Vacation Bible School

This week the twins had vacation bible school. It's a joint program with almost all the churches in the valley, held at our church. On Wednesday I was in charge of the snack--packing it up, loading it on the bus (it was field trip day), setting it up, and cleaning up afterwards. LW got to come with me and was very excited about getting to ride on a school bus to the field trip. (He's been wanting to follow the older kids onto the bus every morning this school year.)

The first half hour of VBS each day is a singing time, where the kids learn the songs that go along with the theme. (This year's theme was "Soaring to New Heights with God" and they did a lot of discussions and experiments involving hot air balloons.) Now, our congregation is a casual, friendly, and yet pretty staid group of New Englanders. We have some peppy hymns and sometimes there is a skit as part of the sermon, but we don't have any drums or electric guitars during the service. We stand to sing hymns, but we don't raise our hands above our heads or get really emotional while singing.

But VBS is different. The music is peppier, the background CD has electric instruments, there are hand motions. There is a lot more singing and a lot less talking. LW was in heaven. As soon as the kids stood up to sing the first song, he wiggled out of my arms and raced down the aisle to front and center. He mimicked every hand motion. He danced around. At the end of every song he clapped. At the beginning of every new song, he jumped up and down. The other adults found him very entertaining.

My whirling dervish toddler, who can barely make it through the announcements on Sunday, lasted the entire half hour. He even sat relatively still and quiet during the talking time. (Although even then, he elicited chuckles. The leader had asked the kids to be quiet for a minute or two so they could listen to the silence. Right in the middle of the quiet time, the bus that was taking us to the field trip pulled up. LW, who at the time was sitting in between two of EM's friends, piped up clearly into the silence, "Bus!")

For the first time ever, I find myself wishing we attended a peppy evangelical church, at least for the next couple of years. Let's see--peppy evangelical church with a progressive, non-creedal theology in New England?

Yes, I know. Not going to happen. Oh well. It was a nice thought.