Is it one? Is it three? Is it both? – Teaching The Trinity

Most Christians believe the Bible teaches the doctrine of the Trinity, that God is one God and yet exists as three distinct, co-equal Persons – Father, Son, and Spirit. This post is from that point of view.


The infinitely complex doctrine of the Trinity will never be fully comprehended by finite minds, but even preschoolers can begin to learn that God is one God and yet He exists as Father, Son and Spirit. He is one and yet three; three and yet one.


Many object lessons have been offered to assist our thinking about this doctrine. There is the classic water/ice/steam illustration, and, of course, Saint Patrick’s shamrock. All object lessons have their point of deterioration, but these and others have helped many, and it is not my intent to quarrel with them. That said, the results from my class encourage me to share a little different approach to introducing children to the attribute of God we call the Trinity.


Rather than speak of things God is “like” – i.e., “In a way, God is like water, ice and steam.” – we have instead looked for glimpses of the pattern of “one-yet-three, three-yet-one” with a little different goal. We are looking for “bread crumbs” God has placed in our everyday lives, evidences leading us to stronger faith in His Word on this subject, without comparing Him directly to any example.


All of us routinely accept the “one-yet-three, three-yet-one” pattern without realizing it. Think of a three-layer cake. We say we made or bought a cake, not three cakes, and yet it is three cakes. Again, to be strongly emphasized, every time we use any object like this we review that we are not saying God “is” anything but Himself. God is defined by His complete un-likeness from every other thing, living or material, but in His kindness, He has chosen to reveal Himself to us even in the mundane, in things like bread and doors and vines. And cake! Something as ordinary as a three-layer cake displaying the property of “one-yet-three, three-yet-one” on a level we can grasp encourages us to believe the Bible when it tells us God exists in this pattern in a way too big for us to understand.


In our classroom, we have a tray full of examples of concrete items that fit the 1=3=1=3… criteria. We always ask, “Is it one? Is it three? Is it both?” The tray holds items such as a necklace of three identical strands, a toy traffic signal, a piece of (vinyl) 3-layer cake, a ring made up of three interlocking rings, a three-strand braided bookmark, and a 3-layer kitchen sponge. One of my favorite items is a banana – vinyl for our display, but demonstrated with a real one! Peel a banana. Now, very carefully, apply a little pressure and at the same time wiggle it apart. The banana should separate lengthwise into three equal wedges, each the length of the whole fruit. Is it one? Is it three? Is it both?


The key, again, is that God has given us evidences of a pattern of “one-yet-three, three-yet-one” that we can see and understand. Our experience of these items as common suggests it is the degree to which God exists as three and yet one, rather than the quality of three-yet-one, that is beyond us.


A common party game helps us review and encourages the children to look for their own examples of “one-yet-three, three-yet-one” in their everyday world. When we first played the game, they were given a minute or two to look at the tray of items. Then we covered it with a cloth and tried to name as many as we could remember. The children are so skilled at this game now that we start with the tray covered and go from there!


A few weeks after we began our focus on the Trinity and our intentional observation of everyday items with a “one-yet-three, three-yet-one” quality, one little boy came to me with his own example. He had gotten a new coat that could be worn three ways. He was excited to tell me his new coat reminded him that God is Father, Son, and Spirit and yet only one God.


Amen!

Would Your Mommy Want You to Do That Right Now? + OBJECT LESSON: Play Ball!

 

By hit-and-miss attempts, but mostly by grace, the use of questions has climbed to the top of my list of classroom management techniques. Children have visibly and immediately changed their demeanor and body language at the gentle question, “Would your mommy* want you to do that right now?” Admittedly, the “right now” was a necessary addition for one especially determined young lady!  

Supply yourself with an arsenal of questions along these lines:

·         “Are you doing the right thing?”

·         “Is that how we act in class?”

·         “What do you need to change?”

·         “How can you fix this?”

·         “What can you do next time?”

Questions can encourage children to engage in the correction process and begin to learn skills that will help them self-monitor and implement corrections themselves.


