July 15, 2002
CYBERCOLUMN:
Like cheese and broccoli...
___By Donna Van Cleve
___My parents were the proverbial took us to church every time the doors were open parents. Church was a major part of our lives. I didn’t miss a single Vacation Bible School during my childhood years. And as a young child, I learned all the Bible stories and songs in Vacation Bible School, but that wasn’t what excited me about VBS. Food has always been entirely too important to me, but it wasn’t even the cookies and punch either, although for some children, refreshments were their favorite. Unquestionably for me, though, it was the crafts.
DONNA VAN CLEVE
___Some years back there was a concern that VBS had too much emphasis on arts and crafts, and not enough on teaching the Bible. One year, the VBS instructional materials mentioned very little about—much less recommended—using crafts. I groaned, and then I created my own crafts, which I normally did anyway. Throughout the years, I had seen evidence of both sides of the pendulum, but it was usually based on the individual director or teacher of each class. Some teachers planned extravagant crafts, while others did very little. That can cause class envy among the children, and especially among siblings of one family when one child brings home a beautiful stained-glass window, while another brings home a toilet paper roll decorated with a pipe cleaner.
___Our church solved that problem some years ago by having a craft director and her helpers plan all the crafts for all of the children. No one group had better crafts than the other, although the crafts were age-appropriate. That took a tremendous load off each director, too, in not having to plan and prepare the crafts. They scheduled each group to come down to the fellowship hall for craft time, just like they do for refreshments.
___There’s something to be said for crafts made from egg cartons and cardboard rolls, but those don’t get me excited. I like the keeper crafts, and I’m not talking about the expensive store-bought kits. Would you believe my mother still uses cute pencil holders my 41-year-old brother made in VBS years ago? Some of the crafts we made in the early ’60s that we held onto for years were clusters of grapes (cracked marbles) glued onto tree bark, stained-glass-looking pictures made of different colors of crushed bottle glass (a definite litigation magnet today), wooden plaque key holders, wire cage (made of clothes hangers) filled with wax-dipped crepe paper roses we made ourselves. I could probably find some of those crafts still buried in my parents’ storeroom somewhere.
___The cost of the craft supplies was cheap or even free, but some creative thought went into making those crafts that families enjoyed displaying for years. And when those crafts displayed a Bible verse, they continued to witness in the home for years.
___I haven’t been able to work in VBS for some years now, since I started working at the public library, but I still help in decorating the church beforehand. The VBS themes have been awesome the past several years, and this year was no exception. Our entire church turned into a rain forest—even the adults were excited about attending VBS. The choir loft and platform in the auditorium were covered with trees, plants and flowers of every kind, hanging vines, exotic animals and a waterfall. The organist and I played our instruments under grass huts during the worship service the Sunday preceding VBS week.
___Parents’ Night was something different, too, than in years past. The children presented a drama and musical that witnessed as well as entertained many parents who normally do not attend church. That was exciting to watch, too.
___Some folks probably thought VBS was a little too much this year. Not me. Children know, whether in Sunday School or VBS, how much effort and enthusiasm is put into teaching. That speaks volumes to them in the importance adults place in teaching the Bible. They know when a half-hearted effort is being made in Sunday School and VBS. My children have had some teachers regularly show up late to class and even admit to the students at times that they haven’t even studied their lesson to teach the class. How can parents and adults expect children to learn the Bible if we aren’t willing to make the effort ourselves?
___ I don’t know too many adults, much less children, who can sit for three hours of dry Sunday School lessons, and yet some folks have the attitude that this is what VBS should be, or that the focus is off of Christ when children have crafts and fun in church. My God invented creativity; he is the Creator. Jesus used his hands all his life, whether in carpentry growing up learning from his father or in healing people. As for me, I learn better when using my hands.
___I see it this way: Now that my kids are grown, they love broccoli and know how nutritious and important it is in their diet. But that wasn’t always the case. For awhile when they were young, I had to put cheese on their broccoli to get them to eat it.
___Teaching the Bible in Vacation Bible School is so important in our children’s lives, but they don’t immediately recognize how vital it is to their spiritual and mental health. Having a healthy balance of crafts and refreshments along with Bible study is like putting cheese on broccoli. As an adult, I’ve learned to love broccoli by itself, but even I still enjoy a little cheese now and then.
___I hope my grass hut is still there next Sunday.
___ Donna Van Cleve is director of the public library in Cotulla, a writer, wife, mother and member of First Baptist Church in Cotulla, where she is pianist.
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