Characters in Sunday School

Hello Everyone!
I am very excited to be making my first post here on the First Congo blog! Sunday School has been a joy to be apart of here and I really would like to share some of the teaching tools we have been looking at. A big goal of mine is to connect scripture and worship to things our children may have seen and also may enjoy. Also, I am big fan of film and books, so I really like to making connections using both!

We have started out our Sunday School year talking about heroes. Who are heroes in our own lives? Who are heroes in the bible? What makes a hero? We have discussed many heroes in Sunday School from Jesus to Batman, from Mom to teachers! This theme of being a hero and how God wants us to be heroes is a theme we are still carrying out through out this year and the youth have really responded well to it!

Also, we have used examples from the children's films Happy Feet and Akeelah and the bee. Both of these films give great examples of how being ourselves, just the way we are, we can make a great connection with God and great connections with others. In Happy Feet, we focused on "What is your heart song"? "How do you share your heart song with others"? And in Akeelah and the bee, we learn about the power within and with God, all things are possible. Here are the links we have have watched in Sunday School. Please give them a view and feel free to share your feelings and thoughts!

Happy Feet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKA8wkU5tdk

Akeelah and the bee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwKBxabn4QY

Currently, we have been working with the children's book, Pete the Cat. Pete has a lot of lessons to share about how no matter what happens to us in life, it is all good. With faith, love, and understanding, life is a wonderful journey we all walk through together! As we continue to look at these examples and others in the future, I greatly encourage you to connect with our youth and discuss with them your own journeys and share your own examples, thoughts, and feelings.

Blessings and love,

Olivia

Sermon Response | February 2, 2014

I really enjoyed learning about the Cowsill family this past week.  I distinctly remember seeing the "Hair" video on VH1 when I was young, back when VH1 and MTV were actually about music.  This is the documentary I watched and referred to in my sermon: Family Band: The Cowsills Story. Of course I was not even alive when the Cowsills were popular, but I asked my mom if she had any idea when they were popular that there were abusive family dynamics and she said "No, they were the family we all wanted to be like."  Unfortunately, the hidden story of abuse is such a common story among celebrities-- and not just abuse but addiction and mental illness as well.  

We tend to apply facades to our lives, celebrities or not, which make us appear perfect or unaffected by the obstacles of the world.  Yet I'd venture a guess that each and every one of us carries some painful stories of unresolved conflict-- relationships yet to be reconciled, addictions yet to be addressed, depression and anxiety yet to be medicated. 

My sermon this week referred to the reconciliation that we are each in need of within ourselves, with one another, and with God.  We used to have a sign right next to the door to our one bedroom apartment in St. Louis which said, "If you are not in right relationship with with your neighbor and with yourself, you cannot be in right relationship with God."  I needed that advice every single day, and the only reason the note doesn't exist next to our current door is because it was lost in the move.  I should probably make a new one.  I believe that we are all deeply interconnected.  Our brokenness doesn't only affect us; it affects everybody.  Jesus Christ calls us to be truthful about our brokenness so that we can be opened up for reconciliation; so that we are available to be healed.  The point I'm trying to convey isn't the often articulated story about sin (that if we are full of sin we aren't going to Heaven); it's about wholeness, completeness, and peace-- that we will function better if we are not trying to hide our pain; if we aren't trying to live with a concealed story of brokenness.  And if we are functioning better, we can serve better.  And if we serve better, the world will function better.  Do you see the connections?  This is some of what Liberation Theology gets at. 

So what do you think?  Am I rambling or making sense?  This is the stuff that has been going on in my mind lately; and it's what I was trying to convey in my sermon on Sunday. 

Listen here: http://bit.ly/1k0Oe3Z