Vacation Bible School and Me

Tonight will be a first for me. Tonight is the first time I participate in Vacation Bible School (VBS) as an adult.

For most of my adult life, I've gone to a church where there weren't enough children and volunteers to make VBS work. And during the summers that the church tried it, I couldn't have volunteered. I was teaching at night, and Vacation Bible School was also at night.

This week, too, VBS will be at night, which means I'll put in a full day at work and then go to church and try to be present for the children. I'm assisting with Arts and Crafts, so I'm hoping it won't be too difficult. I'm glad that I'm the assistant, not the one in charge.

I was asked to help back in April. Back then, my schedule in June seemed completely open. Now, of course, I've got a week of meetings and student surveys that assess teachers/classes and a personnel review. Back in April, I thought I might take some time off to be even more available for VBS. This week, I see the folly of that thought. Each of these meetings seems important.

One of my friends expressed disgust at the thought of Vacation Bible School. She said, "Oooh. You're not going to make them make crucifixes, are you?"

I said, "We're Lutherans. I feel fairly sure we won't be doing that."

I'm not exactly sure what we'll be doing, but we'll be using the Augsburg/Fortress series that my mom's church uses each year with great success. This year, we're visiting "Discovery Canyon." What does that mean? I don't know yet.

Of course, the real reason I volunteered, apart from liking the woman who asked me to assist her, is my own happy memories of VBS. Back in the 70's, when the summers stretched long, we'd often have several weeks of VBS. The sessions would last all morning. We'd make things and play volleyball and sing and do some Bible study. It was just part of those glorious summers which included swim lessons and reading stacks of books and going to the occasional movie and spending long afternoons getting sunburned at the pool at the Air Force Base.

Now that I'm older, I appreciate all the sacrifices the adults in my life made so that I could have those kind of summers. Hopefully, some child who comes to VBS this week will have some fond memories which will in turn, encourage them to volunteer, when they become adults.