Each year at Mustard Seed School, we mark the season of Lent in part by participating as a community in the discipline of service. This week students will bring home a small bank for collecting coins. The banks will remain at home for the next several weeks while children gather together a gift. Then the cans will be returned to the classroom during Holy Week.
This year our collection of money will benefit Heifer International, a global organization with a mission of ending hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. We will be donating specifically to a project known as the Bountiful Harvest Gift Basket, which brings agricultural training and supplies to communities in need around the world. This effort empowers families to feed themselves, to engage in commerce and community improvement, to flourish.
We encourage families to find ways for children to earn coins at home during Lent so that the gifts come from the children. Some families invite children to give from their own savings. Some families use the cans at a mealtime prayer and add coins as they name the people and places for which they pray. Others assign extra chores during this time and the children earn coins this way. There are many ways to offer a gift in this season and learning the habit of serving others is the goal.
In the Rocks Class we are recognizing the ways children are helpful and giving that child a coin to put in our class can. Initially the teachers are naming the child and the way he/she has been helpful, but we are also asking the children to notice when another child has been helpful.
In our Lenten worship the children have time to reflect on, and draw a picture of, a story from Jesus' life. At the end of the worship story the presenter leaves a simple tableau composed of the wooden figures we use to tell the worship story. While some children happily engage in their drawing and are disappointed when the time comes to stop, others may be uncertain or anxious. So we usually offer a place in the classroom for the children to continue working on their drawing during activity time, or to start a new draft if needed.
Thursday's worship story told of Jesus healing a young girl and a woman. Later in the morning one child complained of a sore arm. He stopped work for several minutes before preparing to move to a new activity. He said "My arm doesn't hurt anymore. Jesus healed me!" My heart delights when I hear how real Jesus is to the children in the Rocks Class.
Save the date for Tuesday 22nd March when the Rocks Class will help tell part of the Easter story in worship and you are invited to a small reception afterwards.
