Well, that was quite an unannounced hiatus wasn’t it? Five months, almost to the day, if you’re the picky sort. During that time, I needed to do some serious thinking about why I blog and what that does to me…my heart, to be more exact. I’m not certain if I’ve reached any great conclusions (at least none that I’ll share presently), but I think I’m ready to jump back in. For now.
Yesterday’s Lord’s Day was a very pleasant one. We didn’t have Sunday School classes planned (it’s always been difficult at a small church to pull this off: either because teachers are traveling and back-ups are hard to come by; or, because families are gone and you have no students). This left a nice lull in my preparation schedule, as well as a slower-paced Sunday morning…or so I thought. I arrived at the church two hours prior to the worship time, thinking I could review my sermon notes, have some quiet time to meditate and pray prior to the service. Two unexpected ‘guests’ (one who was there and hour prior to our usual Sunday School start time) took away that opportunity. The Lord blesses anyway.
One of the joys/responsibilities each week is a Children’s Sermon. These can prove to be the highlight of the service, sometimes. Other times, they can be near disasters. I think yesterday was one of the former. I’m just starting a summer series in Proverbs and was wondering how to help the children learn about this book of wisdom from Solomon’s pen (or quill…or stylus…or whatever he used). It wasn’t until about 5.30 a.m. that the idea hit me. I was sitting on our deck and as I came across Proverbs 23.19, the rhythm of the words immediately fell into an old Beatles tune, ‘Let It Be’. By adding a few words for a refrain, I came up with this:
Fear the Lord
Proverbs 23.19
Listen, children, and be wise,
keep your heart on the right path;
Heed these words of wisdom;
fear the Lord.
Listen to your moms and dads,
hear what they say every day;
Heed these words of wisdom;
fear the Lord.
Refrain –
Fear the Lord,
fear the Lord,
Love the Lord,
love the Lord.
Heed these words of wisdom;
fear the Lord.
The children seemed to genuinely enjoy it. One boy, after going over the refrain three times to get it into their heads, asked if we’d be singing it as an entire congregation. I replied that after I added a couple more verses that we most surely would. Another young girl, after the service, kept hanging around the piano while her mother was trying to get her to prepare to head for home. I asked if she wanted to sing our song again and she answered with a nod of her head. So we did. Even more fun is these kids will now hear this song on a radio (or internet site) someday and think, ‘Pastor Kevin wrote this song but this group is using the wrong words!’