The “last resort question” is one I have asked – and followed through on – only a few times: “Are we going to have to talk with your parents*?” Thankfully, the parents of my students want to know when their child’s classroom conduct has gone beyond the occasional wiggly Sunday or out-of-character outburst. The few times a problem has risen to this level, we have worked together in a careful coordinated approach. The child needs to learn self-discipline to succeed in an orderly world, but, more importantly, such incidents provide an opportunity to raise his or her consciousness of the power and pull of sin and the hope God offers in Jesus to overcome it. We really can’t resist following the desires we have for attention and admiration and getting our own way in our own power. Left to ourselves, we become excellent Pharisees or strong-willed Younger Brothers.


Similar to the question approach, our Scripture reading is prefaced by a simple direction: “Show me how children listen to the Bible.” Mouths hush, hands and feet stop, and respectful silence reigns. (And I wait quietly until this preparation is accomplished.) These are not Mrs. Ramsey’s words. God is speaking now, directly from His Word, and our best respect is for this moment.


Two other important tools are natural consequences and correction that fits the “crime.” Children grow from the opportunity to right their wrongs, when that is possible. For instance, we all know we are to walk, not run, from the sanctuary to line up for Children’s Church, but sometimes the desire to be first hurries little feet over the speed limit. Calmly directing a child back to a starting point and asking him or her to try again is both a consequence (he or she is now definitely not first!) and an effective correction of the behavior. Arranging natural consequences and providing appropriate correction can challenge our creativity but is always worthwhile.


In my suburban context, these approaches effectively address virtually all the discipline issues that occur. What are your tried and true methods for maintaining an orderly and welcoming classroom?


*Given the variety of family groupings today, it may be better to talk to some classes about their “grown ups” rather than specifically naming “Mommy” or “Daddy” or “parents.”

GAME: Play Ball!

Materials:       A game ball or balls
                      (What kind and how many you need depends on the game you choose to play at the end.)

                      Whistle or bell or other attention-getter


Introduce the new game, Play Ball!, with your best teacher enthusiasm. Build up the idea that ball games are fun, we are going to play a brand new one, etc. Divide the class into teams. You can line them up, as for a relay, or stand them in groups. Place the ball or balls on the floor and shout, “Go!”


If the children respond with running, grabbing the ball/s, etc. use the attention-getter to restore order and continue.

·         Ask the children what is wrong. (We don’t know what to do!)

·         How do we usually know what to do when we play a game? (We learn the rules.)

·         This game with no rules wasn’t much fun. Why not? (We couldn’t really play it.)

Guide the discussion to help the children discover the corresponding reality that without social rules, time with our friends isn’t much fun, either. None of us enjoys playing with a friend who hits us or cheats at games or calls us names or breaks our toys. Our class is like that, too. When we bother the person next to us or say silly things to make everyone laugh, it is harder for everyone to learn, and we can’t enjoy our time together.


God tells us, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” What would that look like when we play with friends? What is “loving your neighbor” when we are in a class at church or school? Do we always want to act in a loving way to others? Will God help us if we ask Him?


Finish with a real game of your choice that has a few simple rules – a game you know or one you make up!

Firefighter Gear, Sweaters, Running Shoes and Aspirin + Object Lesson: Repentance

  

My job as the “gospel teacher” for VBS for a few years was to end our class each day with a clear presentation of one of the foundational elements of coming to faith in Christ. The focus of the final day was always the necessity of translating what we know to active belief. One particular approach to this lesson was so effective and so adaptable to nearly any situation that I have used it many times since.

The first version of this idea involved firefighting. I came to class with a fire extinguisher, a section of garden hose and a fireman’s hat and coat in tow. I put the coat on my head and used the hose as a belt and carried the hat like a bucket. The children quickly reacted to this crazy arrangement! We eventually got things sorted out and moved on.

Another time I had my sweater nearby and commented that I was cold. I talked about sweaters and how warm they are and that it was a good thing I had mine with me.

“But I’m still cold!” I complained.

The children urged, “Put it on!”

So I did – on one of them! That still wasn’t right, and we kept trying until I had my own sweater on me and felt warmer.

Similarly, having everything you need to run well or having medicine for a sickness will do no good if the essential supplies are not put to their intended use. This basic idea can be demonstrated with meals that must be eaten to satisfy hunger, trips that never happen if they are only planned, etc.

