funny Sunday

Yesterday morning Miss Lori stopped me at church and asked me if I could fill in as her assistant in the youngest children's class that night. Their teacher was out sick. Let's just say that anyone who teaches 3 & 4 year-olds clearly spends a LOT of time in preparation and thought. I was very impressed with how she had everything ready to roll with enough activities to keep them occupied the whole time.

When it was time for their lesson, I sat down at the nearest table. Mr. Ducky looked at me and said "This is the boys' table." I looked around, and sure enough all three boys plus one girl were sitting at that table. Since there was already another girl there, I told him I thought girls could sit there, too. So Mr. Blue shirt hops up and moves to the next table where two other little girls were sitting. He turned and with a grin said, "I'm going to sit with the ladies."

For part of the lesson there was a poem that had hand motions to go along with it. The last two lines went something like this:

Where do you stand
when it comes to God's commands?

Every time Miss Lori read "Where do you stand..." Mr. Ducky would look at her and say, "I stand right here."

Part of the Palm Sunday lesson was about Judas getting the thirty pieces of silver for telling the soldiers where Jesus was. They had a hard time getting the word thirty. It seemed to always come out as 13 or forty. Mrs. Lori gave each child a nickel to help them remember the thirty pieces of silver, and to reinforce the lesson she'd ask each child what the silver coin stood for. When little Miss Bouncy got hers, she answered, "Hey, I can spend this!" Most kids are just excited to simply get money. This little chick knew what is was for!

I was impressed with their recall from the previous week's lesson. I don't remember the exact wording of the question, but it had something to do with what happens when people sin. Little Miss Red's eyes got wide and she turned around in her chair and said, "They go to hell!" That wasn't the answer either one of us expected.

I love the excitement, curiosity and passion of that age group, but I think if I had to assist them on a regular basis I might find church very tiring indeed. My hat is off to any preschool worker!