I did not go to church with many Baptists – place where I was asked if I had accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and if I had not, I could ask Jesus to come to me in that moment. I liked the feeling of being loved by people who did not even know me. I liked the instant comradery and the games and laughter. But as I watched our own children in Vacation Bible School this week at Hickory Neck, I began to wonder if my crafts assessment was entirely true. I would sign up for VBS at the Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Church, and the Lutheran Church, and would beg, “Can I go? Can I go?” I have always joked that what I really like about VBS was the crafts. But I loved Vacation Bible School more than that. As a preacher’s kid, of course that meant I went to VBS at my dad’s church. I used to LOVE Vacation Bible School when I was growing up.
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