Complete the lesson with the application that all we learn about Jesus at VBS or Sunday School or Children’s Church or at home will do us no good if we never act on what we know. Knowing the Bible says Jesus was born the Son of God to live a perfect life and to die and come alive again to pay for the sins of those who put their trust in Him does not save us. Saving faith trusts what we know the Bible says about Jesus to be true and commits us to believing in Him as our Savior in the deepest places of our hearts. Saving faith treasures Jesus so much we no longer want to treasure sin.

Active knowledge aims the fire hose at the fire, puts on the sweater, runs the race, takes the medicine. Active, saving faith responds to the truth we know about Jesus by turning to Him in repentance and embracing Him as our only hope for “a new heart” and “a new spirit” that will love and treasure Him.



OBJECT LESSON: Repentance

 

To help children understand what it is to repent, what “repentance” means, you can use a set of nesting boxes. Heart-shaped boxes are especially good, but any nesting containers will serve the purpose, and, in a pinch, you can cut a set of concentric paper hearts. Use whichever object you’ve been able to obtain to show that to “repent” means to be sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry to the deepest places in our heart. Unstack the boxes or cut-outs, from largest to smallest, as you repeat the word “sorry” to simulate a deep sense of regret.

Contrast this kind of sorry to the casual “sorry” we offer easily when we step on a toe or bump someone in line. Compare it to the sorry we say when we are told to apologize, and we mechanically repeat words we don’t mean. Discuss that wishing we had not been caught doing wrong is another kind of sorry that is not repentance. Sometimes we feel disappointed with our choices or we feel shame for doing or saying a wrong thing, but this, also, is not repentance, and while it is important to replace what we’ve broken or return a stolen item, these actions may be carried out without repenting at all.

Repentance is informed by what we know and may involve our feelings, but genuine repentance must include Bible-prescribed action. To repent is to turn from walking our own way, from living a “me first” life, to walking the opposite direction in a lifelong parade of obedience to God and His Word. It is to follow and love and honor and trust in Jesus and treasure Him above everything else. And, amazingly, repentance is a free gift of God to all who ask and seek and knock!

Installing a Pipeline / Lesson: Only Two

By the ride home, children often give vague answers to, “What did you learn at church today?” kinds of questions. Several years ago a parent asked if she might receive some kind of report or list of lesson points, so our weekly e-mail was initiated and continues.

The primary goal of the report is to clearly communicate the facts of what happened in our class. A second, significant goal is to pass along the consistent vocabulary we use. For instance, “Anyone who hears His voice and follows after Him” is a line from a song we sing that we also use nearly every week to answer some version of the question, “Who can come to Jesus?” Announcements, like wardrobe advisories and changes in our class schedule, appear prominently at the top of the e-mail as needed. Sometimes I attach pictures or the MIDI file for a new song. An unintended consequence has been that I have helpful files to refer to the next time I teach a lesson on the same subject.

Your version of a lesson outline or e-mail update will be shaped by your unique circumstances, including how much time you can spare! I enjoy writing, and, as an empty nester, can afford the extra minutes for a detailed report. The mom who made the original request would have been helped even by a list that included the Bible passages read and the main points of the lesson. Some teachers prepare this ahead of time and send it home with the children as they leave class. That’s great! I find my lesson flexes into something a little different from my prepared plan nearly every time, so I prefer to post the information afterwards.

Whether or not we implement a new communication pipeline flowing towards parents, we can make an intentional effort to foster an atmosphere of openness where they sense their questions and comments are welcome and their concerns for their children will become our concerns, too.

So here it is – The Tabor Children’s Church Report for 6-26-11!

====================================

 

ONLY TWO

We started with a game in the upstairs hallway. The children stood in the center and listened for directions that divided them into groups each time – boys/girls, blue eyes/all other colors of eyes, etc. It didn’t take many turns for them to notice no matter what the criteria, we always had two groups, and no one was standing in the middle. Asking them to keep in mind that “2” was the number of the day, we headed downstairs to our room.

After a few songs, we turned to Matthew 13 for our Bible lesson. The children were asked to listen for the two groups Jesus talked about. They correctly identified the wheat and the weeds at the end of the reading and understood why the farmer would leave the weeds to grow rather than hurt the wheat. We used a cover sheet to slowly look at a picture from the bottom up that showed a mixture of wheat and weeds (“tares” or “darnell”.) It was easy to see how much alike the two plants are. A second close-up picture showed the heads of the two grains side by side.

