The General Board of Church and Society recently published Jr. High Curriculum designed to help students actively engage the intersection of faith and justice and explore why our faith compels us toward justice. It is available to download today for free. Each lesson includes a …
We hold governments responsible for the protection of the rights of the people to free and fair elections and to the freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, communications media, and petition for redress of grievances without fear of reprisal; to the right to privacy; and to …
Today is the day
God cries with the masses of starving people,
despises growing disparity between rich and poor,
demands justice for workers in the marketplace.
And so shall we.
From the litany to accompany the Social Creed (Accessed November 3, 2016)
My friend Nils recently shared a story about his 2 1/2 year old son. I don’t know if it was in the context of the election in the US, or some volunteer opportunity, or if they had witnessed some heartbreaking issue of poverty, but Nils felt compelled to explain inequality to Jonah.
“You see buddy, some people have it harder than others.”
“Yeah daddy, some people are hard,” he tapped his own knee, “and some people are squishy!” as he tapped his dad’s belly. Over the next week or so Jonah was fixated on pointing out hard and squishy body parts, and hard and squishy people. This was the source of both amusement and embarrassment for Nils and his wife Emily.
It can be really difficult to talk with kids about economic inequality. For one, the issues of poverty and wealth are so complex Two, so much of how we’ve taught about poverty in the past has dehumanized the poor and made middle class and wealthy people the heroes and saviors of the story.
Not too long ago I was driving with kids in the car on the way to the Missions*Service*Purpose Camp in the Minnesota Annual Conference. The previous year we had gone to serve at a food shelf, and the activity had been really positive and empowering for the kids involved. We were remembering that time and how much fun we had when one of my sixth graders said, “you know, the food that I ate for breakfast this morning came from the foodshelf. It’s kind of cool that last year I was helping there and this year I’m eating from there.”
Later when a well-meaning, but privileged volunteer was talking with the group of kids she talked about how “we” have enough food, and “they,” need our help. My sixth grader didn’t come back to camp for the rest of the session. I can’t claim to know that it was this volunteer’s comment that kept him home, but I’ve wondered.
Small prizes for the winning team (stickers, pencils, etc.)
a white board or chart paper to keep track of the score
a list of easy and hard questions (based on something you’ve been teaching, or pop culture or whatever else you want to question about)
A copy of ¡Sí, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can! Janitor Strike in L.A. (Available from Cokesbury)
(Divide the group into two teams).
Today we are going to play a trivia game. There will be points for questions that are answered right and the team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
(Every question you ask team 1, should be very easy. Every question you ask team 2, should be very hard. Assign points arbitrarily but always assign more points for team 1’s correct answers and less points for team 2’s correct answers. Kids really care about fair and unfair, so they will sense that this is unfair pretty quickly and may get upset. Don’t let it go on too long).
How did you feel about that game? Was it fair or unfair? How does it feel when things are unfair?
We’ve been talking for the past month or so about different ways that we show the world what God is like. Different ways that we show the world that God is love. One of the ways that we do that is by working to make the world more fair for people.
Some people work really hard and have enough of what they need. Some people work really hard and don’t get enough of what they need. There are rules and people in the world that are not fair and make it hard for people to take care of themselves or their families.
One of the ways that we work to make it more fair is to share what we have. Another way that we work to make it more fair is to work to change the rules that make it too hard for people to take care of themselves and their families. If we are a boss, we pay the people who work with us a fair amount of money. If we are workers, we help other workers ask their bosses for a fair amount of money. If we are selling things we sell them at a fair price. If we are buying things, we pay a fair price for them.
We didn’t like it when some people got more points for easy answers, and other people got less points for hard answers. No one likes that. So one of the ways that we show the world what God’s love is like is to work to make the world more fair.
If you are using this lesson outside of “Children’s Time,” in worship and have more time. You can also read ¡Sí, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can! Janitor Strike in LA by Diana Cohn. It tells the story of Carlitos who lives with his mother and abuela in Los Angeles. His mother works hard as a janitor, but needs to work extra jobs on the weekends, and still struggles to support her mother and son. The Janitors go on strike and Carlitos and his classmates help them in their protest. The Janitors are then able to get paid a fair amount and Carlitos’ mother is able to not work her second job on the weekend and she is able to pay for her mother’s medicines.
This book is bilingual in Spanish and English.
I would love to include the servant song with this message. “Brother sister let me serve you…pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.”
This could also be an interesting message for Labor Day or as part of a stewardship series.
You can read the introduction to the series here:
You can read the first introductory children’s message here:
You can read about our call to care for the natural world here:
You can read about our call to care for families and the nurturing community here:
You can read about our call to care for individuals in the social community here
The Social community is the next section of the United Methodist Social Principles. This section includes the rights of racial and ethnic groups, religious minorities, children, young people, the aging, women, men, immigrants, people with disabilities, and sexual orientation. This section also include principles about …
We joyfully receive for ourselves and others the blessings of community, sexuality, marriage, and the family. “Our Social Creed,” Accessed October 5, 2016 This is the third Children’s Message in a series on the United Methodist Social Principles. If you missed the explanation you …
God’s love for the world is an active and engaged love, a love seeking justice and liberty. We cannot just be observers. So we care enough about people’s lives to risk interpreting God’s love, to take a stand, to call each of us into a response, no matter how controversial or complex. The church helps us think and act out a faith perspective, not just responding to all the other ‘mind-makers-up’ that exist in our society.”
Excerpt from The Book of Resolutions of The United Methodist Church 2012. Copyright © 2012 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Accessed October 4, 2016 – found online here
Tomorrow I start a series of Children’s Messages on the Social Principles of the United Methodist Church. These could be used in a Sunday worship setting, Children’s Church or Sunday School. They could also be adapted to be used in a mission or service learning camping program or even a confirmation class or retreat.
I’m writing from the perspective of a United Methodist Christian, committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ that seeks transformation of our world.
For the past 12 years I served in Children’s and Youth Ministry at a medium/large sized multi-racial, inter-generational urban/metropolitan church in Minneapolis, MN. These principles are laid out in the United Methodist Book of Resolutions and so these talks will be organized in that framework. However, I believe Christians of many traditions could easily adapt these messages to fit their context, Methodists are not alone in our belief that God’s love is active and engaged in the world.
My background before working in church ministry is Elementary and Middle School Education in the Public Schools. I have a great deal of admiration for early childhood ministry and nursery workers and preschool teachers, but I have never found that age an easy fit to work with. While I have tried to make these messages accessible to all ages, I am aware of my limitations as an early childhood educator.
Tomorrow’s message will be an introduction to Social Principles overall, and especially focus on what it means to be made in the image of God whose love for the world is active and engaged in the world.
The next post will highlight our call to show God’s love in our care for the Natural World, followed by: The Nurturing Community; The Social Community; The Economic Community; The Political Community and The World Community.
After the messages are all published, I’ll share a reflection about my desire to write and the process of writing these messages.
I am hoping to get these posts out quickly, but I may need to ask for some grace. I have the first two messages written and would have liked to have more done by now. I am recovering from a major injury and have found that I need to work at a different pace in recovery than before the injury.
Please offer feedback or other ideas. These messages aren’t meant to be an exhaustive study in The Social Principles, but are rather meant to be a way to start us thinking about how we talk with our children about how our faith is lived out in the world outside of our sanctuaries and education halls.
I’m looking forward to this conversation.
