Воспоминания о летней библейской школе: как детские занятия формируют веру на всю жизнь

Do you know what the letters VBS stand for? I suspect that most folks under 30 or so will say these initials stand for Virtualization-based Security, a program that uses hardware virtualization and the Windows hypervisor . . . But I see I’m putting you to sleep. VBS doesn’t mean a Windows program, nor does it stand for Very Bad Sister, as my wife suggested. (I’m inclined to think her childhood figured into that since she was the oldest of three sisters!) VBS is best known for Vacation Bible School, either going on now or earlier this summer in several churches in your neighborhood. The idea for teaching children during the summer in an atmosphere of fun began about 1898 when Virginia Hawes rented a New York City beer hall for an “everyday Bible school.” The idea grew, and by 1920 there were something like 5,000 Vacation Bible Schools taking place in churches. The Southern Baptist Convention got into the movement big time in 1924, creating a VBS department as part of the denomination’s work. Perhaps you enjoyed VBS when you were a child? As I remember, it used to be a two-week program where we learned religious songs with hand motions, memorized scripture, did Bible dramas with old bathrobes and fake angel wings. But my favorite part was the activities time where we made some small article to take home to prove, along with the Bible verses we could quote, that we really learned something and had fun doing it. I still have, in a forgotten dresser drawer, a tie rack made of plywood cut out to resemble a duck. There is an old weathered duck decal on it. I’m writing this after just returning from the VBS going on in the church where I presently serve as interim pastor. I’m getting a bit old to do the hand motions, read the song on the screen, and sing the words of the song all at the same time. Seems it used to be more fun. But the games and the refreshments still get my attention. With all the hustle and distractions of our modern society it’s harder to gather the neighborhood kids for a Bible school, and while in my day we met for two weeks Monday through Friday all morning, nowadays a Friday evening, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning is about the limit. If you’re still with me this far, the chances are that you are a veteran of VBS, and I’ve jogged some memories long stored away. Maybe you’re helping in Bible school at your church next week. Or maybe you went to VBS as a child and found that it led to a meaningful church experience, but now that you are older and wiser, you have strayed away from church. So let me say a good word for Vacation Bible School and maybe you will be prompted to recover a faith you laid aside. That old church with it’s seemingly eternal frown on all those things you were drawn to as a teen is what shaped your morals and gave you a world understanding grounded in the Bible. It shaped your thinking even when you were in college and felt church was not needed. It was still in your bones when you got married and started your family. And it is why you want your children to have a church relationship even when you would rather play golf or go fishing on Sunday rather than take them to church. But think back on those VBS days of your childhood. Those narrow-minded folks who taught you in Sunday School and VBS loved you, overlooked your childish rebellions, prayed that you would one day come to know Jesus as Lord, They really believed that they were in partnership with your parents in “training up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” And they also believed that although you might wander in your middle years, by the grace of God you would find your way back to a meaningful relationship with Jesus and his church. Am I on target here? If I am, don’t you think it is time for you to rethink your priorities for Sunday and turn up at a local church next Sunday? Maybe they will be having VBS this next week, and maybe they have a place for you to help . . . maybe helping a kid make a duck-looking tie rack. You’ll be partnering with God to change a kid’s life, and maybe that boy or girl will one day be a leader working with God to change lives.