Additionally, we had a cylinder vase with drinking straws in it and a painted Pringles can as a cover. We knew there were two groups of straws, and watched to see when we could identify them as the can was drawn slowly upward. The can was nearly at the top of the straws before we could see the difference, but then it was easy! The top two inches or so of several of the straws had been painted bright red. Any of us could easily sort them into two groups.

Without turning to it, we referenced the story in Matthew 25 of the sheep and the goats. Over and over, we saw the theme of two groups.

Next we looked at a dozen balls of wadded foil. Of course, our job was to separate them into two groups, but they all looked exactly alike. With some discussion, the children concluded they must be different on the inside. Once we put our magnet wand to work, separating the balls was easy. We saw that some of them had a rock inside and others had a center that was made of BB’s which were drawn to the magnet.

We thought back to all our groups of two. There are many kinds of people in the world, but when God looks at them, He only sees two groups, because He isn’t concerned with what color we are or where we live or if we are smart or not-so-smart. God sees the world divided into those who know and love Jesus and those who don’t. He looks on the inside.

Ephesians 2 gave us two more groups – dead and alive. We know there isn’t a third group! Living things are either alive or they have died.

⁴ But God loves us deeply. He is full of mercy. ⁵ So he gave us new life because of what Christ has done. He gave us life even when we were dead in sin. God's grace has saved you. – Ephesians 2:4-5 NIrV

Those who have come to Jesus and trusted Him to pay for their sins have the promise of this verse, “He gave us life even when we were dead in sin.” The call of God to all of us is to ask Him for a new heart that loves and serves Jesus.

Our last illustration was two mylar balloons that looked exactly alike – until they were released! One lifted to the ceiling and the other fell to the floor. The only difference in the balloons was what was inside. We can look exactly like a Christian on the outside for a time – even a lifetime – but it is our heart God is looking at. The good news is that He promises a new heart to all who come to Him, believing in Jesus. He can change a “rock heart” that isn’t drawn to Him at all to a heart like the BB’s that jump to the magnet and hang on. He promises a heart that clings to Jesus to anyone who hears His voice and follows after Him.

We ended our lesson time with prayer and used the remaining class time to visit three sorting stations, including the foil balls from our lesson. We also had a snack and played a game with the rhythm instruments.

Until fall…I think!*

For the Gospel,

Necia

*This was a random Children’s Church class in the middle of summer, as a high school group was presenting a drama. Parents of the younger set could choose whether or not their children were ready for some of the elements to be portrayed and opt for Children’s Church. Our regular class year is September through May.

How Many Ways Can You Clap Your Hands?

Time management with children is often about time-stretching strategies. Seasoned teachers know how to get extra miles out of an activity by making up new variations of a song or game.

Any song suited for clapping as you sing is a candidate for creative clapping. We use one of our Scripture songs that tells us to clap: “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!” (Psalm 47:1 ESV) The day we learned the song, we clapped the usual way, but the next Sunday we changed things up. The 30-second song filled two or three minutes, and we added repetitions in a way the children didn’t mind. As a song, the Bible verse becomes: 

Clap your hands,

Clap your hands

All peoples!

Shout to God,

Shout to God

With loud songs of joy!

Clap your hands,

Clap your hands

All peoples!

Shout to God,

Shout to God

With loud songs of joy!

I couldn't find a way to upload the MIDI file, but it can be e-mailed if you'd like it. (smommvf@juno.com)

Once we could sing the song with a little confidence, a new way to clap was introduced every three lines. We clapped hands out in front of us and hands behind our backs, hands over our heads, hands to either side, hands clapping in vertical passes (like playing cymbals…correctly!) and hands flat on top of each other, rotating which hand was on top with each clap.

Oh, for video right here! But, you get the idea. Step outside the box of what a clap looks like, and make up some more! We haven’t tried clapping with a partner…yet. Get ready, class!

