We have a growing number of tiny kids here at Trinity, and I've been looking for a special way to connect with them outside of worship and children's sermons. Today was my first "Bible Storytime." We'll meet every Tuesday at 10:30am in the sanctuary for a half-hour of songs, stories, and play.
We gather in the sanctuary, take off our shoes, and sit on a quilt on the floor. It's near the spot on the chancel steps where we have the children's sermon during worship, so I'm hoping that space becomes more comfortable for the little ones once they spend more time there.
We'll start each storytime singing "This is the day." Then, we'll look in the basket to see what the enclosed items might tell us about the story we will read.
Today the basket had a mirror, a heart, and a cross. The cross tells us that our story is about Jesus, the heart tells us that our story is about love, and the mirror tells us that our story is about us! Can you guess what story we read?
That's right! Jesus welcomes the children and blesses them. We read the story from the Spark Story Bible. This is the same Bible we give to children when they are baptized at Trinity, so the stories and artwork are familiar.
After our story we learned the song "Jesus Loves Me" along with the hand motions. Then we colored together and made shapes with pipe cleaners. Finally, we ended with a prayer.
Today's one participant was very shy, but I could tell that she was warming up by the end of our time together. It was so nice to spend time with this family in a way I don't get to on Saturdays and Sundays at worship. My hope is that the kids who come to Bible storytime will learn that church is a welcoming place and that their pastor (me!) cares about them. Learning the stories and songs and playing together is an added bonus!
We gather in the sanctuary, take off our shoes, and sit on a quilt on the floor. It's near the spot on the chancel steps where we have the children's sermon during worship, so I'm hoping that space becomes more comfortable for the little ones once they spend more time there.
We'll start each storytime singing "This is the day." Then, we'll look in the basket to see what the enclosed items might tell us about the story we will read.
Today the basket had a mirror, a heart, and a cross. The cross tells us that our story is about Jesus, the heart tells us that our story is about love, and the mirror tells us that our story is about us! Can you guess what story we read?
That's right! Jesus welcomes the children and blesses them. We read the story from the Spark Story Bible. This is the same Bible we give to children when they are baptized at Trinity, so the stories and artwork are familiar.
After our story we learned the song "Jesus Loves Me" along with the hand motions. Then we colored together and made shapes with pipe cleaners. Finally, we ended with a prayer.
Today's one participant was very shy, but I could tell that she was warming up by the end of our time together. It was so nice to spend time with this family in a way I don't get to on Saturdays and Sundays at worship. My hope is that the kids who come to Bible storytime will learn that church is a welcoming place and that their pastor (me!) cares about them. Learning the stories and songs and playing together is an added bonus!
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