A "Carrot" of Integrity

“I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.”
1 Chronicles 29:17 NIV

“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”
Proverbs 11:3 NIV

Even young children can begin to understand integrity with the help of our orange friend, the carrot. And a carrot peeler. (Sorry, carrot!)

As you peel a carrot, and then peel some more and some more, all you get is carrot. All the way to the center, clear through to the other side, there’s nothing but carrot! There is no seedy core or spurting seed pod or wood-like pit hidden in a carrot. What you see is what you get, layer after layer.

We are often not so carrot-like. Sometimes our lack of integrity presents a polished version of who we are while hiding very different habits and character traits where we hope they won’t be discovered. Peer pressure can affect the opposite pattern. We behave worse than our true, deeply-held values to gain acceptance or avoid criticism or ridicule. 

The Bible is honest about our heart, telling us it is “deceitful above all things
and beyond cure,” adding, “Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 NIV) But we are not left hopelessly at the mercy of such a heart. Integrity through and through is possible when the Gospel transforms our terminally deceitful base of operations:

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Ezekiel 36:26 NIV

Just like the carrot, our intentions and our actions can be faithfully consistent, powered by change gifted to us by the Spirit of God. A lapse of integrity remains possible as long as we are earth-bound, but a life of integrity for a believer includes accessing the forgiveness we claim to embrace and moving forward in the freedom we say Jesus paid for.

When a Child Dies: John 11, a Vase, and a Teacup

A precious baby was born this week. In the space of an hour, he wove his history into the fabric of the lives of his family and their friends and people who knew his story. Of the millions of things that can go wrong as a baby grows towards birth, one of them did. His parents knew for several weeks to expect a brief stay. With grace and steadfast faith, they chose to love him well as long as they had him. They called him Nehemiah, “God is our comfort,” and prepared to treasure him intensely every minute he was here, and they did.

What do you tell children when a baby dies?

A bouncy little girl came to Children’s Church for the first time, so excited to finally be old enough to join our class! She was sunshine on two feet – exuberant and smiley and eager to learn. That afternoon an accident in her home turned off the sun for her family and friends.

What do you tell children when a child who is their friend dies?

These shortest of lives catch us off guard. We see the decline of our parents and older friends and ready our hearts for the day their health fails and their full lives overflow into eternity. We know, theoretically, statistically, that humans of every age may die, but it never becomes normal to say good-bye to a young person, a child, a baby. Our hearts do not accept this change in rhythm without protest. The hearts of children are not tuned to death at all, and we do not want them to enter this arena too abruptly. But life events may force our hand.

How were we to press on in Children’s Church, honoring our friend, Carey, acknowledging her passing, and yet not dwelling in the shadow of death? What will we tell the children we know who experience the death of a baby? There is help in John 11, the raising of Lazarus, and in a vase and a teacup.


John 11

John records Jesus speaking to his disciples, saying some confusing things, things even children will notice. “This sickness will not end in death,” Jesus said. Nearly in the same breath, he told them clearly, “Lazarus is dead.” As verse follows verse, it is revealed that Jesus spoke the truth, as He always does. Lazarus was dead, but his sickness did not end in death. The Resurrection and the Life called him back from the impossible, no-exit condition of death, and Lazarus came. Like the disciples and Mary and Martha, we are sometimes presented with confusing developments, including the sudden passing of a friend or loved one. We may not understand what God is doing, but we can trust Him to be keeping His promises, working for our good, standing for us, calling us from death to Life.


A Vase and a Teacup



Picture a tall vase, complex in its design and impressive in size – a stunning piece of craftsmanship taking days, perhaps weeks, of skilled effort to create. Beside this vase, gingerly place a miniature teacup, delicate and graceful, a piece equally breathtaking but a less time-consuming labor. Both are signed by the same master artisan.

God forms some of his people-clay into vases, larger vessels with intricate patterns, crafted in spans of years that become decades. No less precious are the teacup lives he fashions, miniature works of fine detail and execution achieved in fewer days, sometimes hours, even minutes. Both are fit to hold the purposes of God, to contain the glory that is His image in us.

Whether for a life of minutes, hours, days or years, we are knit together in our mothers’ wombs according to God’s intentional design. Vases and teacups alike are vessels of glory and power and redemption in His hands and will pour out the same praise to King Jesus.